IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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1.0 


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Hi 


11 


m    L&    12.0 


11.25  IHU 


IJ£ 


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Hiotographic 
..Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WIST  MAIN  STRf  ET 

WEBSTH.N.Y.  14SS0 

(716)  •73-4503 


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V 

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: 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  ISAicroreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notaa  ttchniquas  at  bibliographiquaa 


The  Inatituta  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  aignificantly  changa 
tha  uaual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chaclcad  balow. 


D 


D 


D 


Colourad  covara/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


I     I    Covara  damagad/ 


Couvartura  andommagte 

Covara  raatored  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  raataurte  at/ou  pallicul6a 

Covar  titia  miaaing/ 

La  titra  da  couvartura  manque 

Colourad  mapa/ 

Cartea  giographiquea  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  biacic)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I   Coloured  platea  and/or  iliuatrationa/ 


Planchaa  at/ou  iliuatrationa  en  couleur 

Bouwd  with  other  material/ 
ReliA  avac  d'autrea  documenta 

Tight  binding  may  cauae  ahadowa  or  diatortion 
along  Interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  aerrAe  peut  cauaar  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
diatortion  la  long  de  la  marge  IntArieure 

Blank  iaavaa  added  during  reatoratlon  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  poaaible,  theaa 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  aa  peut  que  certainea  pagea  blanchea  ajoutAee 
lore  d'una  reatauration  apparaiaaent  dana  la  texte, 
mala,  loraque  cela  Atait  poaaible,  cea  pagea  n'ont 
pea  At*  fiimiaa. 


L'Inatitut  a  microfilm*  la  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  *t*  poaaible  de  ae  procurer.  Lea  dAtaila 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  aont  paut-itre  uniquea  du 
point  de  vue  bibllographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  Image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dana  ia  mithoda  normale  de  filmaga 
aont  indiquAa  ci-daaaoua. 

□   Coloured  pagea/ 
Pagea  de  couleur 

□    Pagea  damaged/ 
Pagea  endommagAea 

r~n    Pagea  reatored  and/or  laminated/ 


D 


Pagea  reataurAea  at/ou  paliiculAea 

Pagea  diacoloured,  atainad  or  foxa* 
Pagea  dAcolortea,  tachettea  ou  piqutea 

Pagea  detached/ 
Pagea  dAtachtea 

Showthrough> 
Tranaparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualit^  InAgale  de  I'impreaaion 

includea  aupplamentary  materii 
Comprend  du  materiel  aupplAmantaira 

Only  edition  available/ 
Saule  Mition  diaponibia 


|~T|  Pagea  diacoloured,  atainad  or  foxed/ 

|~~|  Pagea  detached/ 

r~T|  Showthrough/ 

I     I  Quality  of  print  variea/ 

|~n  includea  aupplamentary  material/ 

I — I  Only  edition  available/ 


Pagea  wholly  or  partially  obacured  by  errata 
alipa,  tiaauea,  etc.,  have  been  ref limed  to 
enaure  the  beat  poaaible  image/ 
Lea  pagea  totalement  ou  partiallement 
obacurciea  par  un  fauillet  d'errata.  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  At*  filmAea  A  nouveeu  de  fapon  A 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  poaaible. 


Tha 
tot 


Th« 
poi 
oft 
filnr 


Orii 
ba{ 
the 
aioi 
oth 
fira 
aioi 
or! 


Th( 
aha 
TiW 
wh 

Ma 

difl 

ant 

be^ 

rig 

req 

ma 


0 


Additional  commenta:/ 
Commentairea  aupplAmentairea: 


Varioui  pagingi.  Part  11  pagination  at  followi  :  [17]  -  230  p. 


Thia  item  ia  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  eat  filmA  au  taux  de  rAduction  indiquA  ci-deaaoua. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


•^ 

12X 


16X 


20X 


MX 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  hae  been  reproduced  thanka 
to  the  generosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'exempiaire  f  iimA  f  ut  reproduit  grice  k  ia 
g4nArosit4  do: 

Bibliothique  nationale  du  Canada 


The  image*  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  Iceeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  bacic  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  At*  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  nettetA  de  rexemplaire  film*,  et  en 
conformity  avec  las  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sont  f  ilmte  en  commengant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminent  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  fiimAs  en  commengant  par  la 
premlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminent  par 
la  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^>  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED "),  or  the  symbol  Y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
derniAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUiVRE".  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  et 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hend  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmte  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  11  est  filmA  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
iilustrent  la  mAthoda. 


1  2  3 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

01 


i 


»      T    -» 

• 


///^ 


v.._ 


.     AN 


OVEKLAND  JOUKNEY 


.'  -••. 


»,, 


ROUND    THE    WORLD, 


DURING 


THE  YEARS  1841  AND  1842. 


BY 


SIR    GEORGE    SIMJPSON, 

GOVERNOR-IN-CHIEF  OF  THE  HUDSON'S  BAY  COMPANY'S  TEBRIT0K2ZS. 


¥ 


# 


PHILADELPHIA: 


LEA    AND    BLANCHARD, 
1847. 


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2967X3 


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S. 


FHILADELFBIA : 

T.  K.  AND  F.  O.  COLLINS, 

PRINTERS. 


# 


•     • 


// 


/ 


TO 


THE   HONORABLE   COMMITTEE 

or 

THE   HUDSON^S  BAY  COMPANY, 

SIR  JOHN  HENRY  PFXLY.  Bart.,  Gwermr, 
ANDREW  COL  VILE,  EsariUE.  Deputy  Governor. 
BENJAMIN  HARRISON,  EsaiiRi:, 
JOHN  HALKETT,  EsaciHE, 
HENRY  HULSE  BERENS,  EsauiiiE, 
AARON  CHAPMAN,  Esjicihe,  M.  P., 
EDWARD  ELLIS,  EsftciRK,  M.  P, 
THE  EARL  OF  SELKIRK, 
RICHARD  WEYNTON,  EsatiRE, 

THESE    PAGES 

ARE  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 
^  THEIR  OBLIGED  AND  FAITIIFLL  SERVANT, 

.     THE  AUTHOR. 


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PREFACE 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


Ledyard  and  Cochrane,  to  the  best  of  the  author's  knowledge 
and  belief,  were  the  only  travelers  that  ever  attempted  before  him- 
self to  accomplish  an  overland  journey  round  the  world ;  they  both 
followed  an  easterly  direction;  and  they  both  returned,  the  former 
from  Irkutsk  and  the  latter  from  Kamschatka,  without  having  even 
seen  the  American  Continent.  In  offering  this  remark,  the  author 
wishes  merely  to  state  the  fact,  for  he  has  much  pleasure  in  ad- 
mitting, that,  if  either  of  those  enterprizing  individuals  had  enjoyed 
his  peculiar  advantages,  the  task  would  not  have  been  left  for  him 
to  achieve.  In  one  respect,  however,  he  has  performed  more  than 
either  Cochrane  or  Ledyard  contemplated,  for,  in  addition  to  the 
Russian  Empire  and  British  America,  he  has  erribraced  within  his 
range  Upper  California  and  the  Sandwich  Islands 

If  the  lapse  of  four  years  since  the  author's  return  may  seem  to 
require  some  explanation  or  apology,  he  can  only  plead  that  he 
has  been  engaged  in  constant  and  arduous  occupations  of  the 
same  description  as  his  journey  round  the  world ;  that  he  has,  in 
fact,  nearly  doubled  the  extent  of  travel  which  forms  the  subject 
of  the  following  pages.  But  this  very  delay  he  has  endeavored  to 
turn  to  good  account  by  occasionally  drawing  illustrations  from 
subsequent  events.  ^ 


:S%^ 


VI 


,    PREPACK. 


The  author  has,  to  a  certain  extent,  retained  the  form  of  a  jour- 
nal, as  furnishing  one  of  the  best  guarantees  for  a  traveler's  fidelity. 
He  has,  in  almost  every  case,  confined  himself  to  what  he  saw 
and  heard,  sparing  no  pains  to  separate  truth  from  error;  and, 
wherever  he  has  introduced  any  extraneous  matter,  he  has  done 
so  with  the  view  of  throwing  light  on  the  essential  points  of  his 
own  experience. 


As  the  American  edition  is  printed  from  the  author's  manu- 
script, without  the  advantage  of  his  corrections  and  emendations, 
the  publishers  state  the  fact  as  an  apology  for  errors,  should  any 
be  found. 

Philadelphia^  jipril^  1847. 


jf' 


m^ 


^ 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PART    I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 

Departure  from  London— Voyage  across  tho  Ationtic — Halifax — Boston — Route  to 
Montreal — Montreal — Dcparturo  from  Lnchinc — Ottawas — Matnwu — Hi'ij;ht  i>t 
lanil — Lake  Nipissing,  ice — French  River — Lake  Huron — Sault  St.  Mario— Liikt' 
Stiperior,  a  week  in  tho  ice — Chippowny  Indians — KuminiatJuiutiiii,  Kakiibckkii 
Fall — Height  of  land — Route  to  Lac  la  Plui»! — Fort  Frances,  Chippewiiy  Iiidiatis 
— Riviere  la  Pluie — Lake  of  the  Wootls — River  Winipe^ — Luke  Wiiiipe^ — Red 
River — Lower  Fort — Departure  of  Lorda  Culcdou  uiul  Muigravo  Ibr  bulliilo 
hunt  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -17 

CHAPTER  H. 

FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON.  ^, 

Rftd  River  Settlement,  position,  origin,  condition' — Departure  from  Red  River  Settle- 
ment— Face  of  country — Salt  Lake — Fort  Ellice — Quappclle  River,  crank  canoes 
— Wolverine  Knoll,  native  legend — Native  lodges — Rain  and  swamps — Dog  Knoll 
— Salt  Lakes — Native  lodge.  Hieroglyphics — Halt  in  heavy  rain — Wanderings  of 
Tom  Taylor — Bow  River — Indian  story — War  in  tho  plains — Carlton — The  Sas- 
katchewan— Picturesque  country— Crees- —Scarcity  of  water — Ret!  River  emi- 
grants, love  of  native  spot — Buffalo  hunt — Turtle  River — Scarcity  of  water— Fort 
Pitt — Miseries  of  a  native  lodge — Alarm  of  Blackfeet — Effects  of  hail — Extreme 
vicissitude — Oddity  of  native  names — Edmonton — Native  tribes — Visitors  of 
quaUty  -..-.....42 

CHAPTER  HI. 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 

Departure  from  Edmonton — Rev.  Mr.  Rundle — Gull  Lake — Native  gossips — Duck 
hunt — Red  Deer's  River — Unexpected  meeting — March  through  wet  bush-— Al- 
tered character  of  vegetation— State  of  conunissariat — Difficulties  of  march — 
Rugged  scene — Peechee's  home — Perpendicular  Rocks — Indian  skirmish,  courage 
of  a  woman — The  spout— Bow  River  Traverse — Porcupine — Natural  gateway — 
Height  of  land — Reminiscence  of  Scotland — Improvement  in  climate — Kootonais 
River — Adventures  of  two  of  our  men — Scarcity  of  water — Bad  road — G>lumbia 
River— Search  for  horses— Gloomy  ravine — Hierogl}rpblca — Tenacity  of  mosqui- 
toes— Fresh  horses — Scenery  now  softer — Fiatbow  Intlians-— Hot  Springs— Puming 


*fl 


VIU 


CONTENTS. 


foTOM — Pdrk-likr  pmirio — Knotonnin  Itulinns,  rhiff's  son — (irnnil  Qii»'le  Ijiki*, 
iiu!t!4iii}{  i'i»mj)niiiiiri — Gniiul  Qiiutu  Uivrr — Iinpnivi'mriit  in  vi'x«'tnli(>ii — Plimnf 
of  two  l<Ni(l«>(l  lior«'f« — Use  of  ii  luirsti— Smrviition  lunotiK  nativ(>»— Fcrimli!  Iiorjto- 
ilrnlcr — Kxtr-nsivo  ninl  intorestitig  view — Mardi  tliriiii^h  wet  liu»h — K(M»umai4 
Rivor  Triivt'rxc — I'fculiar  raiUM' — Kodtoiiais  villnK<' — Fmxl  (if  iiativ«'» — Mr.  ami 
Mrs.  Cliarl') — Natural  pit — HurniiiK  wiKHJt* — Kiillr.-ipnlm  Lnkc — l*«Ti(i'  d'Oroille 
UiviT — IV-iitl'  liOrrilJr  Iri(liaii»» — ('ar(l-i)layinK — Ui'.tiilts  of  nliirtition — Native 
ilrP98 — Frcuh  horwtt— Supper  or  No  siippur 7 — Mr.  Mi-Dorinld  from  ColviU* — 
Kxrcilont  hri'akfast — LiuliiruiH  acciilciit — Fort  C'olvili' — Firii'  farm — Cliau<li«!ro 
Iiiilians — PiTclicc — l)fi)arliiro  from  ColviU" — ChaiKhcn?  Falls — (irand  Oaileo — 
Okaiia>?nn — Munlrr  of  Mr.  Hiack — .Scarcity  of  wooil — Isles  dcs  I'lcrrcs  Rapjdc-^ 
Siiidt  (111  I'rOtrc — Kattlosiiakc.'' — Snako  River — Wallawalla — Rev.  Mr.  Manner — 
McKeii/ie'rt  and  Ross's  Heads — Prairie  lowl — Snake  Indians— lla.saltic  rinks — 
Cayuse  chief  in  love — Les  Cluites,  jiast  and  present — Petites  Dalles — Loan  Nar- 
rows— Hair  Seal.s — Mission  of  Wliaspieum — A(piatic  forest — Ca.scados— Pillar 
Rock — Arrival  at  Vuncouver  •  -  -  •  -  •       I'i 

CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  8ITKA. 

Dcpnrttiro  from  Vancxmvcr — The  Willamette — Wni>ptttoo  Island — The  rowliiz— 
Variety  of  races  in  l)att(Mui — Cowlitz  farm — F.norinons  tre(>s — The  Checaylis — 
Natural  mounds — Fort  Nisqually — Kiidxirkation  on  Beaver  Steamer — Frazer  s 
River — Fcvoda,  superior  fuel — Wooding  and  watering — Comouc  Heet — Quakeolth 
chief — Johnston's  Straits — Dense  fog — Quakeolth  Heel — Trading — F(kk1,  &c.,  oi 
Quakcolths — Native  pronunciation  of  English — Manners  of  native.-  [renomlly — 
Dishonesty  and  treachery  of  natives — Shushady  Harbor — Trading  "./ith  Newettees 
— Hiaquay  shells — Hnnuning-birds — Canoeing  alone  witli  a  nativ-  >  hiof — Native 
blankets,  canoes,  &c. — Indignant  harangues  of  a  chief — •Dense  fog,  danger  of  ship- 
wreck— Shark — Calvert's  Island — 'Sir  Alexander  McKenzie — Fort  McLaughlin — 
Ballabolla  Indians — Largo  canoo — Lip-i)iocc — Power  of  chiefs — Foit  Simpson — 
Ingenuity  of  natives.  Northwest  Arrowsmith — Small-pox — Fort  Stikino — The 
Seeat(iuouays — Humanity  of  female  chief — Condition  of  slaves — Messrs.  Shakes 
and  Quatkay — Huncgo  Joe — Stephens'  Pas.sage — Fort  Taco  —  Abundance  of 
deer — Big  horn  sheej)  and  mountain  goat — Taco  River— Lynn's  Canal — Anake 
Indians — Arrival  ut  Sitka      .--•..-     106 

CHAPTER  V. 

FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 

Sitka — Trade — Fur  seals,  &c. — Count  Bjiranotl^ — Northern  discovery — ^Departure 
from  Sitka — Glaciers  and  lloating  ice — Fort  Stikine — Fort  Simpson — Indian  fight 
about  potatoes — Sebassamen — Fort  McLaughlin — Gigantic  sea-weed — Newettees, 
names  of  chiefs — Quakeolth  fleet — Native  jealousy — Johnston's  Straits — Dense 
fog — Catalogue  of  dangers  and  disasters — Abundance  of  herring  spawn — Influence 
of  white  fist  on  savages — Nisqually — Captain  Berkeley,  Juan  de  Fuca  and  Ad- 
miral Fonte — Steam,  its  physical  and  moral  power — Condition  of  slaves — Rev. 
Mr.  Demers — Arrival  at  Vancouver — A  stranger — ^Vancouver — Willamette  Settle- 
ment, position  and  condition — Civilization  of  natives  ...     129 


f 

4 


■"^ 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


mil — PliiTini- 
■iiihIc  liiiriM'- 
— Ko<iU>iiiii.'< 
i»»— Mr.  mill 
nd'  dOrpJUo 
ion — Nntivf! 
II  OilviU' — 
— Cliimdinrt; 
1(1  Coulee — 
«'s  Riipiilo— 
r.  Miinuer — 
ilti(!  riM'ks — 
— LonK  Nar 
ade.-f — Pillar 
•       li 


c  Cowlitz — 

Chccaylis— 

or — FraziT  :* 

— QunkeoUh 

'(kkI,  &«•.,  of 

gi'upmlly — 

1  Newettees 

»i<'f — Native 

iictoi'  shiji- 

Lauglilin — 

Simpson — 

tikino — Tho 

ssrs.  Slmkea 

undance    of 

nal — Anake 

-     106 


—Departure 
ndian  fight 
-Newettees, 
lits — Dense 
— Iniiuence 
a  and  Ad- 
avcs — Rev. 
letto  Settle- 
.     129 


f'lIAPTKR  VI. 

FROM  VANCOrVKR  TO  HAN    FRANCISCO,  ETC. 

Departure  from  Vani'oiivcr — lioatiii^  down  tlie  Cnhiiiilua — Knilxirkatinn  on  fwifir  I 
of  tlir  Cowlitz,  the  jrrand  ('po«li  of  my  jourm-y — naiiuiui«  I'rom  li^'htniny  —  lliir  of 
tin-  Coliiinhia — DiscdVt'ry  of  Culiuiiltin,  conipiiriiiivr  ni'rii.'*o|  lli-ci  ta,  .Mfar<"4  .iiicl 
Gray — DLxpiitcd  territory,  elainiH  of  Tniled  States — Cliri^tina.H  day,  lioine  and 
ahroail— Whales — Cape  Mendwino— New  Allilon  and  Calitornia — Hodepi  and 
Ross,  Ruji-'ian  American  Company,  RiihMian  soveri-mnty — Rii^Man  di.>«eoverie«« — 
Russia  an<l  England — Sir  Fianeis  I)rak«',  ])a8t  aint  present — First  ^lanei'  of  Cali- 
fornia— Port  of  Sun  Franei.seo,  disi'overed  hy  land — Cpper  Calilbrnia,  motives  |l)r 
colonizing  it — San  Francisco,  entranno  of  harlior-^Prettidius— Siege  of  a  mud 
kiteheti — Genend  di  xi-ription  of  harUir — Russians  and  Knglish,  compared  with 
Culifurniuns — YerUi  Bnenu  •  -  •  •  -  -     11') 

CHAPTER  VII. 

SAN  FRANCISCO. 

More  deUiiled  description  of  linrlior — Native  balsa — Whalers,  San  Francisco  and 
Sandwi(;h  Islands — Trade  in  hides — Foreigners — IndoU'nce  of  peoj)le — Hraiuhng, 
&c.  of  cattle — Value  f»f  herds — Missions,  their  rise  ond  fall — Exprens  by  land  to 
Monterey — Timothy  Murphy — Father  Quigus — Summary  jtStice — (ieneral  Val- 
lego— Breakiit.st,  c(X)kery — Valley  of  Sonoma — La.sso^Civilizationof  iilKirigines — 
General  Valleg(js  building.s,  troops,  garden,  Sec. — Dinner,  Ijnll,  and  Captain  I'rado 
— "Aulil  Lang  Syne'' — Paradise  of  wild  fowl — Captain  Sutter's  history  and  pros- 
pects— Anglification  of  San  Franci.sco— Californian  justice — Mission  of  San  Fnui- 
cisco,  old  and  new  thnes-^Mission  uf  Sanui  Clara — Prospects  of  priesthcxxl — 
Revenue  laws  -  •  •  -  •  •  -  -10;J 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

t 

MONTEREY. 

Voyage  to  Monterey — Landing — Town,  builtling.^,  and  furniture,  &c. — Neighljorhoo<I 
— Christening  of  bridge — Mr.  Spt.'nce — Governor  Alvamdr>  —  Unsophisticated 
cockney — Culifortiian  ignorance — Mr.  Ermatingur's  journey  jiorn  Vancouver  to 
Monterey — Murderous  desecration  of  baptism — Sellislint^ss  and  indifference  of 
pubbc  authorities — Compromise  with  custom-house— Schooner  California,  untried 
convicts— Revenue  laws,  impolitic  and  oppressive— Spanish  America  in  general, 
its  fiscal  and  political  condition — Contrast  between  Spanish  and  English  colonies 
—Fruits  of  Spanish  American  independence— Pueblo  of  Branciforto— Mission  of 
Santa  Cruz — Mission  of  San  Carlos,  past  and  present  -  -  -     ISU 

CHAPTER  IX. 

SANTA  BARBARA. 

Voyage  from  Monterey — Mrs.  Wilson — Von  Resanoff  and  Donna  Conception — Town, 
situation  and  buildings,  &c. — Lihabitants,  manners  and  dress  and  customs,  &c. — 


f 


CONTENTS. 


Resemblance  of  Spanish  Colonist  to  Old  Spaniard — Califomian  happiness  and 
ease — Compadra  and  Commadrea — Californian  hospitality — Bishop  of  Santa  Bar- 
Ijara— Episcopal  pomp— Roman  see,  its  estimate  of  distant  dependencies— 
Home-made  wine  and  brandy — Church — Santa  GuadaJoupe  and  the  miraculous 
blanket — Organist — Candlemas  Day,  gunpowder— Valley  of  Santa  Barbara — 
Aqueducts  and  cisterns— Grist-mill — Garden— Indian  village,  remarkably  old 
woman — Ball  with  Scotch  reel — Embarkation — Carcass  of  right  whale— Perfect 
paradise  for  fish — Bishop's  present  of  wine — San  Pedro,  Pueblo  of  Nuestra  Senora 
with  its  bulls  and  its  bears — Mission  of  San  Gabriel — Valley  of  the  Tulares,  bands 
of  horses — "Police"  of  California — San  Diego— Concluding  remarks  on  California 
— Gradual  spread  of  English  race  in  new  world — Ultimate  destiny  of  California 
—  British  claims,  financial  and  territorial— Arrival  in  region  of  trade-winds     204 


* 


CHAPTER  X. 


4.-' 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  ETC. 

Course  and  distance — Appropriate  name  of  Pacific  Ocean — Gradual  increase  of  tem- 
perature— Bottle-nosed  porpoise  and  fiying-fish— Albatross  and  tropic  bird — Am- 
phibious voyage,  its  literary  advantages — Volcanic  mountains  of  Hawaii — Early 
iliscovery  of  Sandwich  Islands  by  Spaniards — Cook's  discovery  accidental — Mutual 
relations  of  the  islands  of  the  group — Volcanic  origin  of  group — Volcanic  agency, 
its  general  directum — Lahaina,  residence  of  king — Communication  between  islands 
in  days  of  barban^hi — Peopling  of  Polynesia — Brig  Joseph  Peabody — Ruggedness 
of  Woedioo^First  impression  of  torrid  zone — ^Distant  view  of  Honolulu — Harbor, 
Its  discovery — English  pilots — Coral  reefs — Everything  to  remind  us  of  England, 
contrast  between  us  and  early  navigators—Harbor,  general  description — Towing 
through  channel — Governor  Kekuanaoa  and  others — Our  residence— Honolulu, 
popidation  and  buildings  and  climate,  &c. — Valley  of  Nuanau,  scene  of  important 
battle  .........    224 


CHAPTER  XI. 

SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

Origin  of  the  Hawaiian  Nation — Amoimt  of  Population — Language — Food— Houses 
—Dress— Appearance  and  Disposition— Customs  and  Amusements  •    238 


ppiness  and 
f  Santa  Bar- 
endencies— 
miraculous 
I  Barbara — 
arkably  old 
ale— Perfect 
estra  Senora 
ilarea,  bends 
>n  California 
if  California 
vinds     204 


case  of  tem- 
!  bird — Am- 
vaii — Early 
al — Mutual 
mic  agency, 
/een  islands 
Ruggedness 
u — Harbor, 
>f  England, 
a — Towing 
—Honolulu, 
r  important 
•    224 


«1— Houses 
•    238 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 


PART  II. 

• 

CHAPTER  XII. 

SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


Na\'y — Army — Revenue — Government  —  Religion  —  Education —  Productions  and 
Manufactures — Trade.  --  -  •  •  •  -17 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

SANDWICH   ISLANDS,  ETC. 

Troubles  with  Sailors — Visit  to  Nuanau — Kamehameha's  Great  Victory — Wells  iu 
Honolulu — Subterranean  brook — Idolatrous  temple — Cannibalism — Suicide  of  a 
Chinese — Chinese  and  Japanese — Power  of  false  religion  to  resist  truth — Cliiiiesc 
residents — Death  of  heir  apparent— Governor  Kekuanao's  a^^vity— Sitting  on 
hams  a  mark  of  respect — Ro)ral  Mausoleum — Distribution  of  Kamehameha's 
bones — Causes  of  scarcity  of  children  of  chiefs — Bickerings  of  all  sorts  among 
foreign  residents — More  troubles  with  sailors — Voyage  to  Mowee — Arrival  at  La- 
haina — Rekeke's  Hotel — Mr.  Baldwin's  Chapel — Rev.  Mr.  Richards — King,  Ha;i- 
lilio,  and  John  Young— Royal  Mausoleum — Kekauluohi  the  Premier — Excellent 
quarters  with  maids  of  honor  as  bed-makers — Visit  from  Messrs.  Richards  and 
Baldwin — Queen  Kaluma — Visit  to  the  Premier  along  with  Mr.  Richards — ^Jatk 
of  Clubs — Native  dance — Swimming  of  natives  and  aversion  of  foreign  residents 
to  loathing — Lahaina,  its  population  and  situation — High  schools — Arrangements 
for  sending  a  deputation  to  England,  France,  and  the  United  States — Haalilio's 
character  and  death — King  and  suite  dining  on  board — Kaluma  again,  the  silent 
eloquence  of  her  female  attendants — Policy  of  government  in  managing  tlie  aris- 
tocracy— Paying  farewell  visits — Accompanied  on  board  bj  king  and  suite — Voy- 
age to  Sitka,  change  of  temperature — Mount  Edgecombe — Retrospect  of  journey, 
the  English  race  having  been  dominant  everywhere — Common  origin  and  com- 
mon destiny  of  English  and  Russians         .....        55 


'%. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


ii*  * 


SITKA. 


Landing — ^DifTerencc  of  day  of  week — Bishop  of  Sitka — Departure  for  Taoo  and 
Stikine-^Tragical  end  of  Mr.  John  McLoughlin — Critical  position  of  establish- 
ment and  consequent  proceedings — Abundance  of  pine  and  cypress — Voyage 
back  to  Sitka — Arrival  on  Easter  Simday — Peculiar  customs  of  this  festival — ^Divine 


xii 


CONTENTS. 


1 1 


.=!: 

'M 


sprvicf — OflTicors  of  Russian  American  Company — Mochnnios  and  laborers — Mar- 
ried women — Hopi)ital — Bisliop's  farewell  sermon — Strictness  of  clergy  in  general 
and  also  of  laity — Ecclesiastical  zeal  of  Russian  Government,  united  with  spirit  of 
toleration— M(Hlic'inaI  springs,  favorable  influence  on  vegetation  as  well  as  health 
— Perseverance  of  natives  in  bathing — Water  impregnated  with  sulphur — Capital 
mistake  of  a  recent  visitor— Redoubt — Miserable  weather  at  Sitka — List  of  ship- 
pinrr — Sailing  of  Constantine  with  M.  Rotsclioti'and  family— Sailing  of  Ochotsk — 
Tciniktilii  of  Siberia — Fair  of  Ostrovnoye — Tchuktclii  chief's  notion  of  perfect 
liaj)piness — Beering's  Straits — Climate,  British  Isles,  and  Kamscliatka — Indian 
figlit — Immediate  stop  to  the  issue  of  liquor  among  Indians — ^The  evil  in  question 
tiie  inevitjd)le  result  of  competition — Political  relation  IxHween  Indians  and  Rus- 
sians— Yassack,  its  origin  and  progress — Kaluscian  funeral — Wedding  at  Sitka — 
Bridesmen  and  bridesmaids — Embiirkation  on  board  of  the  Alexander,  and  de- 
l)arture  from  New  Archangel  -  -  -  -  -  -47 

CHAPTER  XV. 

VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 

Li^ihtness  and  variableness  of  winds — Ship's  discipline,  &c. — Drunken  priest — The 
Parachute  of  New  Bedford— Whales  rapidly  diminishing  m  number — Unknown 
island — Hunting  of  sea  otters — Danger  of  sinking  in  the  small  baidarska,  and 
alfecting  mode  of  meeting  death — Russian  surveys  of  the  northern  shores  of  Asia 
anticipated  by  England  at  either  extremity  of  line — Voyages  of  Cook  and  Billings 
— Aleutian  Archipelago  probably  the  original  channel  of  communication  between 
the  two  continents — Beering's  Straits  perhaps  a  passage  from  America  to  Asia, 
rather  than  I'rom  Asia  to  Americii — Aleutian  Islanders,  tlieir  ethnographic  cha- 
racteristics— Probable  course  of  emigrants  from  Aleutian  Islands  on  landing  in 
America — Increasing  dilllculty  of  tracing  the  migrations  of  tribes — Productions  of 
Aleutian  Islands — Russians  fust  to  plant  civilization  on  northwest  coast,  statements 
of  Shelekofi" — Signs  of  land — Kamscliatka,  its  corrupt  government — Popular  delu- 
sion with  respect  to  despotism^Passage  between  Kurile  Islands  into  Sea  of 
Ochotsk — Dense  fogs,  contrivances  to  neutralize  them — Sleeping  whale — Story  of 
Mr.  Erasmus  and  the  fogs — Kuriles  apparently  continuation  of  Kamscliatka — Im- 
mediate influence  of  Russia  from  Sweden  to  Japan — Sea  of  Ochotsk — River 
Amoor,  its  physical  value  neutralized  by  politics— -Collision  of  Russia  and  China  on 
the  Amoor — Sight  of  land  and  preparations  for  going  ashore — Impenetrable  bar- 
rier of  ice — Hair  seals — Sleeping  whale — Keel-hauled  whale — Arrival  at  Ochotsk 
— Optical  illusion — Record  of  disasters  in  these  seas  -  -  -         92 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 

Ochotsk — Madame  Zavoika's  horticulture — Food,  health,  &c.  of  inhabitants — Ship- 
building establishment- —Courts  and  lawyers — Salt — Governor  Golovin — Russians 
and  Ostrogs,  and  Cossacks — Shipwrecked  Japanese — Disciple  of  Origen — Brick  tea 
— Mr.  Atlasofl"'s  snow-shoes — Promiscuous  bathing — Bargaining  for  horses  with 
Jacob — Departure  from  Ochotsk — Forests  of  pine,  &c.,  with  swamp  tea — Jacob's 


poli 

l)oai 

teen 

as  a 

Cars 

— T 

kuts 

sack 

nigh 

Perji 

liorsi 

mid( 

St. 


I 


CONTENTS. 


XIU 


borers — Mar- 
Sy  in  gcneml 
with  spirit  of 
roll  as  health 
ihiir — Caj)ital 
-List  of  ship- 
of  Ochotsk — 
)n  of  perfect 
atka — Indian 
i^il  in  question 
ans  and  Rus- 
ng  at  Sitka — 
nder,  and  de- 
47 


priest — The 

r — Unknown 

lidarska,  and 

liores  of  Asia 

and  Billings 

ion  between 

rica  to  Asia, 

graphic  cha- 

n  landing  in 

reductions  of 

statements 

opular  delu- 

into    Sea   of 

de — Story  of 

ehatka — Im» 

otsk — River 

nd  China  on 

letrable  bar- 

d  at  Ochotsk 

92 


policy — Mr.  Shiloff's  caravan — Fidelity  and  skill  of  Yakuti — Cossack's  zenl  and 
Ijoastfulncst — Spirit  of  the  Forest — Jacobs  care  <  if  horses — Notes  of  cuckoo — Four- 
teen lijrds  on  horseback — Lord  Bynm  and  Captain  Cochrane — Industry  of  Vakiiti, 
as  also  iiospitality — Dropping  in  of  three  friends  to  dinner — Cossack's  disciiiliiie — 
Caravan — Motle  of  feeding  lutrscs  in  the  niglit — Real  hell  of  horses — Iniuidations 
— Threatened  attack  on  the  part  of  a  bear — Country  more  fertih — Mail  I'roia  Ya- 
kutsk, (lisai>poiiiUnent — Plant  that  iiitoxi<'ates  and  disables  horses — Mistakeof  Cos- 
sack— Imiiidations — Herds  of  cattle  and  cniravans — Suinnier  by  day  and  winter  by 
night — Superstition  of  Yakuti — Height  of  land  with  a  lake  feeding  l)<)ih  seas — 
Perpetual  snow  and  ice— Caravans  without  end— Udonia  Crossing — Hardly  any 
liorsesof  a  dark  color— Danger  in  past  times  from  runaway  c-onvicts— New  ice  in 
middle  of  July— ^Valley  of  the  Nalivnoi — Diifieulty  in  ascertiiining  names — Wet 
St.  Nicholas  day — Yakut's  mode  of  estimating  distances — Allaek  Younii — 
Mosquitoes — Moor  fowl — Delays  of  traveling — Reindeer — OolcKinaeh  Ferry — 
Scenery  now  softer — Swamp  bridged  with  corduroy — The  Aldan — Horses  of  Ya- 
kuti well  trained— Kumyss — The  Amga — Capercailzia  and  snipe,  and  plover — 
Orelach — Travi'ler's  l)Ook — Tshcxtropsa- Porotoffskaya — Visit  from  son  of  a  Ya- 
kut chief — Tshetshiguiskaya — Temooloya — Lcxjusts — Toolgyachtaeh  —  Lena  and 
other  rivers  once  mucli  higher — Arrival  at  Lena — Arrival  at  Yakutsk     -       lU'J 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 

Revemie  and  population— Temperature — Agriculture — Site  of  town— Fur  trade  and 
ivory  trade — Governor  RudikofF — Mr.  Shagin,  native  working  in  metsils — Glut- 
tony of  Yakuti — Social  factions  —  Hospiud — Buildings — Curiosities — Departure 
from  Yakutsk— Bestach — Passenger  boats — Stolby^St.  Julias — Condition  of  pea- 
sants— Marchinskaya — Mr.  Atlasoff — Reindeer — Stranded  iii  a  sfjuall — Solian- 
skaya — Olekminsk— Mr.  Atlasoffs  hospitality — Siberian  contjuests  of  Cossacks 
— Horticulture — Sables  of  the  Olekma — Berdinskaya — Chase  and  capture  of  Ya- 
kuti— Cossack's  discipline — Wild  fruits — Condition  of  peasants — Hurrah  Rocks — 
Heavy  batteau — Water-sails — Kamenskaya — Condition  of  peasants — Yerbinsky — 
PooloodofTskaya — Treatment  of  critninals — Vittimsk,  sables  and  talc — Tungusi — 
Aborigines  in  general — Boat  upset — Character  of  women — Doobroffskaya — Echo — 
Cheeks  of  the  Lena — Echo^Wild  fruits— Routine  of  existence — Our  Saviours 
name-day — Grand  ball — Return  of  English  letters  from  Ochotsk — Condition  of 
peasants — Goitres  —  Alexyeffskaya — Cossack's  irresponsible  cruelty — Kirensk — 
Sleepy-headed  officials— Adventure  ashore — Solx^rskaya  —  Nettle  kail — Oolkan- 
skaya — Beasts  of  prey— Character  of  peasants — Inundations— Condition  of  pea- 
sants— Snuff — Kosarki — Oostooskaya — Progress  of  Cossack  conquerors  —  Oostii- 
ginskaya — Figolotfskaya     -  -  -  -  -  -  -134 


'.*' 


V  ^ 


ants — Ship- 
-Russians 
1 — Brick  tea 
horses  with 
ca — ^Jacob's 


CHAPTER  XVIH. 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


Tyoomenzora—  Vercholensk  —  Katschooga — Bratsky  Steppe — Burat  settlements- 
Village  of  exiles — Koodinskaya — Irkutsk — Governor  Patncffsky — Governor  Gene- 


fi^ 


r^\ 


il 


XIT 


CONTENTS. 


ml  Ruport — Archbiahop  of  Eastern  Siberia — Chinese  jealousy — Lake  Baikal  com- 
pared with  Lake  Superior— Mines  of  Nertshinsk — Trade  of  Kiachta— Steam  on 
Lake  Baikal — Mission  of  Sclen^nsk — Mines  and  washcries — Irkutsk,  its  hos- 
pitalities— Departure  from  Irkutsk  .....       164 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 

Accidents — Mode  of  foraging — Convicts — Nishney  Udinsk — Discomforts  of  travel- 
ing— Alzamoos — Peasant's  house — Colonization  of  Siberia — The  Barassa — Kansk 
— An  exile's  establishment — Krasnoyarsk,  delays — Mines  and  washeries — Cliief 
of  the  Burats — Ostrogs  for  convict — Kosulskaya,  quarrelsome  postmaster — Atchinsk 
^The  Tchulim — Dilapidated  tombs — Inquisitive  hostess — The  Kia — Kyskal— 
Tomsk — Crawley  an  albino— False  information — Vagaries  of  a  recent  traveler — 
The  Tom — Tartars — Barabinsky  Steppe — Gypsies — ^Ubinskoi — Kainsk — Condition 
of  peasants — Omsk — ^The  Irtish — Tobolsk  -  -  -  -       183 


l<    !l 


CHAPTER  XX. 

FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 

Retrospect  of  Russian  history — Yermac,  his  victories  and  death — -Establishment 
of  Russian  power  in  Siberia — -Tobolsk — Exiles — Tiiunen,  mayor's  dinner — Pro- 
vince of  Perm — Kamishloff,  doctors  differ — Fair  of  Irbit — Condition  of  peasants 
— Ekaterineburg,  mines — Value  of  Siberia  to  Russia,  fur  trade,  Chinese  trade, 
ivory  trade,  mines  and  washeries,  geographical  position,  moral  and  political  ame- 
lioration— Height  of  land — Kama — Countess  Strogonoff— Churlish  and  obsequious 
postmaster — Kungur — Russians  not  Asiatics — Perm — Inland  navigation — Count- 
ess Strogonoff — Courtesy  and  honesty^Province  of  Viatka — Armed  footpads — 
Mookikikea — Merchants  from  Fair  of  Nishney  Novgorod — Borlacki — Kazan,  past 
and  present — ^Volga — Forests  of  oak — ^Disturbances  among  peasants — Delays  at 
posthouses  and  artifices  of  postmasters — Nishney  Novgorod — Troubles  of  a  pair 
of  dancers — Sheremetieff's  estates  and  peasants — Vladimir — Uses  of  a  pipe 
stem — Symptoms  of  vicinity  of  metropolis — Moscow — Vishney  Volotchok — Val- 
dai— Novgorod  the  Great — Military  settlers — St.  Petersburg — Voyage  to  Lon- 
don .........      204 


If 


I 


i, 


ko  Baikal  oom- 

ita— Steam  on 

cutsk,  its  hos- 

-       164 


3rts  of  travel- 
rassa — Kansk 
heriea — Chief 
ter — Atchinsk 
ia — Kyskal — 
snt  traveler — 
ik — Condition 
-       183 


AN 


Establishment 
dinner— Pro- 
1  of  peasants 
hinesc  trade, 
)olitical  ame- 
d  obsequious 
ition — Count- 
1  footpads — 
-Kazan,  past 
s — Delays  at 
les  of  a  pair 
I  of  a  pipe 
Jtchok — Val- 
age  to  Lon- 
-      204 


OVERLAND  JOURNEY. 


PART  I. 


;'    ti 


'V 


AN 


OVERLAND    JOURNEY, 


\i 


ETC. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FROM  LONDON  TO  RKD  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 

On  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  March,  1841,  I  started  from  Euston 
Square,  by  railway,  for  Liverpool,  at  a  (juarter  past  nine  o'elock.  In 
addition  to  my  secretary,  Mr.  Hopkins,  1  was  accompanied  by  four  or 
five  gendemen  connected  with  The  Hudson's  Hay  Conipany's  service, 
and  also  by  a  gendenian  in  the  service  of  tlie  Uussian  American  Com- 
pany,'on  his  route  from  Petersburg  to  Sitka,  whose  superiors  were 
thus  preferring  for  him,  as  shorter  by  thirty  degrees  of  longitude,  the 
breadth  of  all  the  rest  of  the  world  to  diat  of  his  native  empire.  In 
less  than  ten  hours  we  reached  our  port  of  embarkation,  taking  up  our 
quarters  for  the  night  at  the  Grecian  Hotel  in  Dale  Street. 

Next  day,  after  an  early  dinner,  we  were  conveyed,  in  a  small 
steamer,  from  the  Egremont  Pier,  to  the  Caledonia,  Captain  M'Kellar. 
a  vessel  of  1300  tons,  and  450  horse  power.  At  half-past  five,  the 
last  of  the  passengers,  amounting  to  forty-four  in  all,  having  arrived, 
together  with  the  mail  bags,  the  melancholy  signal  of  Uie  farewell  bell 
was  immediately  followed  by  a  rush  of  "friends"  for  the  shore;  and 
in  ten  minutes  more,  at  the  sound  of  the  bugle,  tlie  good  ship's  pad- 
dles were  plashing  in  the  waters  of  the  Mersey. 

The  first  incident  that  varied  the  usual  monotony  of  sickness  and 
discomfort  was  the  glimpse  of  a  whale  in  the  morning  of  our  sixth 
day.  In  fact,  we  nearly  ran  foul  of  the  monster  while  he  was  loung- 
ing on  the  surface  within  a  few  feet  of  the  paddles  ;  but,  not  liking  the 
look  of  us,  he  immediately  dived,  so  that  we  saw  nothing  more  of  him. 
Next  day  furnished  us  with  a  still  richer  theme  for  discussion.  While 
we  ourselves  had  so  little  wind  that  all  our  light  canvas  was  set,  we 
met,  at  some  distance,  a  ship  under  close  reefed  topsails,  pronounced, 
by  the  by,  by  some  of  our  "blue  noses,"  to  be  the  Andover,  bound 
from  New  Brunswick  for  Liverpool.  Though  some  of  us  took  the 
responsibility  of  ridiculing  the  timidity  of  the  unknown  skipper,  yet 
our  weatlier-wise  friends  concluded  that  he  must  have  just  escapetl 
from  a  gale,  of  which  we  were  very  likely  to  have  our  turn.     Within 

PART  I. 2 


h 


IS 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


* 


ri<:lii  and  forty  hours  ihoir  proiriio.sticiilioiis  wcro  vorificil  with  a  vcn- 

On  the  morninjr  of  our  ninth  day  Captain  .M'Kcllar  discovered  that 
tho  baroruj'HT  had  fallen  lielween  two  and  tliree  ineh(!S  duriticf  the 
tiifilit,  having  dtse(>n(h'(l  to  liCJ.iJ,  th«'  h)\vesl  point  which,  in  his  expe- 
rience, it  had  ev(!r  reached.  The  wind  i,n'athially  incroasiul  in  violence, 
lill.hy  three  in  tho  afternoon,  it  hlew  a  perfect  hurricane,  during  which, 
so  far  from  heiniif  ai)le  to  mount  the  riiririii<r,  the  crew  could  liardly  show 
themselves  on  deck,  unless  sheltered  from  the  fury  of  the  hlast.  One 
of  our  boats  was  swept  overboard;  part  of  our  cutwater  was  carried 
away;  much  of  our  canvas  was  torn  to  ra<js;  and  seven  of  our  men 
were  sev(;r(dy  injured.  Tlic  sea  had  risen  into  mountains,  whose 
whitened  crests,  sliorn  off  as  soon  as  formed,  were  scattered  throu<,di 
the  air  like  drifts  of  snow,  while  tho  solid  masses,  one  after  another, 
were  niakinuf  a  clean  breach  over  us.  The  sky,  as  if  its  murky  cur- 
tain rested  on  llu;  very  waters,  was  almost  as  dark  as  nii^ht;  the  rain 
fell  heavily;  and  our  ship, like  a"thin<,''  of  life,"  mi^ht  have  been  sup- 
posed to  siruifnh^  and  ij^roan  in  the  asronies  of  dissolution.  If  the  scene 
without  was  awful,  tho  scene  within  was  still  more  appalling  to  the 
nerves.  Passenj^ers  and  crew  alike  appeared  to  {jive  themselves  up  for 
lost:  and,  in  fa<*t,  the  more  experienced  annuisr  us,  as  bcinj^  more  sen- 
sil)le  of  the  extent  and  variety  of  our  perils,  laboured  under  greater 
Kirror  than  the  rest.  The  storm  came  from  all  the  points  of  the  com- 
pass in  succession,  coninieneinjr  at  N.  E.,  traveling  round  to  E.,  S. 
and  \V.,  and  finally  settling  about  N.  This  characteristic  of  the  tem- 
pest raised  such  a  cross  sea,  that,  even  when,  about  six  in  the  evening, 
the  wind  abated,  the  vessel  could  not  keep  her  course  ;  and  she  was, 
tiierefore,  laid  to  for  several  hours. 

On  the  second  day  thereafter,  the  sea  still  running  high  with  a  foul 
wind,  the  Caledonia,  in  a  heavy  pitch,  carried  away  her  jib-boom  ;  and, 
in  order  to  clear  the  wreck,  she  was  obliged  to  make  better  weather  of 
it  by  putting  about  a  litUe.  Within  four  and  twenty  hours  more,  a 
depth  of  fifty-three  fathoms  showed,  that  we  were  now  on  the  Banks 
of  Newfoundland.  Had  our  hurricane  caught  us  here  amid  the  short 
swell  of  the  shallow  waters,  we  should,  in  all  human  probability,  have 
met  the  same  fate  as  befell  the  unfortunate  President,  under  somewhat 
similar  circumstances,  in  this  very  storm. 

Towards  the  close  of  our  next  day's  dinner,  the  cry  of  "land"  sen^ 
the  hungriest  of  us  on  deck,  when  the  supposed  terra  firma  proved  to 
be  only  an  immense  field  of  ice,  which,  from  the  inequalities  of  its  sur- 
face, had  assumed,  with  a  little  help  from  refraction,  the  appearance  of 
a  wooded  country.  As  this  lloating  island  lay  in  our  very  path,  we 
were  obliged  to  round  it,  keeping  along  its  southern  shore ;  and  so  ex- 
tensive was  it,  that  we  did  not  get  tairly  rid  of  it  till  midnight.  Wiiile 
we  were  coasting  along  what  had  been  mistaken  for  land,  the  cry  of 
"light  ahead,"  turned  out  to  be  a  still  more  extraordinary  error.  As 
we  were  several  hundred  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Isle  des  Sables,  the 
announcement  in  question  excited  the  greatest  astonishment.  Seeing, 
however,  was  believing;  and  all  the  knowing  ones,  though  sorely  puz- 


■■:i    .*   .^ 


T. 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


19 


with  a  vcn- 

covered  tli;ii 
«  iluriiiir  the 
in  Ills  expo- 
I  in  violence, 
iiriiiir  wliieli. 
Iiiirdly  show 
hlast.     One 
was  carried 
of  our  men 
ains,  whose 
red  lhroii(rli 
tcr  anoilior, 
murky  cur- 
it;  the  rain 

0  been  sup- 
\f  the  scene 
linjr  to  the 
elves  up  for 
f  more  sen- 
der greater 
>f  the  coni- 
\  to  E.,  S. 
if  the  tem- 
le  evening, 
d  she  was, 

tvith  a  foul 
oom  ;  and, 
weather  of 
:s  more,  a 
the  Banks 

1  the  short 
ility,  have 
somewhat 

and"  sent 
proved  to 
of  its  sur- 
arance  of 
path,  we 
nd  so  ex- 
.     While 
le  cry  of 
•ror.     As 
ibles,  the 
Seeing, 
rely  puz- 


zl'^ '  as  to  the  cause  of  the  pheiintucnon,  did  yet  clearly  dislin^rnisli  a 
iii;i::.iificcnt  revolver.  'I'lie  |)addlcs  were  accor(lini,d}'  slopped  lo  have 
a  east  of  the  lead,  while  every  glass  on  hoard  was  ga/iu<r  iulenlly  in 
the  rii,dit  direction.  Hut,  in  a  short  time,  old  niodicr  earth  was  ascer- 
tained to  l)c  the  principal  revolv«r  in  the  case,  for,  in  ratiicr  less  than 
half  an  luMir,  the  unknown  light  proved  to  he  a  newly  risen  star.  This 
optical  illusion  was  (loui)iless  connected  with  tin;  proximity  of  the 
adjacent  irlacier  as  well  as  of  some  icelieriis  that  wi;  saw  al)out  the  same 
time;  and  the  aurord  horcd/ls,  whether  it  l)»'  an  o|itic;d  illusion  or  not, 
was  pecMiliarly  vivid  for  several  hours  during  the  iiiglit. 

AI)out  noon  on  the  eighteenth,  we  descried  the  dreary  shores  of 
Nova  Scotia,  covered  with  snow  and  lined  with  wo;  and  hy  live  in  tlie 
eveninjT,  after  a  run  of  precisely  fourteen  days,  we  entered  the  liarhor 
of  Halifax  amid  the  hearty  cheers  of  a  larire  coiu'ourse  of  '*  blue  noses." 
We  did  not,  however,  come  lo  our  moorings  bel'ore  hall-past  six,  fully 
half  an  hour  al't«>r  sunset.  Almost  immediately  afterwards,  the  IJrilan- 
nia,  beloniiiug  to  the  same  line  as  the  Caledonia,  canu"  into  port,  on  her 
homeward  voyage  I'rom  Hoslon  to  J'iUgland,  in  firder  to  receive  the  mail. 
Tlu!  simultaneous  arrival  of  two  large  steamers  naturally  threw  the 
town  into  a  state  of  great  animation  and  bustle,  more  particularly  as 
<'ach  of  them  woidd  transact  all  her  business  with  the  least  jxjssible 
delay,  or  rather  with  the  greatest  possible  exjx'dition. 

To  the  establislnuent  of  this  communication  between  the  two  conti- 
nents Halifax  owes  much  both  on  commercial  and  on  j)olitical  ijrouuils. 
Still,  however,  the  work  is  only  half  done,  lu  summer,  to  Ix;  sure,  the 
mails  are  conveyed  so  rapidly  to  (iuebec  by  steam,  that  the  first  lu'ws 
from  England  is  received  throughout  Canada  by  tliat  route  ;  but, 
during  the  winter,  tlu;  bags  are  dragged  over  such  wretched  roads,  that 
they  everywhere  meet,  as  stale  news,  tin;  letters  and  journals,  which 
have  accompanied  themselves  from  England  and  preferred  the  circuit- 
ous route  through  the  United  States  to  the  straight  cut  through  Hriiisli 
America. 

Of  this  flourishing  city  and  its  celebrated  haven  I  could  not  y)resumc 
to  oiler  any  opinion  after  a  nocturnal  visit  of  only  live  hours.     We 
started  again  for  Boston  soon  alter  eleven  in  the  eveninc  several  of  our 
'  passengers  having  left  us,  but  many  more  having  joined  us. 

On  the  forenoon  of  the  twentieth,  we  entered  IJoston  Hay.  The 
upper  end  of  the  inlet  presented  many  small  islands,  on  wliich  were 
tortilications,  not  yet  finished,  of  considerable  strenirth.  The  naviga- 
tion appeared  to  be  intricate;  but,  by  half-past  eleven,  we  were  safely 
moored,  having  accomplished  a  distance  of  three  hundred  and  ninety 
miles  from  Halifax  in  thirty-six  hours.  As  the  ollicers  of  the  customs 
allowed  our  baggage  to  pass  without  examination,  we  soon  found  our- 
selves in  the  heart  of  the  city,  which  was  full  of  life  and  busde.  There 
was  here  far  more  to  remind  me  of  home  than  anything  I  had  ever 
seen  m  New  York.  Even  before  landing,  the  gently  undulating  shores 
of  the  hay,  highly  cultivated  as  they  were,  and  partially  covered  with 
snow,  had  recalled  to  my  memory  the  white  clitrs  ami  green  hills  of 
England ;  and  within  the  town,  the  oldest  and  finest  iu  the  Union, 


H^ 


'\ 


.* 


M 


20 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVKR  SETTLEMENT. 


iA 


both  tlio  Ijuildinu?'  and  ihr  iiiluhitiiiits  had  a  pncnliarly  Enijlisli  air 
:il)()iil  them.  Moreover,  in  many  respects,  that  do  not  strike  the  oyc, 
IJostoii  r<'seriilih's  her  lalher-land.  S\w  is  the  centre  and  soul  of  those 
rehffions  eslahlishnients,  which  have  phiced  the  United  States  next  to 
(ireat  Britain  in  the  divine  task  of  shechhnir  on  the  nations  the  li^ht  of 
the  (iospel;  she  is  the  nursery  and  home  «)!'  most  of  those  commercial 


adventurers,  wlio  have  elevated  the  inlhience  ol'Ameri(;a  aliove  that  of 
Knirhmd  in  more  than  one  of  those  regions  which  lie  within  the  con- 
templated rauL^e  of  my  wanihMinu^s.  Hut  IJoston  has  more  of  Amcriea 
about  her, — as  well  as  mor(?  of  lOnifland, — than  any  one  of  her  repub- 
lican rivals.  It  was  in  her  town-hall  that  the  revolution  was  planned; 
it  was  from  her  quays  that  the  imports,  which  the  old  country  taxed, 
were  thrown  into  the  tide  ;  it  was  by  her  citizens  that  freedom's  first 
battle  was  I'oujflit  on  Bunker's  Hill.  Both  of  these  apparently  contra- 
dictory characteristi(;s  of  Boston  are  maiidy  owing  to  one  and  the  same 
cause.  'I'he  pilj^rim  fathers  were  republicans  in  feeling,  while  their 
ilescendanis  continued  to  be  so  under  a  practically  republican  constitu- 
tion ;  and  the  close  resend)lance  to  England  in  everything  but  the 
government  of  the  Church  and  the  State  was  the  natural  result  of  the 
fact,  that  the  (rolony,  of  which  Boston  was  the  caj)ital,  virtually  began 
her  career  as  a  portion  of  the  old  country,  by  receiving  into  her  bosom 
Jill  the  various  grades  and  classes  of  society  at  once. 

Alter  dining  at  the  Tremont,  an  excellent  hotel,  we  left  the  city  at 
five  in  the  afternoon  by  railway  for  Lowell,  the  Manchester  of  New 
England  ;  and,  proceeding  thence  by  a  similar  mode  of  conveyance, 
we  reached  Nashua,  distant  thirty-five  miles  from  Boston,  about  nine 
o'j'lock.  lu  1819  Lowell  was  a  mere  village  of  some  nineteen  houses 
in  all ;  but  now  it  contained,  in  connection  with  its  manufactories,  nine- 
teen thousand  inhabitants,  with  the  usual  concomitants  of  churches, 
hotels,  prisons,  banks,  &;c.  'I'he  country  was  industriously  cultivated 
and  densely  peopled. 

As  our  party,  by  the  addition  of  some  of  our  fellow  passengers  in 
the  Caledonia,  was  now  increased  to  fourteen,  we  formed  ourselves,  on 
starting  from  Nashua  in  the  morning,  into  two  detachments,  which 
pursued  different  roads  in  order  to  lessen  the  chances  of  famine  and 
detention.  One  band  dashed  oil'  in  a  sleigh  with  six  horses ;  and  the 
other,  to  which  I  belonged,  ratUed  along  in  a  coach  and  four.  We 
soon  passed  into  New  Hampshire,  which  was  hilly  and  well  settled; 
but  whether  or  not  it  was  skillfully  cultivated,  the  snow  prevented  us 
from  judging.  We  reached  Concord,  the  capital  of  the  State,  in  time 
for  a  rather  late  breakfast,  for  which  a  drive  of  thirty-five  miles  had 
thoroughly  appetised  us.  Here,  as  bad  luck  would  have  it,  we  ex- 
changed our  coach  for  a  sleigh.  For  the  first  few  miles  we  congratu- 
lated ourselves  on  the  improvement;  but  the  sun,  as  the  day  advanced, 
kept  thawing  the  snow,  till  at  last,  on  coming  to  a  deep  drift,  we  were 
repeatedly  obliged  to  get  out,  sometimes  walking  up  to  our  knees 
and  sometimes  helping  to  lift  the  vehicle  with  levers  out  of  the  snow. 
About  three  o'clock,  however,  we  fairly  stuck  fast  in  spite  of  all  our 
hoisting  and  hauling  and  pushing.     The  horses  struggled  and  plunged 


to  no 
tackle 
our  h 
severa 
lia 
slcigl 
kept 
with 

till!    S 

was 

from 

reaclu 

more 

good 

Out 
of  abi 
villasjc 


.'ii; 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RKD  RIVKR  SKTTLKMKNT. 


SI 


I'liiijIiHli  nir 
ko  ilio  oyc, 
Dill  of  those 
iitos  next  to 

tlio  li^ljt  ol 
coimuorcial 
>ovi;  tliat  ol 
lin  the  con- 
ol"  Amcrira 

her  rcpuh- 
is  planned ; 
ntry  taxed, 
(h)m's  first 
lily  contra- 
d  the  same 
while  their 
in  constitu- 
n^  but  the 
!sult  of  the 

I  ally  began 
her  bosom 

the  city  at 
er  of  New 
)nveyance, 
about  nine 
en  houses 
)ries,  nine- 
churches, 
cultivated 

sengers  in 
selves,  on 
ts,  which 
mine  and 
;  and  the 
3ur.     We 

II  settled ; 
vented  us 
e,  in  time 
niles  had 
t,  we  ex- 
congratu- 
idvanced, 

we  were 
ur  knees 
he  snow. 
)f  all  our 
I  plunged 


to  no  purpose,  rxceptiui!  that  ilu*  Iciulcrf,  after  Itreaking  part  of  the 
tackle,  jralloped  oil'  "over  the  hills  and  far  away,"  leaving  us  to  kick 
r  heels  in  the  .slush,  till  tliev  were  brouirht  hack  after  a  chase;  of 


oil 


several  miles. 


I 


Ilaviiiif  extricated  ourselves  by  placing  our  bacuage  on  another 
sleigh,  which  was  condesceiidiiiL'ly  ilriveii  by  "Captain"  Siniili,  w«! 
kept  rolliiiir  and  pilchiiiL',  till,  al)oiil  eleven  at  niifhi,  we  broke  down 
with  a  crash  in  a  deej)  drift.  Assistance  beinj:  procured,  the  body  of 
the  sleigh  was  mounte<l  on  a  clumsy  pair  of  rnniu'rs;  and,  as  the  ninht 
was  cold,  we  were  all  glad  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  save  onr  linjiers 
from  beiiiff  frost-bitten.  At  Lebanon,  a  village  of  l^iiakers,  which  we 
reached  about  half-past  one,  we  excliaiiirr'd  our  disabled  vehicle  for  a 
more  serviceable  sleigh,  consoling  ourselves  at  the  same  time  with  a 
good  supper. 

Our  road  was  somewhat  romantic,  being  cut  on  the  face  of  a  ranire 
of  abrupt  hills  that  overlooked  the  Connecticut  river.  U(>aching  tlu; 
village  of  Royalion  at  sunrise,  we  again  exchanged  our  vehicle  for  the 
equipage,  in  which  our  competitors  in  the  race  to  Motitreal  had  per- 
formed the  last  stage ;  and,  while  we  were  drawing  odious  comj)ari- 
sons  to  the  prejudice  of  our  new  outfit,  we  were  soon  put  in  better 
humor  by  lituling  in  the  bottom  of  the  sleigh  a  writing  desk  containing 
the  money  and  papers  of  one  of  my  own  oriirinal  companions,  who  had 
joined  the  other  detachment.  We  were  now  traveling  through  Ver- 
mont, the  State  of  green  mountains.  The  country  appeared  to  be  well 
worthy  of  its  name  ;  and  one  part  of  the  road  was  peculiarly  beautiful, 
l)assing  through  a  narrow  valley,  known  as  the  gorire,  between  steep 
hills  on  cither  side.  Montpelier,  where  we  breakfasted,  was  perhajis 
the  sweetest  spot  that  I  saw  on  my  travels,  looking  rather  like  the  resi- 
dence of  hereditary  ease  and  luxury  than  the  capital  of  a  young  republic, 
of  thrifty  graziers.  It  was,  in  fact,  an  asseml)lagc  of  villas.  The  wide 
streets  ran  between  rows  of  trees  ;  and  the  houses,  each  in  its  own  little 
garden,  were  shaded  by  verandahs.  IJy  eleven  at  night  we  overtook  our 
friends  at  the  American  Hotel  in  Burlington,  on  Lake  Chainplain. 
After  supper,  at  which  each  party  recounted  to  the  other  its  various 
perils  by  "Hood  and  field,"  we  retired  about  one  o'clock  to  obtain  a 
little  repose  after  forty-two  hours  of  hard  jolting,  leaving  orders  to  call 
us  at  five  in  the  morning.  Foi  •  hours  being  very  scanty  allowance  of 
sleep  for  two  whole  days,  I  was  not  surprised  at  being  nearly  as 
drowsy  as  ever  when  I  was  roused  by  a  peal  of  blows  at  uiy  door.  In 
spite,  however,  of  laziness,  and  a  cold  morning  to  boot,  I  had  com- 
pleted the  operations  of  washing  and  dressing  by  candle  light,  having 
even  donned  hat  and  gloves  to  join  my  companions,  when  tin;  waiter 
entered  my  room  with  a  grin.  "I  guess,"  said  the  rascal,  "I've  put 
my  foot  in  it;  are  you  the  man  that  wanted  to  be  called  at  two  f 
"No,"  was  my  reply.  "Then,"  said  he,  "I  calculate  I've  fixed  the 
wrong  man,  so  you  had  better  go  to  bed  again."  Ilaviiiir  delivered 
himself  of  this  friendly  advice,  he  went  to  awaken  my  neighbor,  who 
had  all  this  time  been  quietly  enjoying  the  sleep  that  properly  belonged 
to  me.     Instead  of  following  the  fellow's  recommendation,  I  sat  up  for 


u 


>■ 


22 


FROM   LONDON  TO  UEf)  RIVKU  SETTLKMklNT. 


tlio  rest  of  ilic  iiitrlit,  think  inn  :>n  hour's  nnonz*'  hardly  worth  the;  trouhlr 
of  rultliiiiii  my  «\vcs  ;i  second  liinr. 

In  the  altcrnoon,  an  hour  or  mo  alter  pasNini;  the  town  of  IIi^h|;atr, 
the  oiitpohtN  ol  one  of  our  ni^inicnts,  that  were  stationed  in  a  dark 
forrst,  ^'ho\ved  ns  that  we  h:id  i[<»t  ln'yond  the  iVontier.  At  three  in 
the   niornini:   we  «*rossed   the   Uirheheii, — whieh  empties  Lake  Chani- 


plain   nito   tlu; 


St.  I. 


iiwrenee,  liv  a  wooden  hndije 


thn 


e-(|iiarlers  ol   a 


iniii!  in  lentith,  a  yood  deal  the  worse  of  the  wear.  Heini;  now  in  the 
villaire  ol  St.  .loiin's,  one  or  two  of  ns  went  ahead  to  the  principal  inn  ; 
and,  as  our  knockintr  and  shontinir  elicited  no  answer,  we  enforced  onr 
noisy  salutations  hy  addinif,  that  there  were  fourteen  more  c<)niini,'  with 
a  wlnde  host  of  drivers.  When  at  JiMiirih  we  elfj-cted  an  entraner, 
cairerly  demandini;  fires  and  suppers,  the  landlord  was  not  to  he  found. 
On  r-xaniiniuL'  the  premises,  his  lair  was  warm,  and  his  clothes,  down 
cvi'n  to  the  indispcMisahh;  irarnuMit,  were  all  waitinir  their  owner's  ap- 
pearanco  more  patiently  than  \\v  were.  The  estahlisliment  was  searched 
upstairs  and  downstairs,  inside  and  outside,  while  the  luckless  man's 
i)rother  wantlered  ahout  the  very  jihost  of  despair:  and  we  were  in- 
clined to  reproach  ourselv<!S  as  the  innocent  cause  of  the  domestic 
trajredy.  In  a  few  niimites,  Imwever,  did  "mine  host"  return  with  a 
fac(!  wreathed  in  the  hiandest  smiles.  'J'he  mystery  was  now  quickly 
explained.  The  election  had  tak(;n  place;  the;  day  hefore,  accompanied 
hy  much  riotinir;  and  the  landlord,  havinif  zealously  es|)oused  tlu;  eaiiac 
of  the  successful  ••andidate,  had  heen  threatened  with  all  sorts  ol"  vcn- 
fToance  hy  the  losin<^  party.  Th(>  doomed  innkeeper  had  accordinnrly 
considered  us,  mon;  |)arlicularly  after  the  aimounceuMMit  of  our  num- 
bers, as  the  hearers  of  ids  death-warrant,  hrimfidl,  of  course,  of  wrath 
and  whisky;  aiul,  as  the  fiercest  lirc-ealer  would  hav(!  done  in  his 
place,  he  snni}£i,ded  himself  away  for  dear  life  into  some  unmentionable 
and  inscrutable  corner  or  other. 

This  litde  adventure  and  our  keen  appetites  tofirother,  made  us  forijet 
our  fatijTiies  over  a  substantial  meal,  supper  and  l)reakfast  in  one  ;  and, 
finding  all  the  beds  engaged,  we  continue*!  our  journey  to  ],:\  Prairie, 
and  thence  across  the  ice  of  the  St.  Ijuwrence  to  Montreal.  In  travers- 
ing the  noble  river,  wc  enjoyed,  jjcrhaps,  the  best  view  of  the  metro- 
polis of  the  Canadas,  rising  from  the  water's  edge  up  the  iinincdiale 
bank  of  the  stream,  and  then  stretching  away  along  the  face  of  the 
higher  ground  behind.  If  the  aspect  of  the  city  be  grander  from  the 
mountain,  as  it  is  called,  in  the  rear  at  any  given  point,  the  sight  from 
that  i)art  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  which  we  passed,  is  superior  in  this 
rcs|)ect,  that,  besides  being  nearly  as  complete,  at  every  instant  it 
rapidly  evolves  an  endless  variety  during  a  race  of  aI)out  seven  miles. 
On  ibis  flourishing  emporium  1  shall  oiler  only  this  single  remark,  that 
it  contrasts,  as  if  in  a  nut-shell,  the  characteristic  qualities  of  the  two 
races  that  inhabit  it.  The  French  were  the  original  possessors  of  the 
city,  while  the  English  at  lirst  found  themselves  to  be  houseless  strang- 
ers in  a  strange  land.  IJut  the  latter  have  I'orced  their  way  by  inches 
from  tlu^  water's  c(.\(tc  into  nearly  all  that  constituted  Montreal,  in  the 
days  ol'  Wolfe  and  Amherst ;  and  the  former  have  been  driven  from 


lucrcil 
Onl 

navigl 
Law 

there 
charnl 
don. 
were 
loin  i| 

In 
nectr(| 
nchM 
pariy 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RKD  RIVKR  8ETTLKMKNT. 


23 


I  llu!  trouble 

I  Miijliirritr, 
I  ill  a  (l:irk 
At  tlirt'i'  in 
I'll*!'  Cliarii- 
larlcrs  of  a 
"•»w  ill  tho 
M('i|)al  inn  ; 
ilMrrcd  (Mir 
MIliMir  with 
1  (  niranco, 
»  1)0  ((Mind, 
iln's,  down 
wikm's  ap- 
i>^  M'arrlieil 
I'ss  man's 
'  wrro  in- 
;  ilonicstic 
II III  will)  a 
w  (|ni«rkly 
'ompanird 

I  tlu!  cause 
ris  of  ven- 
rcordinfrly 

our  num- 
,  of  wrath 
UK!  in  his 
Mitiouable 

;  us  forjrpt 
i>iio  ;  and, 
a  i'rairie, 

II  travors- 
ic  motro- 
iiuncdiafe 
'0  of  the 

from  the 
i^^ht  ii-om 
»r  in  this 
instant  it 
on  miles, 
lark, that 

the  two 
rs  of  the 
IS  stran«T- 
y  inches 
)1,  in  the 
I'cn  I'rotn 


their  ancient  neatu  into  the  newer  Heclions  of  the  city,  hcinu  ur;nlually 
joHiled  uiit,  even  there,  from  everything  like  a  ihorou^difarc  of  com- 


merce 


On  the  first  of  May,  ll 


le  H<'asnn  hemi;  Jiutr* 


hack 


ward  than  ii<ii  il,  Ihi* 


n:i\itratiiMi  was  no  far  open  ;is  to  pcriiiil  (he  HhMmcrN  to  |ily  on  the  Si. 
i<awrence  aH  far  as  ncauii  iriiois  and  ( 'Jiateaiiiriiav  ;  and  on  that  dav. 
iherclore,  the  heavy  canoes  were  dispatched  for  the  interior,  under  the 
char(.n'  of  (Mie  of  the  ^enthiiD-n  who  h:id  acconipanicd  me  from  l.on- 
:  lion.  The  wt.'ather  was  still  cohl  and  ummIciiIv  ;  patches  of  deep  snow 
were  to  he  neen  ;  and  nci'hcr  nieatli/W  nor  bush  display»'d  ;iny  symp- 
tom of  rcviviuL'  veufetatiiMi. 

In  the  huht  canoes  I  was  to  have  several  lellow  lrav«lers  not  con- 
iieded  with 'I'he  Hudson's  llay  ( 'om|iany's  service.  .My  friend,  ('olo- 
nel  ( )hiliel(l,  head  of  tlu!  en<;ineer  de|)artiiient  in  Canada,  was  to  accom- 
pany me,  aloiiK  with  his  aich'-de-camp,  .Mr.  ilaiidiriiiLTc.  as  far  as  Lake 
.\ipissm<f,  in  order  lo  survey  the  country  with  respeel  to  the  means  of 
Tiaviiration ;  and  thr-  Marls  of  Caledon  and  .Mulirrave  were  to  be  my 
lellow  travelers  all  the  way  to  lic-d  River  Setih-menl,  whenci;  they 
were  to  proceed  to  hunt  the  bullalo. 

lender  these  circumstances  our  departure  excited  more  than  ordinary 

interest;  and,  accordinirly,  on  the  inorniiiif  of  the  fourth  of  May,  many 

Irieiuls  of  uiv  lellow  travelers  and   mvself,  caiiu!  out  to  Lacliine  to  an 

early  breakfast,  in  order  to  witness  our  start   for  the  wilderness.      Ily 

nine  o'clock,  our  two  canoes  were  lloatiiij:  in  front  «)f  the  house  on  the 

l.achiiio  canal,  constructed  to  avoid   the  famous  rapids   of  St.  I,ouis. 

The  crews,  thirteen  men  to  the  one   vessel,  ami  fourteen  to  the  other. 

,    consisted    partly  of  Canadians,  but  principally  of  Iro(piois,  from  the 

'■    o[)[iosile  villajro  of  Kaui.dmawaifa,  the  whole  beinj,'  under  the  char<fe  of 

my  olil  and  faithful   follower,  iMorin.     To  do  credit  to  the  <'oncern  in 

th(!  eyes  of  the  stranjrers,  the  voyajreurs  had  been  kept  as  sober  as  voy- 

aireurs  could  b(!  ke|)t  on  such  an  occasion  ;  and  each  one  had  been  sup- 

jilied  with  a  feather  for  his  cap.     This  was  all  very  line;  but  tlie  poor 

;U   tellows  were  .sadly  disappointed,  that  a  northwester,  which  was  blow- 

intr.  prevented  the  hoistinjr  of  our  llays. 

'I'he  canoes,  those  tiny  vehicles  of  an  amphibious  naviiration,  are 
constructed  in  the  followin<r  manner.  The  outside  is  formed  of  tlu! 
thick  and  touirh  bark  of  the;  l)irch,  the  she(;ts  beiu};  sewed  totrether  with 
the  root  of  the  pine  tree  split  into  threads,  and  the!  seams  being  liummeil 
to  make  them  air  tiirht.  The  siunwales  are  of  j)iiie  or  cedar,  of  about 
three  inches  scpiare  ;  and  in  their  lower  edges  are  inserted  the  ribs; 
made;  of  thin  pieces  of  wood  bent  to  a  semicircle.  IJelween  the  ril).-- 
and  the  bark  is  a  coatiujr  of  lathiii<r,  which,  besides  wardiiitr  oirinternal 
injury  Iroin  the  fragile  covcrinis  serves  to  impart  a  lirniness  to  tlie  ves- 
sel, 'i'liese  canoes  are  generally  about  thirty-live  feet  from  stem  l(» 
stern  ;  and  they  are  live  feet  wide  in  the  centre,  gradually  tapering  to  a 
point  at  each  end,  where  they  are  r;iised  aljout  a  foot.  When  loaded, 
they  draw  scarcely  eighteen  inches  of  water;  and  they  weigh  between 
Ifl      t'lrf't'  hundred  and  four  hundred  pounds. 

When  all  was  ready,  the  passengers  embarked,  the  centre  of  each 


h 


■i 


I. 


""9f^ 


•24 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


canoe  beinjT  appropriated  to  their  accommodation.  In  the  first  canoe 
tlie  two  noblemen  and  myself  took  our  seals  ;  and  the  second  contained 
('olonel  Oldfield,  Mr.  Hainbri<rge,  our  Russian  companion,  and  Mr. 
Hopkins.  At  ten  minutes  before  eleven,  the  men  struck  up  one  of 
their  hereditary  ditties  ;  and  off  we  went  amid  the  cheers  and  adieus  of 
our  assembled  friends. 

As  the  wind  was  high,  the  waves  of  the  St.  Lawrence  rather  resem- 
bled those  of  the  sea  than  of  a  river,  while,  borne  on  the  biting  gale, 
the  snow  drifted  heavily  in  our  faces.  At  Point  Claire,  where  we 
dined,  we  luckily  obtained  the  shelter  of  a  roof  through  the  politeness 
of  Mr.  Charlebois,  whose  wife  proved  to  be  an  old  friend  of  mine, 
being  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Dease,  the  northern  discoverer,  one  of  the  gen- 
tlemen who  had  accompanied  me  across  the  Atlantic.  At  St.  Anne's 
rapid,  on  the  Ottawa,  we  neither  sang  our  evening  hymn,  nor  bribed 
the  lady  patroness  with  shirts,  caps,  &;c.,  for  a  propitious  journey.  In 
fact,  the  age  of  chivalry  was  gone.  In  the  Lake  of  the  Two  Mountains 
we  found  our  heavy  canoes,  now  three  days  out  from  Lachine,  still 
wind-bound ;  and,  j:fter  bidding  them  good-by,  with  our  lighter  craft, 
and  stronger  crews,  we  reached  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  esta- 
blishment at  half-past  six.  On  approaching  the  land,  we  were  saluted 
by  the  one  cannon  of  the  fort,  v/hile  Mr.  M'Tavish  waited  on  the 
wharf  to  give  us  a  hearty  welcome;  and,  on  reaching  the  house,  we 
were  kindly  received  by  Mrs.  M'Tavish.  After  being  resuscitated  by 
warm  fires  and  an  excellent  supper,  we  spread  our  bedding  on  the 
floor. 

Being  trammeled  by  a  roof,  we  indulged  ourselves  to  the  unusually 
late  hour  of  half-past  two  ;  and  even  then  we  lost  a  little  time  in  search- 
ing for  some  of  our  men,  who,  according  to  custom  in  such  cases,  were 
out  of  the  way.  In  consequence  of  the  height  of  the  water,  the  forest 
along  the  bank  appeared  to  grow  out  of  a  lake.  At  the  foot  of  the 
Long  Sault,  a  succession  of  rapids  of  about  twelve  miles  in  length,  we 
breakfasted.  Soon  afterwards  we  reached  the  Lock  of  Carrillon,  the 
first  of  a  series  of  artificial  works,  erected  by  government  to  avoid  the 
rapids  in  question,  passing  through  the  whole,  without  delay  or  expense, 
as  part  and  parcel  of  Colonel  Oldfield's  suite.  In  the  lake  above  Gren- 
ville,  into  which  these  works  conducted  us,  we  met  a  steamer  gliding 
so  gently  and  silently  along,  that  she  might  almost  be  supposed  to  have 
gone  astray  on  these  once  secluded  waters. 

Next  morning,  after  toiling  for  six  hours,  we  breakfasted  at  eight, 
with  the  wet  ground  for  our  table,  and  with  rain  in  place  of  milk,  to 
cool  our  tea.  By  one  in  the  afternoon,  while  attempting  to  pass  close 
under  the  Falls  of  the  Rideau,  we  were  swept  into  the  middle  of  the 
river  by  the  violence  of  the  current,  our  gunwales  being  covered  with 
the  foam  that  floated  on  the  water.  These  falls  are  about  fifty  feet 
in  height  and  three  hundred  in  breadth,  being  then  more  magnificent 
than  usual  by  reason  of  the  high  state  of  the  waters.  It  is  from  their 
resemblance  to  a  curtain  that  they  are  distinguished  as  the  Rideau ; 
and  they  also  give  this  name  to  the  river  that  feeds  them,  which  again 
lends  the  same  appellation  to  the  canal  that  connects  the  Ottawa  with 


:# 


-,:SA 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


25 


[irst  cnnoe 
contained 
and  Mr. 
up  one  of 
1  adieus  of 

icr  resein- 
iting  gale, 
vhere  we 
politeness 
of  mine, 
•f  the  gen- 
It.  Anne's 
lor  bribed 
rney.  In 
fountains 
hine,  still 
hter  craft, 
ny's  esta- 
re  saluted 
d  on  the 
louse,  we 
jitated  by 
ig  on  the 

inusually 
n  search- 
ses,  were 
he  forest 
ot  of  the 
ngth,  we 
illon,  the 
ivoid  the 
expense, 
ve  Gren- 
r  gliding 
to  have 

at  eight, 
milk,  to 
iss  close 
c  of  the 
'ed  with 
ifty  feet 
niticent 
m  their 
Ridoau ; 
'h  again 
va  with 


-3^ 


I,ake  Ontario.  Through  a  wide  and  smooth  reach  of  the  stream  we 
came  to  the  Chaudicre  Ra{)ids  in  an  lumr,  forming  the  lowest  of  a 
series  of  impediments  which  extends  upwards  to  the  lake  of  the  same 
name.  Between  the  Rideau  and  the  Chaiidicre,  there  is  a  remarkable 
contrast.  Though  the  former  is  a  mere  fall  of  water  from  one  level 
to  another,  yet  the  latter  presents  a  desperate  struggle  of  the  majestic 
Ottawa,  leaping,  with  a  roar  of  thunder,  from  letlge  to  ledge  and  from 
rock  to  rock,  till  at  last,  wearied,  as  it  were,  with  its  bufletings,  it 
sinks  exhausted  into  the  placid  pool  below. 

At  the  outlet  of  the  canal,  which  is  situated  between  the  Rideau  and 
the  Chaudiere,  stands  JJytown,  named  after  my  late  much  valued 
friend,  Colonc;!  By  of  tiie  Engineers,  while,  on  the  opposite  bank,  the 
ground  above  tiie  Chaudiere,  is  occupied  by  the  once  flourishing  village 
of  Hull,  ihe  creation  of  an  enterprising  backwoodsman  of  New  Eng- 
land of  the  name  of  Wright. 

Up  to  Chaudiere  Lake  the  canoes  were  sent  perfectly  light  by  water, 
while  the  baggage  and  the  passengers  were  conveyed  on  wheels  to  tiie 
prettily  situated  village  of  Aylmer.  Being  here  rejoined  by  our  litde 
squadron,  we  encamped  up  the  lake  on  the  grounds  of  my  friend. 
General  Lloyd,  from  whose  hospitable  mansion  our  tea-table,  if  the 
bottom  of  a  tent  could  be  deemed  such,  was  provided,  not  for  the  first 
time  in  my  voyaging  experience,  with  the  luxuries  of  milk  and  cream. 
Here  the  bull-frogs,  gathering  new  vigour  from  the  light  of  our  fires, 
serenaded  us  all  night  to  our  infinite  annoyance.  Soon  after  sunrise 
we  made  a  portage  round  Les  Chutes  des  Chats  into  the  rapids,  which 
terminate  the  lake  of  the  same  name.  In  the  course  of  the  day  we 
had  heavy  work  with  a  succession  of  difficult  portages,  breakfasting  on 
the  first  and  meeting  on  tiie  second  my  trusty  half-breed  guide,  Ber- 
nard, who  here  came  into  my  canoe,  while  Morin  was  transferred  to 
the  other.  The  last  of  the  series,  the  Grand  Calumet,  we  were 
oblig(Hl  to  leave  for  next  morning's  amusement,  though  it  was  only 
half  a  mile  distant. 

Our  encampment  would  have  formed  a  rich  and  varied  subject  for  a 
painter's  brush.  Our  tents  were  pitched  in  a  small  clump  of  pines, 
while  round  a  blazing  fire  the  passengers  were  collected  amid  a  medley 
of  boxes,  barrels,  pots,  cloaks,  &c. ;  and  to  the  left,  on  a  rock  above 
the  foaming  rapids,  were  lying  the  canoes,  the  men  flitting  athwart 
their  own  separate  fire  as  actively  as  if  they  had  enjoyed  a  holiday, 
and  anxiously  watching  a  huge  cauldron  that  was  suspended  over  the 
flames  by  three  poles.  The  foreground  consisted  of  two  or  three 
magnificent  trees  on  a  slight  eminence;  and  the  background  was 
formed  by  dense  woods  and  a  gleaming  lake. 

It  was  six  in  the  morning  before  we  left  the  Grand  Calumet  behind 
us;  and  thence  we  proceeded  without  Airther  impediment  to  Fort 
Coulonge,  distant  about  two  hundred  and  ten  miles  from  Montreal. 
Some  of  us  had  looked  forward  to  this  place  with  a  good  deal  of 
interest,  as  a  short  halt  would  here  be  necessary  in  order  to  transact 
business  and  receive  supplies.  In  addition  to  Mr.  Sivewright,  who 
was  in  charge  of  the  establishment,  I  hero  met  Mr.  Cameron,  another 


:% 


26 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


II! 


of  tlic  company's  oiTicfrs!,  who  had  come  all  the  way  from  his  own 
station,  Lake  'J'tMniscanuMifi,  to  wait  my  arrival.  As  the  latter  gentle- 
man accompanietl  us  on  our  departure,  with  his  canoe  and  live  men, 
our  party  now  became  quite  formidable,  muslerinir  forty  persons  in 
all.  Alter  makinjx  portaj^a's  at  several  rapids,  and  amonw  them  the 
jusUy  admired  ('ulle  lJutt(!,  racing:  round  the  base  of  a  rocky  hill  in  a 
very  narrow  chaniul,  we  encamped  for  the  night  at  the  entrance  of 
Lac  des  Allumettes. 

In  the  morninir. — the  mornintj,  be  it  observed,  of  the  ninth  of  May,— 
tlie  water  was  crusted  witli  ice  thick  enoujrh  to  r(M|uire  the  aid  of 
poles  in  ordcir  to  break  a  path  for  the  canoes.  After  touching  at  the 
company's  post  on  the  borders  of  the  lake,  we  halted  at  live,  being 
three  hours  earlier  than  usual,  for  breakfast,  that  the  sun  might  do 
our  work  for  us  by  nu'lting  away  our  icy  barrier.  AVe  soon  stumbled 
on  another  obstacle  in  the  sliapeof  a  boom,  jilaced  athwart  the  river  by 
the  lumberers  of  the  nei'jhborliood.  The  custom  among  these  hardy 
fellows  is  for  each  person  to  j)lace  his  mark  on  his  own  timber,  when 
he  fells  it  in  the  winter;  the  logs  are  tiien  (lrag«red  to  the  banks  of  the 
river  over  tlie  snow,  there  remaiiiing  to  be  wafted  by  the  rising  of  the 
waters  to  the  nearest  boom.  At  this  common  point  of  union,  each 
lumberer  combines  first  his  sticks  into  cril)s,  and  then  his  cril)S  into 
rafts, — the  latti'r  being  like  lloating  hamlets  with  four  or  live  huts,  and 
a  population  of  twenty  or  thirty  men.  In  descending  a  rapid,  the  raft 
is  again  separated  into  its  cradles,  each  cradle  generally  carrying  its 
own  proportion  of  the  crew;  and  in  some  places,  at  the  Joachin,  for 
instance,  all  fastenings  are  untied  so  as  to  let  the  trees  take  their 
chance,  one  by  one,  down  the  unmanageable  surges. 

These  lumberers  may  be  considered  as  the  pioneers  of  that  com- 
merce, which  cannot  fail  ere  long  to  liud  its  way  up  this  noble  river, 
abounding,  as  it  does,  in  every  conceivable  requisite  for  trade  and  agri- 
culture, such  as  water-power,  abundance  of  timber,  good  climate  and 
a  variety  of  soil,  sandy,  stony  and  rich.  The  scenery  is  generally 
picturesque,  here  rising  in  lolty  rocks  and  there  clothed  with  forests 
to  the  water's  edge  ;  and  the  whole,  being  now  deserted  by  its  ancient 
lords,  is  left  free  to  the  civilizing  inlluencea  of  the  axe  and  the  plough. 
In  the  course  of  this  day  and  the  next  we  made  several  portages, 
reaching  about  live  ni  the  afternoon,  the  point  at  which  the  Matawa 
flows  into  the  Ottawa  from  the  south-west.  This  spot  might  be  con- 
sidered as  the  first  grand  hinge  in  our  rout.  We  were  here  to  leave 
the  magnificent  stream,  on  which  we  had  accomplislied  the  entire  dis- 
tance of  nearly  four  hundred  miles,  for  even  at  Lachine,  and  still 
farUier  tlown,  the  two. great  rivers  of  Canada,  the  Ottawa  with  its 
earthy  yellow,  and  the  St.  I^awrence  with  its  lake-l)orn  blue,  are 
nearly  as  distinct  from  each  other  as  when  rushing  to  their  conlluence 
down  their  respective  channels.  At  tiiis  place  was  a  small  post 
belonging  to  the  company,  where  we  left  Mr.  Hainbriggc  to  await  the 
arrival  of  a  small  canoe,  which  I  had  ordered  to  follow  us  from  Fort 
Coulonge  to  secure  the  retreat  of  Colonel  Oldlield  ;  and  as  soon  as  his 
little  vessel  arrived,  he  was  to  follow,  and,  if  possible,  to  overtake  us. 


At 

up  a  1 
one 
lessni 
inoruj 
occuil 
that 
whilil 
l{e[ 
offer 
journi 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


27 


1  his  own 
tcr  gentle- 
five  men, 
persons  in 
them  the 
y  liill  in  a 
ntrance  of 

af  May, — 
he  aid  of 

linjT  at  the 

live,  heinir 

might  do 

stumhled 

0  river  hy 
ese  hardy 
)er,  when 
iks  of  the 
iig  of  the 
lion,  each 
•ribs  into 
huts,  and 
il,  the  raft 
rrying  its 
lehin,  for 
ike   tiieir 

hat  com- 
)le  river, 
and  agri- 
iiate  and 
jenerallv 

1  forests 
ancient 
plough. 

lortages, 
Ma  taw  a 
be  eon- 
to  leave 
ilire  (lis- 
ind  still 
with  ii'i 
hie,  are 
liluenee 
ill  post 
I'ail  the 
ni  Fort 
II  as  his 
ke  us. 


At  one  of  the  rapids  below  Matawa,  the  heavy  canoes,  which  came 
up  a  few  days  after  ourselves,  lost  a  very  valuable  ch(!stof  medicines, — 
one  of  the  very  few   accidents  which  could  be  imputed  to   the  care- 


lessness o 


fa  v( 


yaireur  during  the  long  course  ol  my  experience. 


T 


inorniiiLN    however,    wc;    were    reminded    that    serious    disasters 
[ht 


us 
hml 


occurred  and  miglit  o(;eur  again,  for  we  breakfasted   near  two  crosses, 
I    that  had  been  placed  over  the  bodies  of  two  nien  who  were  drowned, 
while  running  the  adjacent  rapid. 

IJelbre  bidiiiiig  good-by  to  our  old  friend  the  Ottawa,  let  me  here 
I  offer  a  description  of  a  day's  march,  as  a  general  specimen  of  the  whole 
journev.  'I'o  begin  with  the  most  important  part  of  our  proceedings, 
the  business  of  encanii)ing  for  our  brief  niirJit,  we  selected,  about  sun- 
down, some  dry  and  tolera!)ly  clear  s[)ot;  and  immediately  on  landing, 
tl'.e  sound  of  the  axe  would  be  ringing  through  the  wood,  as  the  men 
were  felling  whole  trees  ior  our  fires,  and  pre[)arinLf.  if  necessary,  a 
space  for  our  tents.  In  less  than  ten  minutes  our  three  lodges  would 
^-  be  pitched,  each  with  such  a  blaze  in  front,  as  virtually  imparted  a 
new  sense  of  enjoyment  to  all  the  young  campaigners,  while  through 
th(!  crackling  flames  miirht  be  seen  the  reciuisiie  number  of  pots  and 
ketdes  for  our  supper.  Our  beds  wen'  next  laid,  consisting  of  an  oil- 
I  cloth  spread  on  the  bare  earth,  with  three  blankets  and  a  jjillow,  and, 
when  occasion  demanded,  with  cloaks  and  great-coats  at  discretion  ; 
and  whether  the  wind  howled  or  the  rain  poured,  our  pavilions  of  can- 
vas formed  a  safe  barrier  against  the  weather.  While  part  of  our 
crews,  comj)rising  all  the  landsmen,  were  doing  duty  as  stokers,  and 
;;:  cooks,  and  architects,  and  chandjcrmaids,  the  more  experienced  voya- 
'  gcurs,  after  unloadiiiir  the  canoes,  had  drawn  them  on  the  beach  with 
their  bottoms  upwards  to  inspect,  and,  if  needful,  to  renovate  the 
stitching  and  the  gumming;  and  as  the  little  vessels  were  made  to 
incline  on  one  side  to  windward,  each  with  a  roaring  fire  to  leeward, 
tlie  crews,  every  man  in  his  own  single  blanket,  managed  to  set  wind, 
and  rain,  and  cold  at  defiance,  almost  as  ell(M;tually  as  ours(,'lves. 
Weather  permitting,  our  slumbers  would  be  broken  about  one  in  the 
morning  by  the  cry  of  "/>ei7'.'  levc'  hveT^  In  five  minutes,  woe  to 
the  inmates  that  were  slow  in  dressing,  the  tents  were  tumbling  about 
our  ears;  and  within  half  an  hour  the  camp  would  be  raised,  the 
canoes  laden,  and  the  paddles  keeping  time  to  some  merry  old  song. 
About  eiirlit  o'clock,  a  convenient  place  would  be  selected  for  break- 
fast, about  tliree-cpiarters  of  an  hour  being  allotted  for  the  multifarious 
operations  of  unpacking  and  repacking  the  eiiuipaixe,  laying  and  remov- 
ing the  cloth,  boiling  and  frying,  eating  ami  drinking;  and,  while  the 
preliminaries  were  arranging,  the  hardier  amouL""  us  would  wash  and 
shave,  euch  person  carrying  soaj)  and  towel  in  his  pocket,  and  finding 
a  mirror  in  the  same  sandy  or  rocky  basin  that  held  the  water.  About 
two  in  the  afternoon  we  usually  put  ashore  for  dinner;  and  as  this 
meal  needeil  no  lire,  or  at  least  got  none,  it  was  not  allowed  to  occupy 
'lan  twenty  miiuites  or  half  an  hour.  Such  was  the  routine  of 
rney,  the  day,  generally  speaking,  being  divided  into  six  hours 
and  eighteen  of  labor.     This  almost  incredible  toil  the  voy- 


1^1 


■■  *  ■,*'..-i 


I* 


28 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


affeiirs  boro  ^vithout  a  miirmur,  and,  almost  invariably,  with  surh  an 
hilarity  of  spirit,  as  few  othor  inon  could  sustain  for  a  sinjjle  I'ortMioon. 

IJut  the  quality  of  the  work,  even  more  decidedly  than  the  quantity, 
requires  operatives  of  iron  mould.  In  smooth  water  the  paddle  is 
plied  with  twice  the  rapidity  of  the  oar,  taxing  both  arms  and  luncs  to 
the  utmost  extent;  amid  shallows,  the  canoe  is  literally  drajmed  by 
the  men  wadinji  to  their  knees  or  to  their  loins,  while  each  poor  fellow, 
after  replacing  his  drier  half  in  his  seat,  laughinjrly  shakes  the  heaviest 
of  the  wet  from  his  legs  over  the  gunwale,  before  he  again  gives  them 
an  inside  berth  ;  in  rapids,  the  towing  line  has  to  be  hauled  along  over 
rocks  and  stumps,  through  swamps  and  thickets,  excepting  that  when 
the  ground  is  utterly  impracticable,  poles  are  substituted,  and  occasion- 
ally, also,  the  bushes  on  the  shore.  Again  on  the  portages,  where  the 
breaks  are  of  all  imaginable  kinds  and  degrees  of  badness,  the  canoes 
and  their  cargoes  are  never  carried  across  in  less  than  two  or  three 
trips,  the  litUc  vessels  alone  monopolizin<r,  on  the  first  turn,  the  more 
expert  half  of  their  respective  crews.  Of  the  baggage,  each  man  has 
to  carry  at  least  two  pieces,  estimated  at  a  hundred  and  eighty  pounds 
avoirdupois,  which  he  suspends  in  slings  of  leather  placed  across  the 
forehead,  so  that  he  has  his  hands  free  to  clear  the  way  among  the 
branches  of  the  standing  trees,  and  over  the  prostrate  trunks.  But,  in 
addition  to  the  separate  labors  of  the  land  and  the  water,  the  poor  fel- 
lows have  to  endure  a  combination  of  both  sorts  of  hardship  at  least 
three  or  four  times  every  day.  The  canoes  can  seldom  approach  near 
enough  to  enable  the  passengers  to  step  ashore  from  the  gunwale ;  and 
no  sooner  is  a  halt  made  than  the  men  are  in  the  water  to  ferry  us  to 
dry  ground  on  their  backs.  In  this  unique  department  of  their  duty 
they  seem  to  take  pride  ;  and  a  little  fellow  often  tries  to  get  posses- 
sion of  the  heaviest  customer  in  the  party,  considerably  exceeding,  as 
has  often  been  the  case  in  my  experience,  the  standard  aforesaid,  of 
two  pieces  of  baggage. 

To  return  to  our  voyage  up  the  Matawa,  I  could  not  help  remarking 
the  influence  of  the  state  of  the  weather  on  a  traveler's  estimate  of 
scenery.  Under  our  sunny  sky.  the  wmding  banks,  wooded,  in  every 
bay  and  on  every  point,  down  to  the  water's  edge,  were  charmingly 
doubled,  as  it  were,  in  the  smooth  and  transparent  stream,  while  Cap- 
,  tain  Back,  under  the  iiorrors  of  a  heavy  shower,  described  this  as  the 
most  dismal  spot  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  as  a  fit  residence  only  for 
the  demon  of  despair.  Rain,  be  it  observed,  is  a  comparative  trifle, 
while  one  enjoys  the  shelter  of  an  oil-cloth  in  the  canoe.  The  misery 
hardly  begins  to  be  felt  till  you  are  deposited,  with  all  your  seams  ex- 
posed to  the  weather,  on  the  long  grass,  though  even  this  stage  has  the 
merit  of  being  far  less  wretched  than  that  of  forcing  your  way  among 
the  dripping  branches.  Here,  for  the  event  is  worth  noting,  we 
encountered  the  first  attack  of  the  mosquitoes. 

Next  day  we  made  eleven  portages,  crossing  the  height  of  land  and 
reaching  a  feeder  of  Lake  Nipissing.  The  only  portage  worthy  of 
special  notice,  was  that  of  the  falls  of  Lake  Talon,  where  a  large  body 
of  water  rushes  through  a  narrow  opening  in  the  rocks,  from  a  height 


ot 

the 

kin 

and 

and 

fun 

.7 

one 

'A 

par 

'i 

oft 

wh 
tho 

i 

riMr 

FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


29 


ith  such  an 
le  forenoon, 
le  qniintity, 
e  paddle  is 
nd  liinffs  to 
JrnfTircd   by 
)oor  fellow, 
he  heaviest 
gives  them 
alonff  over 
that  when 
d  oeeasion- 
where  the 
the  canoes 
vo  or  three 
1,  the  more 
li  njiin  has 
ity  pounds 
across  the 
amonjT  the 
5.     IJut,  in 
le  poor  fel- 
lip  at  least 
roach  near 
wale  ;  and 
3rry  us  to 
their  duty 
et  posses- 
eedinn^,  as 
Jresaid,  of 

•emarkinff 
timate  of 
,  in  every 
larmingly 
hile  Cap- 
lis  as  the 
only  for 
ive  trifle, 
le  misery 
cams  ex- 
e  has  the 
y  among 
ting,  we 


-S 


of  about  fifty  feet.  Separated  from  the  boilinji  cauldron,  into  which 
the  torrent  throws  itself  by  a  projectiui;  ledije,  a  silent  pool,  forming  a 
kind  of  gloomy  recess,  carries  the  canoes  to  the  foot  of  a  rock  so  smooth 
and  steep  as  to  be  almost  impracticable  to  novices.  This  declivity, 
and  a  narrow  platform  at  the  top,  constitute  the  portage.  'J'his  spot 
furnishes  a  striking  proof,  that  the  waters  of  this  country  must  have 
once  occupied  a  much  higher  level.  'J'he  jjlatform  must  have  been 
part  of  the  bed  of  the  stream  ;  the  declivity  must  have  formed  a  section 
ol' the  fall;  and  the  dark  and  stagnant  recess  nmst  have  been  a  foaming 
whirlpool.  Many  other  portages  on  the  route  prcscut  similar  features, 
thouiih  perhaps  in  an  inferior  degree.  We  had  now  got  fairly  into  the 
rcyion  of  the  fur  traders,  beyond  the  ken  alike  of  the  farmer  and  the 
luuibercr ;  and  we  here  discovered  the  traces  of  beaver  in  the  shape  of 
pieces  of  willow  wliich  iiad  been  barked  by  this  extraordinary  animal. 

To  make  the  day's  work  with  our  eleven  portages  still  harder,  we 
did  not  encamp  till  after  ten  at  night,  while  the  closing  division  of  our 
toil  consisted  of  a  swamp  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  length,  the 
track  being,  on  the  wiiole,  the  wettest  and  heaviest  on  our  journey. 
Our  resting  place  was  bad,  the  ground  damp,  the  water  muddy,  the 
frogs  obstreperous  and  the  snakes  familiar.  In  spite,  however,  of  all 
these  trilles,  fatigue  was  as  good  as  an  opiate,  and  in  sound  sleep  we 
soon  forgot  the  troubles  of  the  day. 

After  indulging  in  the  morning  till  half-past  two,  we  reached  Lake 
Nipissing  at  daybreak.  Here  I  left  Colonel  Olddeld,  instructing  Mr. 
Cameron  at  the  same  time  to  remain  with  him  till  Mr.  Bainbrigge 
should  arrive.  After  seeing  them  safely  planted  by  the  side  of  a  glori- 
ous fire,  we  bade  them  adieu.  In  less,  however,  than  half  an  hour, 
our  progress  was  arrested  by  a  field  of  ice  ;  and,  having  worked  our 
way  through  it  to  the  shore  with  difliculfy,  we  cleared  our  ground, 
pitched  our  tents,  and  resigned  ourselves  to  our  fate.  After  the  fatigues 
of  yesterday,  our  men,  delighted  with  the  god-send,  soon  fell  asleep  on 
the  bare  ground,  even  without  the  trouble  of  a  wish,  while  we  our- 
selves, besides  making  up  all  arrears  of  shaving,  washing,  dressing  &c., 
killed  time  with  eating,  drinking,  chatting  and  strolling.  From  a  native 
family  in  the  neighborhood  we  purchased  some  fish  for  a  few  biscuits: 
and  we  soon  found  that  the  biscuits  might  have  been  saved,  for  we  suc- 
ceeded in  spearing  twenty  or  thirty  dorey  averaging  two  pounds  each. . 
Having  attempted  in  the  afternoon  to  find  a  path  for  our  canoes,  we 
were  obliged  to  encamp  for  the  night  with  again  of  only  three-quarters 
of  a  mile. 

Making  way  next  morning,  we  breakfasted  on  the  portage  between 
Lake  Nipissing  and  its  outlet  French  River.  On  this  stream  we  saw 
a  few  savages,  who,  though  poorly  clad,  appeared  to  be  faring  well. 
Here  we  ran  our  first  rapids  ;  and  in  the  afternoon  we  made  a  portage 
at  the  Recollet  Fall,  which,  throwing  itself  from  a  slanting  ledge  of 
rocks,  almost  in  the  direction  of  the  river's  breadth,  leaves  hardly  room 
enough  for  a  canoe  to  pass  between  the  vortex  at  its  foot,  and  the'per- 
pendicular  wall  of  the  opposite  bank.  As  we  had  the  current  in  our 
favor,  and  were  but  little  impeded  by  portages,  we  made  our  best  march 


30 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


\ini 


to-di\y  lo  ilie  tunc  of  ninety-five  miles.  Encampinjr  for  the  nijrlit  with- 
in a  short  distanrc  of  FiSike  Huron,  we  iicard,  for  the  first  time,  our 
little  friend  the  Whip-poor-will,  a  sure  harhinifcr  of  warm  weather; 
and  a  pair  of  these  favorites  of  the  voya^eurs  serenaded  us  all  night 
with  their  eheerful  cry,  whi(;h  so  closely  resenihlcs  the  name,  that  one 
is  often  inclined  to  suspect  some  person  of  imitatinj^  it. 

Next  morning  we  desr^ended  to  Lake  Huron  tliro\igh  some  remark- 
able rapids,  which,  in  form  and  breadth,  bear  a  close  resemblance  to 
canals  cut  in  the  solid  rock.  In  one  of  these  we  were  nearly  snagged 
after  a  fashion  unknown  on  the  Mississippi.  While  running  down  in 
gallant  style,  we  perceived  by  the  dim  twilight,  a  tree  bridging  the  nar- 
row current  so  as  to  form  a  complete  barrier.  The  paddles  were  im- 
mediately backed  ;  and  a  few  blows  from  an  axe  quickly  cleared  our 
passage.  IJel'ore  sunrise  we  entered  Lake  Huron,  iiaving  now  before 
us,  M'ith  the  single  exception  of  Sault  St.  Marie,  seven  or  eight  hundreil 
miles  of  still  water  to  the  head  of  Lake  Superior. 

We  dined  on  an  island  celebrated  for  a  stone,  which,  when  struck, 
emits  a  musical  or  metallic  sound;  ami  about  eight  in  the  evening  we 
reached  the  com|)any's  establishment,  taking  the  name  of  La  ('loche 
from  the  natural  bell  just  mentioned.  The  northern  shore  of  Lake 
Huron  consists  of  rocky  liills,  dotted  with  stunted  trees,  chiefly  pines; 
and  the  adjacent  waters  are  closely  studded  with  islands,  varying  from 
ten  feet  in  diameter  to  many  miles  in  length.  Though  the  whole  of 
this  neighborhood  may  be  deemed  an  almost  hopeless  desert,  yet  the 
southern  side  of  the  lake  is  more  fertile,  as  are  also  the  Manitoulin 
Islands.  These  more  promising  districts  are  pretty  well  peopled  either 
by  Europeans  or  by  Indians. 

Next  day,  being  the  sixteenth  of  the  month  and  the  thirteenth  from 
Lachine,  we  reached  the  Sault  St.  Marie  about  five  in  the  afternoon. 
This  celebrated  strait  empties  Lake  Superior  into  Lake  Huron,  having 
a  British  settlement  with  a  post  of  The  Hudson's  Hay  Company  on  the 
one  side,  and  an  American  village  with  an  inconsiderable  garrison  on 
the  other.  Having  left  our  baggage  to  be  conveyed  across  the  portage 
in  carts,  we  visited  our  establishment  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Ballen- 
den ;  and  we  were  here  mortified  to  learn  from  Mr.  I.  D.  Cameron, 
one  of  the  company's  principal  ofllcers,  that  the  ice  of  Lake  Superior 
was  still  as  firm  and  solid  as  in  the  depth  of  winter.  This  was  likely 
to  be  a  far  more  serious  and  obstinate  business  than  that  of  Lake  Nip- 
issing.  We,  however,  pushed  forward,  encamping  at  Point  aux  Pins, 
about  nine  miles  distant,  without  having  seen  the  enemy.  We  were 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Cameron,  who  was  bound  for  Michipicoton  as 
well  as  ourselves,  and  also  by  Mr.  Ballenden,  who  was  to  pass  the 
night  with  us  for  the  transacting  of  business :  and,  as  a  curious  con- 
trast to  the  proximity  of  the  ice,  the  night  was  so  vvavi.i,  that  wc  ac- 
complished our  reading  and  writing  in  the  open  air  by  moonlight. 

Next  morning,  after  proceeding  six  or  eight  miles,  we  found  to  our 
sorrow,  that  Mr.  Cameron's  information  was  too  true  ;  and,  on  landing 
at  Gros  Cap,  we  discovered,  that,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the 
lake  was  clad  in  its  wintry  garb.     As  our  camp  was  likely  to  be  a 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


31 


standing  one,  wo  arranged  onr  houspkropinu  with  nioro  than  ordinary 
care,  t'iittin<^  plenty  ol' lirrwood,  and  istrt'witijr  fnir  tcMiis  with  a  Irairraiit 
carpet  of  the  brandies  of  tiic  white  pine.  We  hero  saw  our  lirst  tokens 
of  returning  spring  in  the  shape  of  many  hiuhhnir  Howcrs  ;  anil,  as 
partrido^'^s  and  other  birds  were  |)lentiful,  we  contrived  to  pass  this,  our 
iirst  da^   of  detention,  very  pleasantly. 

Next  niorninir,  as  w(;  had  "nae  motive"  for  risinnf  anymore  than  the 
poet  of  the  Seasons  liad,  we  luxuriated  in  bed  till  the  I'ashionable  hour 
of  seven.  To  make  amends  lor  th(!  delay,  we  had  beautiful  weather, 
the  air  calm,  the  sky  eloudless.  and  the  sun  powerful;  but,  to  show 
how  little  influence  all  this  had  on  the  one  ihinir  needful,  the  thermo- 
meter which  stood  at  73'^  in  the  shade,  was  not  far  al)ove  the  iVeezinj^ 
])oint  in  the  water.  In  the  afternoon  we  manajred  to  advance  a  mile  in 
order  to  jrain  an  elevated  point,  whence  we  could  j,''ivc  our  hopes  and  fears 
a  wider  ranjifc.  We  had  really  become  very  impatient.  'I'lu;  heat  of  the 
weather  appeared  to  be  {rood  for  nothintif  exceptinir  to  broil  ourselves, 
lor  we  found  the  ice,  thus  at  once  our  bane  and  antidote,  a  hiirlily  aj^ree- 
able  addition  to  our  water  and  wine.  Our  brii^htest  prospect,  in  fact, 
was  that  of  catin<»"  our  way  throufrji  the  luxury. 

Early  next  mornin^^  I  received  occupation  enou^rh  lor  one  day  at 
least.  A  boat  from  our  establishment  brouirht  me  the  Journal  and  other 
papers  of  my  late  lamented  relative,  Mr. 'I'homas  Sim[)son,  whose  suc- 
cessful exertions  in  arctic  discovery  and  untimely  end  had  excited  so 
nnich  interest  in  the  public  mind.  liy  the  same  conveyance  we  ij;ot  a 
supply  of  white  fish.  'I'his  lish,  which  is  peculiar  to  Aortli  America, 
is  one  of  the  most  delicious  of  the  finny  tribe,  havin<(  the  appearance 
and  somewhat  the  flavor  of  trout.  In  the  afternoon  a  trapper,  who 
was  proceedinjT  to  the  JSault  St.  Marie  with  some  natives  in  a  canoe, 
informed  us  that  there  was  open  water  for  a  little  distance  to  the  west- 
ward. This  man's  hint  enabled  us  to  gain  six  miles, — a  great  deal  by 
the  by,  where  every  little  helped. 

During  the  night  a  slight  breeze  broke  the  field,  though  the  masses 
still  continued  to  be  closely  packed.  We  started  at  three  o'clock  and, 
after  a  hard  day's  work,  accomplished  about  thirty  miles.  Our  progress 
was  much  embarrassed  by  the  mirage,  which  assumed  various  forms, 
being  at  one  time  an  island,  at  another  open  water,  and  then  again,  im- 
penetrable icebergs. 

Next  morning,  starting  about  seven,  we  made  three  or  four  miles  in 
six  hours;  and  then,  as  there  was  no  suitable  spot  for  encamping,  we 
were  obliged  to  return  to  our  old  quarters,  having  toiled  eight  hours  in 
vain,  to  the  great  hazard  of  damaging  our  frail  barks.  Next  day  we 
did  nothing,  being  partly  deterred  from  moving  by  constant  rain,  and 
partly  prevented  by  heavy  fog  from  seein<r  the  state  of  the  ice.  Here 
we  lay  with  a  solid  lake  before  us  within  a  month  of  midsummer,  and 
below  the  latitude  of  London.  To  aggravate  the  evil,  we  had  no  pro- 
vender remaining  but  biscuits,  which,  such  as  they  were,  would  not 
hold  out  many  days  longer.  Lord  Mulgrave,  however,  fortunately 
knocked  down  a  hare  and  a  partridge  for  our  dinner,  while,  curiously 


m 


I. 


m 


^•■M 


h  :n 


83 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


I 


■  ;|ifi 


cnoupli,  Lord  Caledon,  when  wo  were  similarly  detained  in  Lake  Ni- 
pissinjr,  supplied  our  table  with  fish. 

IJetwein  three  and  seven  in  the  morning  we  advanced  two  miles, 
hciufr  obliged,  after  this  exploit,  to  make  a  halt  till  noon  on  account  ol 
the  increase  of  the  fojj.  After  our  next  move  we  pitched  our  camp, 
about  eight  in  the  evening,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Montreal  River,  noi 
more  than  cight(!en  miles  distant  from  our  last  encampment.  Our 
march  had  been  extremely  tedious,  being  cfTectcd  by  forming  a  lano 
through  the  masses  of  broken  ice.  Hut  the  last  few  miles  were  much 
less  obstructed  ;  ami  we  began  to  hope  in  riglit  earnest,  that  the  troubles 
of  a  week  in  Lake  Superior  were  drawing  to  a  close.  Resuming  our 
course  at  two  in  the  morning,  we  found  fewer  difliculties  than  yester- 
day, excepting  that,  soon  after  starting,  we  got  enclosed  in  a  field  of 
ice,  which  was  drifting  rapidly  out  to  sea.  This  circumstance  might 
have  proved  to  be  our  worst  luck  of  all,  for  a  heavy  gale  was  blowing 
from  the  shore;  and,  before  we  could  get  clear  of  our  dangerous  neigh- 
bors, we  were  about  three  miles  from  the  land.  The  weather  wa.'^ 
completely  characteristic  of  this  inland  ocean,  a  heavy  rain  for  about 
ten  hours  in  the  morning  and  then  a  thick  fog  for  the  remainder  of  the 
day.  About  four  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  Michipicoton,  the  good 
folks  of  the  fort  having  been  prevented  by  the  mist  from  knowing  any- 
thing of  our  approach,  till  the  familiar  song  of  the  voyageurs  struck 
their  ears. 

At  this  place,  as  I  could  not  pay  my  usual  visit  to  Moose  Factory  in 
July,  I  was  to  hold  a  temporary  council  for  the  Southern  Department; 
and  accordingly,  after  taking  off  our  wet  cloaks  and  coats  and  stowing  away 
a  substantial  meal,  Mr.  Cameron  and  myself  proceeded  to  business  along 
with  Mr.  George  Keith,  the  gentleman  in  charge  of  the  establishment, 
and  Mr.  Cowie,  anodierof  the  company's  olBcers.  Feeling  the  house 
uncomfortably  close  after  so  long  an  exposure  to  the  open  air,  we  pre- 
ferred sleeping  in  our  tents ;  and,  as  the  rain  fell  heavily  during  the 
night,  we  found  ourselves  next  morning  in  something  of  a  puddle. 

Having  completed  my  work  by  eleven  in  the  forenoon,  I  again  re- 
sumed my  journey ;  and  we  kept  paddling  away  till  eight  in  the  even- 
ing in  spite  of  rain,  fog  and  wind.  For  a  great  distance  to  the  west- 
ward of  Michipicoton,  the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Superior  consists  of 
rugged  mountains  of  bare  rocks  with  a  few  scattered  trees  of  stunted 
growth.  The  aboriginal  population  is,  of  course,  very  scanty,  subsisting 
almost  entirely  on  the  produce  of  the  waters,  such  as  white  fish, 
sturgeon,  trout,  pike,  herring,  &;c.  Occasionally,  however,  the  fisheries 
fail  through  the  caprice  of  the  finny  tribes  or  from  other  causes;  and, 
in  such  cases,  the  miserable  natives  are  maintained  for  weeks  and 
months  at  a  time,  at  our  posts  on  potatoes  and  salted  fish.  But  it  is 
not  in  this  way  alone  that  the  poor  savages  are  indebted  to  the  fur- 
traders.  To  give  them  the  benefit  of  moral  and  religious  instruction, 
the  company  has  established  a  missionary  of  the  Wesleyan  persuasion 
at  the  Pic,  our  next  halting  place  on  the  lake,  and  also  assists  two 
other  missionaries  to  pay  periodical  visits  to  the  different  camps.  On 
this  subject  I  do  no  more  than  bare  justice  in  reminding  the  reader. 


the 


lii 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVKR  SETTLEMENT. 


33 


J  Lake  Ni- 

two  miles, 
account  ol 
our  camp, 
River,  !ioi 
lent.  Our 
ning  a  lane 
were  much 
he  troubles 
iuminjj  our 
lan  yester- 
n  a  field  of 
nice  might 
as  blowinjf 
rous  neigh- 
ealher  was 
1  for  about 
iider  of  tlu' 
1,  the  good 
)wing  anv- 
urs  struck 

Factory  in 

partment ; 

wing  away 

mess  along 

blishment, 

the  house 

r,  we  pre- 

during  the 

uddle. 

again  re- 

ihe  even- 

the  west- 

onsists  ot 

af  stunted 

subsisting 

/hite  fish, 

G  fisheries 

ses;  and, 

eeks   and 

But  it  ia 

3  the  fur- 

struction. 

ersuasion 

isists  two 

nps.     On 

le  reader, 


that,  on  these  shorea  as  forming  a  part  of  Upper  (^inada,  the  Hudson's 
Hay  Company  neither  enjoys  the  monopoly  of  trade  nur  bears  the 
rcsponsil)ilities  of  government. 

In  illustration  of  the  belief  of  the  ludiaus  in  a  special  providence, 
the  following  story  may  be  worth  telling.  Some  three  or  lour  years 
ago,  a  party  of  Saulleaux,  being  much  pressed  l)y  huuirer  -e  anxious 
ti(  cross  from  the  mainland  to  one  of  tlicir  fishing  stations,  an  islainl 
about  twenty  miles  distant;  but  it  was  nearly  as  dangerous  to  go  as  to 
remain,  for  the  spring  had  just  reached  that  critical  [)oint  when  there 
was  neither  open  water  nor  trustworthy  ice.  A  council  ix'ing  held  to 
Aveigh  the  respective  chances  of  drowning  and  starvintr,  all  the  speakers 
o[)poscd  the  contemplated  move,  till  an  oUl  man  of  considerable  inllu- 
ence  thus  spoke:  *' You  know,  my  friends,  that  the  Grcvt  Spirit  gave 
one  of  our  squaws  a  child  yesterday.  Now  he  cannot  have  sent  it 
into  the  world  to  take  it  away  ajrain  directly;  and  I  woidd,  therefore, 
recommend  our  carrying  the  child  with  us  and  k(!eping  close  to  it  as 
the  assurance  of  our  safety."  In  full  relian(!(!  upon  this  reasoning, 
nearly  the  whole  band  immediately  conimilted  iheinsilves  to  the 
treacherous  ice;  and  they  all  perished  miserai)ly  to  the  number  of 
eight  and  twenty. 

During  the  next  two  days  we  made  beautiful  progress,  calling  at  the 
Pic  which  is  prettily  situated  at  the  mouth  of  a  small  river  oil"  the  same 
name.  Though  we  had  not  the  j)leasure  of  seeing  the  resident  mis- 
sionary, who  was  absent  among  the  Indians,  yet  we  carried  otf  iMr. 
McMurray,  the  gentleman  in  charge,  to  our  dining  hall,  a  little  rocky 
island  in  the  vicinity  of  his  fort.  Having  a  fair  wind  fi)r  part  of  the 
time,  we  hoisted  sail  to  the  great  relief  of  our  men  ;  and,  with  the 
benefit  of  tin;  full  moon,  we  pressed  forward  during  the  second  night 
in  the  hope  of  reaching  Fort  William  about  sunrise.  IJy  fi)ur  o'clock, 
however,  the  breeze  became  rather  too  much  for  us,  pariicidarly  as  we 
had  a  long  traverse  ahead;  and  we  accordingly  took  shelter  at  the 
Thunder  Mountain  till  ten  in  the  morning.  The  Thunder  Mountain  is 
one  of  the  most  appalling  objects  of  the  kind  that  I  have  ever  seen, 
being  a  bleak  rock  of  about  twelve  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
lake,  with  a  perpendicular  face  of  its  full  height  towards  the  west;  and 
the  Indians  have  a  superstition,  which  one  can  hardly  repeat  without 
becoming  giddy,  that  any  person,  who  may  scale  the  eminence  and 
turn  thrice  round  on  the  brink  of  its  fearful  wall,  will  live  forever. 
About  two  in  the  afternoon  we  gladly  steppcul  ashore  at  Fort  William, 
situated  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kaminista(iuoia  River. 

Belbre  bidding  good  bye  to  Lake  Superior,  let  me  add,  that,  since 
the  date  of  my  visit,  the  barren  rocks,  which  we  passed,  have  become 
an  o!)ject  of  intense  interest,  promising  to  rival,  in  point  of  mineral 
wealth,  the  Altai  Chain  and  the  Uralian  Mountains.  Iron  had  long 
been  known  to  abound  on  the  northern  shore,  two  mines  having  been  at 
one  time  worked  and  abandoned  chiefiy  on  account  of  temporary 
obstacles,  which  the  gradual  advance  of  agriculture  and  civilization  was 
sure  to  remove;  and  more  recendy  the  southern  shore,  though  of  a 
much  less  favorable  character  in  this  respect,  was  found  to  possess  rich 

PART   1. 3 


34 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RKD  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


(.i^Ji 


veins  of  copper  and  silver.  Under  lliesc  eireiimsfanees,  various 
enlerprisjnL'  iiili;il)it;inls  ol"  ( 'ansidii  have  proHcented  iiivestijfalioMH,  which 
appeared  lo  liave  salisfactoriiy  proved,  tliat,  in  addition  to  their  iron, 
the  lorbiddinpf  wastes  of  tiie  noriherti  shon?  contain  inexhausiihh!  treas- 
ures helh  of  the  precio\is  and  oi'  the  usefnl  metals,  of  {(old  and  silver, 
of  co|)i)er  and  tin;  and  already  have  associations  been  formed  lo  reap 
the  teerninix  harvest. 

At  Fort  William  wn  exchanjjed  onr  two  canoes  for  three  smaller 
vessels  of  the  same  description,  inasmnch  as  the  waters  would  lienco 
forvvard  he  shallower  and  the  navjiration  more  intricate.  During  the 
interval  occupied  in  arranjfinu  this  imjjortant  in;itler  with  u  n(!W  dis- 
irihntion  of  crews  and  hajiKage,  I  had  an  interview  with  a  hand  of 
Sanlte.wix  in-  ( -hippctwayw,  who  had  heen  waiting  my  arrival  near  the 
fort.  The  chamher  of  audience  was  an  empty  lloor  in  a  large  store, 
on  one  side  of  which  we  took  our  seats,  while  the  Indians,  in  all  about 
forty  men,  occu|)ied  \\w  other,  Mr,  Swauston,  the  gentleman  in  charge, 
:icting  as  interpreter.  'V\w  ceremony  of  shaking  hands  with  every 
j)erson  having  be(!n  punctiliously  jxn'formed,  the;  Indians  stpnUted  theni- 
Kclvcs  on  the  boards  excepting  that  tluMr  chiel",  known  as  Ji'Espagnol, 
stood  forward  in  the  centre  of  tin*  room.  'I'ho  orator,  a  tall  and  hand- 
i«  «ome  man  somewhat  advanced  in  years,  was  arrayed  in  a  scarlet  coat 

with  gold  epaulettes, — the  whole  btiing  ai)parently  spier,  aiuf  span  new, 
for  the  bright  buttons  were  still  enveloped  in  their  origi:::;!  papers;  and 
whether  from  a  want  of  inexi)ressibles  or  from  a  Highland  taste,  the 
tail  of  his  shirt  answered  for  a  kilt.  Having  again  shaken  hands  with 
the  air  of  a  prince,  Ji'Espagnol  delivered  himself  very  llucnUy  to  the 
cflect,  that  he  and  his  followers,  after  passing  from  the  British  to  the 
Americans,  had  soon  found  reason  to  rellect  that  they  had  always  been 
well  treated  by  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company;  that,  with  our  leave, 
they  would  now  settle  near  the  fort,  so  tluit  the  smoke  of  their  liomcs 
might  thenceforward  rise  among  Canadian  1  orests;  and  that,  being  all 
Catholics,  they  should  like  to  have  a  priest  among  them.  This  speech, 
at  its  conclusion,  elicited  a  unanimous  grunt  of  approbation  from 
L'Espagnol's  people.  In  reply  I  briefly  reminded  them,  that  in  defi- 
ance of  one  promise  already  given,  they  had  kept  wandering  from  place 
to  place,  otlering  them  at  the  same  time,  protection  if  they  should 
decide  henceforward  to  remain  here,  but  declining  to  interfere  in  the 
matter  of  their  religion.  With  the  help  of  a  present,  this  answer 
seemed  to  satisfy  them;  and  the  high  contracting  parties  separated. 

As  the  navigation  for  the  first  fifty  miles  was  greatly  obstru(!ted  by 
rapids  and  shallows,  we  were  to  be  accompanied  to  that  distance  by  a 
fourth  canoe,  as  a  tender  ;  and  at  six  o'clock,  after  a  stay  of  four  hours, 
our  little  squadron,  in  full  song,  darted  merrily  up  the  beautiful  river, 
whose  verdant  banks  formed  a  striking  and  agreeable  contrast  with  the 
sterile  and  rugged  coast  of  Lake  Superior.  About  eight  we  encamped 
at  Pointe  de  Meuron,  the  site  of  an  establishment  that  was  once  main- 
tained here  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  as  a  check  on  Fort 
William,  the  grand  rendezvous  of  the  Northwesters. 

tlie  morning  there  was  a  sharp  frost  for  some  hours  after  starting, 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVKR  SKTTLl 


.35 


s,  various 
[)iis,  wliicli 
llicir  iron, 
lil)l(!  trcas- 
aiid  silvor, 
cd  to  reap 

:'o  smaller 

lid  hciipo- 

)uriiif![  tho 

I  n(!W  (li.s- 

[1   hand   of 

il  near  tho 

iirtfo  storo, 

1  all  nhout 

m  charffc, 

vith  every 

itted  them- 

'Efipn^nol, 

ami  hand- 

carlet  coat 

span  new, 

ipers;  and 

1  taste,  the 

lands  with 

Illy  to  the 

h  to  the 

ays  been 

our  leave, 

eir  homes 

being  all 

is  speech, 

tion   from 

It  in  defi- 

rom  place 

y  should 

re  in  the 

answer 

irated. 

ucted  by 

ance  by  a 

ur  hours, 

il'ul  river, 

with  the 

jncamped 

ice  main- 

on  Fort 


our  rxfrcmilios  bcitijr  nipped  by  the  cold,  and  thr  pidtl.  ><  l»('!ia<r  n*  >  i\ 
with  ice.  I'^irly  in  tlu^  lorctioon  wo.  n'acJH'd  the  M<>  ittuin  I'd  <jn 
(oriiH'd  by  the  Kakabekka  Fidls.  Out  ol'slL'til  of  tlif  n  'U  track,-  lie 
scciK!  bciiu'^  acces.siblc  only  liy  a  taiiulcd  |)ath, — llic  K:ifniniHl!ii|ih  i  >, 
litTc  takiiifi;  a  .sudden  turn,  leaps  iiiln  a  deep  an<l  dark  ravine,  itsfll  .i 
succcMsion  of  leaps,  while  the  spectator  stands  ri<rht  in  iVoiil,  near 
rnoii'jh  to  lie  cdvered  with  llie  s[)ray.  Iiil'eridr  in  vtdiiiiie  alniu'  to 
Niairara,  the  Kakabekka  has  the  a(l\antaiic  of  its  far  fanied  rival  in 
luiybt  of  I'.dl  and  wildness  of  scenery.  Alioiit  the  middle  of  the  de- 
scent, a  beautiful  rainbow,  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  spanned  thecluirninjr 
water,  confrastiiii;  sweetly  at  onci;  with  the  white  foam,  tlie  jfreen 
woods,  and  the  sombre;  rocks. 

'J'he  river,  diirintf  the  day's  march,  passed  throiiirh  forests  of  elm, 
oak,  pine,  birch,  &c.,  bein<r  studded  with  isles  not  hfss  fertile  ami 
lovely  than  its  banks;  ami  many  a  spot  reminded  us  of  the  rich  and 
tpiiet  scenery  of  I"]n<rlaml.  'I'he  paths  of  the  numerous  porta;r('s  wcire 
span^dcd  with  viohMs,  roses,  and  many  oiIkm*  wild  llowers,  while  the 
currant,  the  froosebcrry,  the  raspberry,  tlu;  cherry,  and  even  the  vine, 
were  abundant.  All  this  bounty  of  nature  was  imluied,  as  it  were, 
with  life,  by  the  cheerful  notes  of  a  variety  of  birds,  and  by  the  restless 
flutter  of  butterllies  of  the  briLditest  hues.  Compared  witli  the  ada- 
mantine deserts  of  Lake  Su|)eri()r,  the  Kamiuistacpioia  presented  a 
perfect  paradise.  One  cannot  pass  through  tliis  lair  valley  without 
feelin},^  that  it  is  destined,  sooiu'r  or  later,  to  become  the  happy  homi! 
of  civilized  men  with  their  bleatin<r  flocks  and  their  lowinir  herds,  with 
Uieir  schools  and  their  churches,  witii  tluMr  full  garners  and  tiuMr  social 
hearths.  At  the  time  of  our  visit  llu;  irreat  ol»^tacle  in  the  way  of  so 
,;  blessed  a  consummation,  was  the  hopeless  wilderness  to  the  eastward, 
which  seemed  to  bar  forever  the  march  of  settlement  ami  cultivation. 
■'■  But  that  very  wilderness,  now  that  it  is  to  yiehl  up  its  lonir  jiidilea 
'  stores,  bids  fair  to  remove  the  very  impedimeiils  which  hitherto  it  has 
itself  presented.  The  mines  of  Lake  Superior,  besides  establishing  a 
\.  continuity  of  route  between  the  east  and  the  west,  will  fiml  their  near- 
est and  cheapest  supply  of  agricultural  produce  in  the  valley  of  the 
'  Kaministaquoia. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  mv  canoe  struck  a  rock  in  one  of  the 
rapids,  tearing  a  hole  in  her  bottom.  Soon,  however,  the  wreck  was 
docked  on  dry  land,  ami,  with  the  aid  of  stitching  and  gumming,  was 
■^  again  as  good  as  new  in  no  time.  'J'Ikj  rock  must  have  been  a  sharp 
one,  for  tlie  covering  of  bark  is  so  tough,  that  a  round  stone  has  often 
been  known  to  smash  the  ribs  of  the  vessel  without  breaking  the  skin. 

Next  day,  being  Sunday,  the  thirtieth  of  tlie  month,  we  crossed  the 
Dog  Portage,  about  two  miles  in  length,  early  in  the  morning.  The 
;;  view  from  the  summit  is  justly  admired  l)y  all  who  see  it.  At  the 
'"  spectator's  feet  is  stretched  a  panorama  of  hill  and  dale,  (dieckered  with 
the  various  tints  of  the  pine,  the  aspen,  the  ash  and  the  oak,  while 
through  the  middle  there  meanders  the  silvery  stream  of  the  Kaminis- 
taquoia, often  doubling  and  turning  as  if  willing  to  linger  for  ever  on 
so  lovely  a  spot.     According  to  the  traditions  of  the  natives,  the  port- 


'  -"Si 


!   ■     .  i.-i 


l' 


Ij,  ('•-,] 


i 


iii. 


m  i^ 


36 


FROM  LONDON  TO  IlKD  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


ajrn  (U'rivrs  its  nnmn  from  tlic  rirrtniistnncr,  tlmt  two  pnormoiis  (1o(t», 
havinif  t;ilv('ii  ;i  rjiip  o:>  tlic  top  of  tlu;  hill,  It'll  the  impress  t>l*  their 
lijriircs  hchiiid  tluin;  :im(I  ccrtaiii  il  is,  th:it  such  lli^Mircs  havr  hctMi 
marked  on  tlie  turf  in  the  samp  manner  as  tlu;  wlute  liorso  near  Hath. 

On  Monday,  heins?  the  last  day  oi'  May,  ue  crossed  the  lieiti;ht  ol 
land  hetween  Canada  and  The  Hudson's  May  Conipany's  Terriiorics. 
consisting;  of  three  considerahle  porta<res,  the  Prairie,  the  Mdieu,  and 
the  Savanne.  At  th('  eouwnencenieni  of  the  first  wo  left  hehind  ns 
one  ol'  the  tho\is:ind  sources  of  the  St.  Ijawreiice  in  the  shape  of  a 
nhallow  pool  strewed  with  poles,  which  successive  voyajfinirs,  at  this 
the  head  of  their  up-hill  work,  have  thrown  away  as  useless.  The 
last,  whi(di  is  nearly  two  miles  Ion;,',  lies  through  a  perfectly  Uivel 
Kwainp,  which,  as  far  hack  as  "  Auld  liau^r  Syne,"  has  heen  paV(>d 
with  a  tripli!  row  of  round  rails  placed  end  to  eml.  \V'her<'  this  hridjjo 
hapjiens  to  h(!  entire,  the  traveler  {fcls  al(jn<f  wonderfully  well  with  a 
groove  for  oaeli  shoo;  where  one  rail  has  vanished,  he  is  pretty  sure 
to  put  his  fool  into  it;  and  where  only  oiu'  slick  remains,  or  no  slick 
at  all.lu'  has  lu)  hel|)  hut  to  l(>t  hoth  his  le^jjs  take*  their  chance  of  reach- 
in<y  the  hottouj.  Your  novice  pfiinerally  takes  a  jjaddU;  lor  a  crutch  : 
and  friends  of  mine  have  sometimes  douhly  armed  thcmsolvts  in  this 
way. 

At  the  farther  end  of  tlie  Savanne  we  descended  the  little  river  T'm- 
harras,  so  named  from  the  <jreat  luimher  of  fallen  trees  lyinj;  across  its 
narrow  channel.  We  sometimes  cut  lhrou<rh  these  ohstnu'tions,  some- 
times cre|)t  uiuler  them,  and  sometimes  pushed  them  ly.xck  like  swing- 
inj^^atcs;  hut  occasionally  we  found  them  so  matted  into  dams  that 
we  had  to  make  portaj^es  round  them. 

On  the  first  of  June,  soon  after  passinj^  through  the  heauliful  Lake 
of  a  'I'housand  Lakes,  we  descendrul  a  small  and  Iroulilesome  river, 
somethint^  like  our  yesterday's  l'jml)arras,  to  the  French  I*ortag(!,  gene- 
rally acknowledged  to  be  the  very  worst'  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
Tlu!  path  lay  over  a  succession  ol' steep  ascents  and  descents,  while  the 
bottom  was  generally  a  miry  swamp,  obstructed  by  underwood  and 
fallen  trees.  'I'he  length  of  two  and  a  half  miles  eost  even  the  unen- 
cundjored  passengers  a  struggle  of  nearly  two  hours.  Our  troubles  in 
wading  through  this  combination  of  hill  and  valley,  of  morass  and 
forest,  were  aggravated  by  clouds  of  sand  Hies,  which  almost  fatigued 
our  arms  in  sweeping  them  from  our  faces  and  feet. 

In  the  morning  we  passed  down  a  small  river  and  tlirough  Sturgeon 
liake  into  the  Maligne,  a  stream  abounding  in  sharp  stones  and  sliort 
portages.  Thence  we  proceeded  through  Lac  la  Croix  to  the  Macan, 
which  strikingly  resembles  the  Maligne.  At  nearly  all  the  rapids  and 
falls  on  these  two  rivers,  the  Indians  have  erected  platforms,  which 
stretch  about  twenty  feet  from  the  shore ;  and  on  these  they  fix 
themselves,  spear  in  hand,  for  hours,  as  silent  and  motionless  as  pos- 
sible, till  some  doomed  fish  comes  within  the  range  of  their  unerring 
weapon.  If  they  take  more  sturgeon  than  what  they  immediately 
require,  they  tether  the  supernumeraries  by  a  string  through  the  mouth 


4 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RKD  RIVKR  SF.TTLKMENT. 


37 


nous  (lo|TH, 
iH  of  their 
liiivc  hcoti 
near  Hatli. 
t  hciiilit  ol 
r<TriioricH, 
rlilicii,  and 
Ix'liiiid  us 
wliapt'  of  a 
iirs,  at  iImh 
«'ss,  Tlu' 
'ci'tly  l(!V»'l 
con  paved 
this  l)iidjic 
>-<'ll  with  a 
pretty  suro 
)r  no  stick 
('  of  rcach- 
a  crutch  : 
VL'S  ill  this 

river  Km- 
r  across  its 
oils,  soiuo- 
iki!  swing- 
(hinis  tliat 

tiful  liuke 

ino  river, 

ajrc,  gcne- 

couiitry. 

while  the 

wood   and 

the  iinen- 

oiihh's  ill 

orass  and 

it  fatiijacd 

Sturgeon 
and  siiort 
le  Macan, 
apids  and 
lis,  which 
they  fix 
s  as  pos- 


PHI 


and  u'ill  '"  '''•'  l>ank  ;  and  this  in«>dc  dl' cMiihncnu'nt,  at  h-ast  fi»r  a  week 
or  two,  allrcts  neither  the  weight  nor  the  flavor  of  the;  prisoners. 

On  the  morrow,  towards  noon,  we  ina(h>  a  short  p(»rtagn  from  tho 
Macau  to  a  muddy  sfreain,  falling  into  l.ac  la  IMuie.  As  we  were 
passing  tlowu  this  muddy  and  shallow  creek,  fire  suddenly  hurst  fortli 
ill  the  woods  near  us.  'I'he  llanies,  ctickliiig  and  clamhering  U|)  each 
tri'c,  (piickly  rose  ahove  the  forest ;  within  a  few  minutes  more  tin* 
drv  irrass  on  the  very  margin  of  the  waters  was  in  a  running  hiaze  ; 
and,  hel'ore  ue  were  well  clear  of  the  ilaiiL'cr,  we  were  almost  j-nve- 
h)pcd  in  clouds  of  smoko  and  ashes.  These  conllagraiions,  often 
caused  f)y  a  wanderer's  (Ire  or  even  hy  his  pipe,  desolate  large  iraelH 
of  <*cMiMlr\.  Icaviutr  nothing  hut  hiack  and  hare  trunks,  :ind  even  these 
someiiines  miililateil  into  stiiiii|)s, — one  of  the  most  dismal  scenes  on 
which  the  eye  and  heart  can  look.  When  onei;  the  consuming  ele- 
ment gets  into  tlu!  thick  turf  of  the  |)rinieval  wilderness,  it  sets  every 
tiling  at  defiance  ;  ami  it  has  heeii  known  to  snuMilder  for  a  whole 
winter,  under  the  deep  snow.  After  traversing  liac  la  IMiiic!  and  live 
or  six  miles  of  the  river  of  the  same  name,  wo  reached  our  jiost 
helweeii  ten  and  ehn'en  in  the  eveninu,  heing  saluted  hy  aiiout  a  liun- 
dreil  Saulteaux,  the  warriors  of  a  hand  of  alioiit  five  hundred  souls  ; 
ami  tlii'se  savages,  after  aceompanying  us  to  the  fort  with  ime  of  their 
wild  sontTH,  presented  me  with  a  letter  written  hy  one  of  their  own 
nation,  who  had  heen  educated  in  Canada,  anil  was  now  acting  as 
inter[)reler  for  the  Wesleyan  missionary  of  the  cstahlishnient.  'J'he 
document  ran  thus  : 
"  FATirKii : 

"  V\'e,  the  undersigned  chiefs  and  principal  men  of  the  Indians, 
whom  you  now  see  encani|)e(l  around  this  fort,  ilo  herehy  picsent  our 
good  wishes  on  your  safe  arrival. 

"  It  is  not  known  hy  any  of  us  that  you  ever  was  so  reiinested  hy  any 
of  the  trihes  inhahiting  this  country,  as  that  which  we  now  huinl»ly 
request,  which  is  that  you  will  he  pleased  to  hear  the  words  of  our 
children,  who  are  now  awaitinjr  to  address  vou  on  things  that  concern 
the  welfare  of  themselves  and  their  children. 

"  And  now,  Father,  we  know  that  you  are  the  CJovernor  of  this  our 
common  country,  and  we  know  that  your  ears  are  o])en  to  the  worda 
of  all  therein. 

"  We  Immhly  liopc  that  it  may  he  so  to  us-ward. 

"  Signed  on  helialf  of  our  people, 

"  NAWAVAlINAtiUAir, 

"  Matwayatii, 

"  Kk(HK  NKtSAIITKUN, 

"  Mashonoya,  it 

"  Wa  NA  Mli." 

In  accordance  with  this  request,  I  invited  my  "children"  to  attend 
me  at  four  in  the  morning;  a-i.l,  instead  of  pitching  our  tents  among 
so  many  needy  friends,  we  made  our  beds  within  Fort  Frances.  IJut, 
while  I  was  napping,  the  enemy  were  pelting  away  at  me  with  their 


ST/f 


P 


38 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


■■I;'l 


incantations.  In  the  centre  of  a  conjuring  tent, — a  strncture  of 
branches  and  barks  of  forty  feet  in  length  hy  ten  in  width, — they 
kindled  a  fire ;  round  the  blaze  stood  the  chiefs  and  medicine  men, 
while  as  many  of  the  others,  as  could  find  room,  were  squatted  against 
the  walls ;  then,  to  enlighten  and  convert  me,  charms  were  muttered, 
rattles  were  shaken  and  offerings  were  committed  to  the  flames.  After 
all  these  operations  were  supposed  to  have  done  their  best,  the  hitherto 
silent  spectators,  at  a  signal  given,  started  from  their  hams  to  their  feet 
and  marched  round  the  magic  circle,  singing,  whooping  and  drumming 
in  horrible  discord.  AVith  occasional  intervals,  which  were  spent  by 
the  performers  in  taking  the  fresh  air,  this  exhibition  was  repeated 
during  the  whole  night ;  so  that,  when  the  appointed  hour  arrived,  the 
poor  creatures  were  still  engaged  in  their  superstitious  observances. 

True  to  their  time,  two  processions,  one  from  cither  side  of  the  esta- 
blishment, met  in  the  open  square  of  the  fort,  waving  their  banners  and 
firing  their  guns.  They  had  all  dressed,  or  rather  decorated,  themselves 
for  the  occasion,  their  costumes  being  various  enough  to  show  that 
fashion,  as  it  is  called,  had  not  yet  got  so  far  to  the  westward.  Their 
glossy  locks  were  plaited  all  round  the  head  into  tails,  varying  in  num- 
ber according  to  the  thickness  of  the  bush  or  the  taste  of  tl:e  owner;  at 
the  ends  of  the  different  ties  were  suspended  such  valuable  ornaments 
as  thimbles,  coins,  buttons,  and  clippings  of  tin ;  their  heads  were 
adorned  with  feathers  of  all  sorts  and  sizes  ;  and  their  necks  were  en- 
circled with  rows  of  beads  at  discretion,  and  large  collars  of  brass  rod. 
As  to  clothing,  properly  so  called,  every  one  had  leggings  and  a  rag 
round  the  loins,  while  some  of  the  chiefs,  with  the  addition  of  scarlet 
coats  and  plenty  of  gold  lace,  had  very  much  the  cut  of  parish  beadles. 
The  staple  commodities,  however,  appeared  to  be  paint  and  chalk. 
The  naked  bodies  of  the  commoners  displayed  an  inexhaustible  variety 
of  combinations  of  red  and  white,  often  surpassing  in  brilliancy,  as 
well  as  in  tightness  of  fit,  the  dashing  uniforms  of  the  grandees ;  and 
every  face,  whether  noble  or  ignoble,  was  smeared  entirely  out  of  sight, 
the  prevailing  distribution  appearing  to  be  forehead  white,  nose  and 
cheeks  red,  mouth  and  chin  black. 

Meanwhile  we  had  been  striving,  to  the  utmost  of  our  ability,  not  to 
be  outdone  in  magnificence.  Lords  Caledon  and  Mulgrave  had  donned 
their  regimentals;  and  we  civilians  had  equipped  ourselves  like  so 
many  mandarins  in  our  dressing  gowns,  which  luckily  happened  to  be 
of  rather  showy  patterns  and  Inies.  After  much  shaking  of  hands, 
about  sixty  of  the  Indians  squeezed  themselves  into  the  apartment, 
while  the  others,  with  the  women  and  children,  remained  outside.  When 
all  were  seated,  each  chief  in  turn  sent  round  his  calumet  among  us, 
in  tue  costliness  of  which  they  appeared  to  emulate  each  other. 

All  these  preliminaries  being  concluded,  the  spokesman  of  the  par^y 
stepped  forward;  and,  first  ostentatiously  displaying  a  valuable  present 
of  sundry  packs  of  furs,  he  commenced  his  harangue,  in  a  bold  and 
manly  voice,  with  great  fiucncy  and  animation.  After  a  tedious  prelude, 
Nvhich  I  was  obliged  to  cut  short,  about  the  creation,  the  flood,  &c., — 
the  object  probably  being  to  show  how  and  why,  and  when  the  Great 


'Of 


Spii 

fron 

com 

our 

flo\i 

casl 

to  t 

us, 

pror 

lllXll 

I  tol 
won 
anot 


■* 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


39 


■M 


triicture  of 
dtli, — they 
icine  men, 
ted  against 
!  muttered, 
ics.  After 
he  hitherto 
0  their  feet 
drumming 
c  spent  by 
s  repeated 
irrived,  the 
vances. 
of  the  esta- 
annersand 
.liemselves 

show  that 
rd.  Their 
ig  in  num- 
owner;  at 
ornaments 
leads  were 
s  were  en- 
brass  rod. 
and  a  rag 

of  scarlet 
h  beadles, 
md  chalk. 
)le  variety 

liancy,  as 
dees ;  and 
It  of  sight, 

nose  and 

ity,  not  to 
ad  donned 
s  like  so 
ned  to  be 
of  hands, 
ipartment, 
le.  When 
unong  us, 
3r. 

the  party 
e  present 
bold  and 
s  prelude, 
J,  &c., — 
the  Great 


m 


I 

'A 


Spirit  had  made  one  race  red,  and  another  white — he  plunged  at  once 
from  litis  transcendental  height  into  the  practical  vulgarities  of  rum, 
complaining  that  we  had  stopped  their  liquor,  though  we,  or  at  least 
our  predecessors,  had  promised  to  furnish  it  "as  long  as  the  waters 
flowed  down  tlie  rapids."  "\ow,"  said  he  in  allusion  to  our  empty 
casks,  "  if  I  crack  a  nut,  will  water  run  from  it  ?"  In  reply,  1  explained 
to  the  Indians,  that  spirits  had  been  withdrawn,  not  to  save  expense  to 
us,  but  to  benelit  them.  I  then  pointed  out  the  advantages  of  temperance, 
promising  them,  however,  a  small  gift  of  rum  every  autumn,  not  as  a 
luxury,  but  as  a  medicine.  In  thanking  ihem  for  their  present  of  furs, 
I  told  them  tliat,  besides  receiving  a  suitable  present  in  return,  they 
would  be  paid  the  usual  price  of  every  skin.  In  conclusion,  there  was 
anotlier  shaking  of  hands  ;  and  then  this  grand  council  between  the 
English  and  the  Chippeways  broke  up  about  six  o'clock,  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  both  nations. 

The  Saulteaux,  a  branch  of  the  Chippeways,  were  formerly  one  of 
the  most  powerful  tribes  in  this  country.  IJy  repeated  visitations, 
however,  of  measles  and  small-pox,  they  have  dwindled  down  to  three 
or  four  thousand  souls ;  and  even  this  inconsiderable  number,  though 
scattered  over  a  vast  extent  of  territory,  can  scarcely  keep  body  and 
soul  together.  As  the  fur  trade,  unless  under  systematic  and  judicious 
nianageinent,  naturally  tends  to  exhaust  itself,  the  hunting  grounds  of 
the  Saulteaux,  as  being  nearer  to  a  market  than  those  of  any  other  tribe, 
have  been  proportionally  drained  of  their  natural  wealth;  and  though 
the  soil  k  fertile,  producing  wild  rice  in  great  abundance,  yet  the  sa- 
vages in  (question  are  at  once  too  indolent  and  too  proud  to  become,  as 
they  loftily  express  themselves,  troublers  of  the  earth.  This  their  love 
of  a  wandering  life  is  more  deeply  to  be  regretted,  inasmuch  as,  till  they 
settle  down  as  agriculturists,  they  can  derive  little  or  no  advantage  from 
the  proffered  labors  of  the  missionaries,  whom  The  Hudson's  IJay 
(Company  has  introduced  among  them. 

'I'lie  follov  ing  incident,  which  occurred  during  our  short  stay  at  Lac 
la  Phiie,  may  serve  to  illustrate,  in  some  important  particulars,  the 
character  of  these  Indians.  IJel'ore  coining  to  take  his  seat  in  council. 
Lord  Mulgrave  left  a  dirk  in  his  bed-room  near  the  open  window;  but, 
on  his  returning  to  his  apartment,  the  weapon  was  nowhere  to  be 
lound.  As  the  Indians,  excepting  the  conscript  fathers,  had  been 
hanginfr  about  all  the  morning,  they  were  immediately  suspected  ;  and, 
when  tiic  chiefs  were  upbraided  with  this  treacherous  dishonesty,  one 
ot  them  addressed  the  people,  urging  them,  Ibr  the  honor  of  the  tribe, 
to  give  up  the  oilender.  But,  as  neither  the  thief  nor  the  booty  was 
iorthconiing,  we  started,  somewhat  chagrined  at  the  occurrence.  VVhile 
preparing  for  breakfast  about  ten  miles  below  the  fort,  we  were  over- 
Uiken  by  a  small  canoe,  from  which  three  youths  joyously  rushed 
towards  us  with  the  missing  dirk.  'J'he  article  having  been  discovered 
in  the  store  after  our  departure,  the  chiefs  dispatched  their  myrmidons 
after  us  with  orders  to  follow  us,  if  necessary,  all  the  way  to  Red 
River.  Having  been  rewarded  with  a  hearty  meal  and  some  tobacco, 
the  three  lads  retraced  their  steps  in  excellent  humor. 


m 


,'Tv^ 


40 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT, 


# 


The  river  which  empties  Lac  la  Pluie  into  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
is  decidedly  the  finest  stream  on  the  whole  route  in  more  than  one 
respect.  From  Fort  Frances  downwards,  a  stretch  of  nearly  a  hundred 
miles,  it  is  not  interrupted  by  a  sint^le  impediment;  while  yet  the  cur- 
rent is  not  stron/r  enough  materially  to  retard  an  ascending  traveler. 
Nor  are  the  banks  less  favorable  to  agriculture  than  the  waters  them- 
selves to  navigation,  resembling,  in  some  measure,  those  of  the  Thames 
near  Richmond.  From  the  very  brink  of  the  river  there  rises  a  gentle 
slope  of  green  sward,  crowned  in  many  places  with  a  plentiful  growth 
of  birch,  poplar,  beech,  elm  and  oak.  Is  it  too  much  for  the  eye  of 
philanthropy  to  discern,  through  the  vista  of  futurity,  this  noble  stream, 
connecting,  as  it  does,  the  fertile  shores  of  two  spacious  lakes,  with 
crowded  steamboats  on  its  bosom,  and  populous  towns  on  its  borders  ? 

In  spite  of  a  contrary  wind,  we  next  day  got  within  fifteen  miles  of 
the  farther  end  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  Though  the  shores  of  this 
sheet  of  water  are  more  rocky  than  those  of  Lac  la  Pluie,  yet  they  are 
very  fertile,  producing  the  rice  already  mentioned  in  abundance,  and 
bringing  maize  to  perfection.  The  lake  is  also  literally  studded  with 
woody  islands,  from  which  it  has  doubtless  derived  its  name ;  and 
these  islands  being  exempted  from  nocturnal  frosts  which  exist  chiefly 
in  the  neighborhood  of  swamps,  are  better  adapted  than  the  mainland 
for  cultivation. 

Before  sunrise  in  the  morning  we  reached  our  establishment  of  Rat 
Portage,  situated  at  the  head  of  the  magnificent  stream  which  empties 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods  into  Lake  Winipeg.  This  river,  which  takes 
the  same  name  as  the  inland  sea  that  receives  it,  forms,  along  its  rocky 
channel,  so  many  falls  and  rapids,  that  its  length  of  three  hundred 
miles  is  broken  by  no  fewer  than  seven-and-thirty  portages.  After  an 
amphibious  course  of  two  days  and  a  half,  we  reached  Fort  Alexander, 
distant  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Lake  Winipeg,  about  noon  on 
Tuesday,  the  eighth  of  the  month.  Starting  again  after  a  halt  of  a  few 
hours,  our  progress  was  much  impeded  by  a  southerly  wind,  which 
had  also  had  the  usual  effect  of  driving  off  the  waters  from  this  end  of 
the  lake  to  such  an  extent,  that  we  were  obliged  to  make  a  portage  in 
a  channel,  which  I  had  usually  passed  under  full  paddle. 
'*  Next  morning  we  entered  on  the  grand  traverse,  leading  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Red  River.  The  adjacent  shores  are  so  low,  that  there  is  gene- 
rally some  difliculty  in  striking  the  entrance  of  the  stream  ;  but  on  this 
occasion  we  were  assisted  by  a  column  of  smoke,  which,  as  we  were 
informed,  would  guide  us  to  our  destined  haven.  About  seven  in  the 
evening,  we  arrived  at  the  Lower  Fort  of  Red  River  settlement,  having 
Jjfcpreviously  passed  a  large  village  of  Indians,  settled  as  agriculturists 
^Upinder  the  charge  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smithurst  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society.  So  far  as  mosquitoes,  sand-flies  and  bull-dogs  were  concerned, 
'tkds  was  the  worst  encampment  of  the  whole  route. 

Next  afternoon  we  reached  Fort  Garry,  twenty-three  miles  higher 

up  the  river,  where  we  were  kindly  welcomed  by  my  relatives,  Mr. 

'and  Mrs.  Finlayson.     Thus  had  we  accomplished  in  safety  our  long 

voyage  of  about  two  thousand  miles.     On  the  whole,  we  had  been 


FROM  LONDON  TO  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 


41 


le  Woods, 
than  one 
a  hundred 
t  the  cur- 
l  traveler, 
ers  them- 
e  Thames 
IS  a  gentle 
111  growth 
he  eye  of 
le  stream, 
ikes,  with 
I  borders  ? 
n  miles  of 
res  of  this 
t  they  are 
lance,  and 
Ided  with 
ame ;  and 
ist  chiefly 
mainland 


fortunate  with  regard  to  the  weather.  During  our  tliirty-cight  days, 
rain  liad  i'allcn  only  on  parts  of  six  ;  and,  thouirli,  immediately  on  leav- 
ing Montreal,  we  had  encountered  piercing  winds  and  chilly  nights, 
vet  we  soon  had,  in  general,  as  delightful  a  temperature  as  wc  could 

wish. 

About  ten  days  after  my  arrival,  I  dispatclied  liOrds  Caledon  and 
Mul^rave  to  the  plains  under  the  escort  of  .Mr.  Cuthbert  Grant,  an 
influential  native  of  mixed  origin,  and  a  party  of  hunters.  Being  desir- 
ous of  encountering  as  many  of  the  adventures  of  the  wilderness  as 
possible,  these  young  noblemen  had  determined  on  passing  through  the 
country  of  the  Sioux  to  St.  Peter's  on  tlie  Mississippi ;  and  for  this 
purpose  they  had  provided  themselves  with  guides,  &c.  Lord  Caledon 
succeeded  in  carrying  his  intentions  into  effect,  gaining  golden  opinions 
among  the  hunters  by  his  courage,  skill  and  afl'ability ;  but  Lord  Mul- 
grave,  from  indisposition,  retraced  his  steps  flrst  to  Fort  Carry  and 
thence  to  the  Sault  St.  Marie,  that  connecting  link  between  the  canoo 
and  the  steamboat. 


mt  of  Rat 

h  empties 

ich  takes 

its  rocky 

hundred 

After  an 

lexander, 

noon  on 

;  of  a  few 

id,  which 

lis  end  of 

ortage  in 

le  mouth 
is  gene- 
It  on  this 
we  were 
en  in  the 
t,  having 
:^ulturists 
issionary 
(ncerned, 


4: 


?s  higher 
ves,  Mr. 
our  long 
lad  been 


'        t-..* 


wr'i 


42 


CHAPTER  II. 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


V" 


In  1811  Tho  Hudson's  IJay  Company  ceded  to  the  late  Lord  Selkirk, 
fatlier  of  the  present  earl,  nearly  all  that  portion  of  its  territories  which 
was  deemed  capahlc  of  cultivation.  The  tract  which  was  thus  set 
apart  for  the  purposes  of  aoriculture  and  civilization  extended  in  longi- 
tude from  the  sources  of  the  Winipcg  to  the  plains  of  the  Saskatche- 
wan, and  in  latitude  from  tlie  sources  of  the  Assiniboinc  to  the  inter- 
national boundary.  I'^rom  the  last-mentioned  river  it  took  the  name  of 
the  District  of  Assiniboia,  while  the  colony,  that  was  actually  esla- 
hlished,  borrowed  its  appellation  from  the  larger  stream  into  which  the 
Assiniboine  discharged  its  waters. 

But  the  relative  position  of  Rod  Ifiver  Settlement  is  a  far  more 
interesting  feature  in  the  case  than  its  absolute  place  on  the  map.  The 
nearest  names  of  civilization  are  the  village  of  Sault  St.  Marie,  which 
itself  has  a  reasonable  share  of  elbow-room,  St.  Peter's,  at  the  Falls  of 
the  Mississippi,  which  is  merely  the  single  ialand  in  a  vast  ocean  of 
wilderness,  and  lastly  York  Factory,  on  Hudson's  Hay,  where  an  an- 
nual ship  anchors  after  a  voyage  of  nearly  two  months,  even  from  the 
Ultima  Thule  of  Stromness.  To  each  of  these  solitary  outposts  the 
shortest  journey,  according  to  the  state  of  the  weather  and  the  means 
of  conveyance,  ranges  between  three  weeks  and  a  month,  so  that,  in 
point  of  time,  this  isolated  home  is  farther  from  any  kindred  dwelling 
than  Liverpool  is  from  Montreal,  and  nearly  as  far  as  London  is  from 
Bombay.  It  is,  however,  rather  by  the  difliculties,  than  by  the  tedious- 
ness,  of  the  various  channels  of  communication,  that  the  remoteness  of 
Red  River  Settlement  is  to  be  estimated.  On  each  route  the  obstacles, 
though  they  change  with  the  season,  are  yet  all  but  insurmountable,  in 
their  every  variety,  to  ordinary  travelers.  The  hardships  and  priva- 
tions, •which  are  inevitable  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
are  multiplied  and  aggravated,  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  by 
the  snows  of  winter,  the  freshets  of  spring  and  the  rains  of  autumn ; 
and,  though  traveling  is  comparatively  easy  and  expeditious  beyond 
St.  Peter's  and  Sault  St.  Marie,  yet  beyond  York  Factory  the  sea  is 
hermetically  sealed  against  shipping  for  nearly  ten  months  out  of  the 
twelve^ 

To  mould  this  secluded  spot  into  the  nucleus  of  a  vast  civilization 
was  the  arduous  and  honorable  task  which  Lord  Selkirk  imposed  on 
himself.  That  nobleman  was  horn  a  century  and  a  half  behind  his 
time.     Had  he  lived  in  the  days  of  the  first  three  Stuarts,  when  Britain, 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


43 


as  tlic  (Ipstinctl  mollior  of  western  nations,  bprran  to  pour  fortli  in  licr 
f   jiraccl'iil  llc'cts  a  northern  hivo  that  loved   not  the  swonl   less  hut  the 


i 


>r(l  Selkirk, 
>rics  which 
LS  thus  set 
!(1  in  longi- 
Saskatche- 
>  the  inter- 
le  name  of 
ually  esta- 
which  the 

far  more 
maj).  The 
irie,  which 
le  Falls  of 
5t  ocean  of 
ere  an  an- 
1  from  tlie 
tposts  the 
tlie  means 

0  that,  in 

1  dwelling 
)n  is  from 
e  tedious- 
Dteness  of 
obstacles, 
in  table,  in 
Hid  priva- 
nistanccs, 

year,  by 

autumn ; 

s  beyond 

he  sea  is 

lut  of  the 

vilization 
posed  on 
^hind  his 
1  Britain, 


iloujrhshare  more,  he  would  most  probably  have  rendered  the  name  of 
DoufTJass  as  illustrious  for  enterprising  bemnolence  on  some  fair  coast 
of  the  new  world  as  it  had  already  i)eeonie  for  chivalrous  valor  in 
the  annals  of  his  own  rugged  land.  His  was  a  j)uro  sj)irit  of  coloniza- 
tion, lie  courted  not  for  himself  the  virgin  secrets  of  S(«.iie  golden 
sierra;  he  needed  no  outlet  for  a  starving  tenantry;  lie  sought  no 
asylum  for  a  |)ersecuted  faith:  the  object,  for  which  he  longcnl,  was 
to  make  the  wilderness  glad  and  to  see  the  desert  blossom  as  the  rose. 

llavinir,  therefore,  a  single  eye  to  tlit^  pros[)erity  of  his  little  world. 
Lord  Selkirk  selected,  as  his  earliest  colonists,  the  iiardy  mountaineers 
of  Scotland,  with  a  few  Swedes  and  Norwegians,  because  he  believed 
them  to  be  peculiarly  iitted  to  encounter  and  overcome  the  diUlculiies 
of  an  untamed  soil  and  an  inhospitable  climate.  For  the  lirst  ten  years, 
however,  the  settlement  advanced  but  slowly,  sullering  repeatedly  and 
severely  from  the  violent  comp(;tition  in  tradt^  between  the  chartered 
possessors  of  the  country  and  the  Northwest  C-ompany  of  Montreal. 
During  that  period  of  outrage  and  anarchy,  the  colony  was  broken  up 
twice ;  and,  on  the  second  occasion,  its  governor,  Mr.  Semple,  and 
upwards  of  twenty  of  his  people,  lost  their  lives. 

lied  Itiver  Settlement,  therefore,  ought  really  to  date  its  origin  from 
1821,  the  year  in  which  the  coalition  of  the  rival  associations  left 
only  physical  impediments  to  be  surmounted  or  removed.  But  the 
termination  of  t'le  troubles  in  question  was  positively,  as  well  as  nega- 
tively, advantageous  to  the  cause  of  civilization.  The  same  competi- 
tion, which  had  harassed  the  young  colony,  had  extended  to  nearly  all 
the  posts  in  the  interior  and  even  to  some  posts  on  the  bay,  so  that 
almost  every  eligible  station  was  occupied  by  two  bodies  of  men,  of 
wiiich  either  was  too  numerous  for  the  ordinary  demands  of  a  peaceful 
commerce.  Most  of  the  supernumeraries  were  gradually  drafted  info 
the  settlement;  and  subsequently,  from  time  to  time,  many  of  the  com- 
pany's retired  servan  s  of  various  grades  made  this  oasis  in  the  wilder- 
ness the  haven  of  their  rest. 

Meanwhile  many  of  the  Scotch,  becoming  tired  of  doing  well  and 
hoping  to  do  better,  began  from  year  to  year  to  migrate  to  the  United 
States  by  the  southerly  route  already  mentioned. 

The  population,  therefore,  was  speedily  moulded  into  its  present 
composition,  consisting,  in  addition  to  Lord  Selkirk's  remaining  High- 
landers, of  the  veterans  of  the  fur  trade,  chielly  Canadians,  Orkneymen 
and  Scotchmen,  and  their  mixed  descendants.  The  half-breeds  of 
every  stock  generally  derive  their  aboriginal  blood  from  the  Swampy 
Crees,  who  are  allowed  to  be  the  most  comely  of  all  the  native  tribes, 
and  who  have,  during  the  lapse  of  two  or  three  ages,  picked  up  some- 
thing of  civilization  at  the  company's  oldest  posts.  If  one  may  judge 
from  the  large  immber  of  words  common  to  the  two  languages,  the 
Chippeways  and  the  Crees  are  branches  of  one  and  the  same  original 
trunk.  The  census,  which  is  carefully  taken  at  intervals,  numbers 
about  five  thousand  souls;  and,  m  spite  of  occasional  emigrations  to 


V    7     '^  .^    i 


I  I 


'i  y 


II  III;;" 

Ill:  I    i{ 
111'  I     I 


illi: 


44 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


the  Mississippi  and  to  the  (.'ohimhia,  a  romparison  of  results  sliows 
that  the  population  cktuhhis  in  a!)out  twonty  years. 

(Jcnerally  speaking,  tlie  Canadians  occupy  the  Assinihoine  and  the 
upper  section  of  the  Rod  River,  whih;  the  (irkneynien  and  the  Scotch- 
men, more  or  less  intcrminj,ded,  occupy  the  h)\vor  section  of  the  hitter 
stream  ;  and  as  the  Canadians  are  ahiiost  universally  Catholics,  aiul  all 
the  rest,  includiuij  settled  Indians,  generally  Protestants,  the  local  dis- 
tribution of  creeds  and  lanjruaires  prevents  those  embarrassments  with 
respect  to  education  and  relitfion,  which  perplex  many  other  commu- 
nities, and  that,  too,  to  the  serious  detriment  of  the  important  interests 
at  stake. 

Ainonir  the  Catholics  are  a  bisliop  and  two  or  three  priests,  who,  in 
addition  to  an  allowance  from  The  Hudson's  iJay  Company,  receive 
tithes  amounting,  as  in  TiOwer  Canada,  to  the  twenty-sixth  bushel  of 
all  kinds  of  grain.  Besides  seminaries  for  elementary  instruction,  the 
bishop  superintends  a  school  of  industry,  where  tiie  youni^  womcu  of 
his  lordship's  persuasion  are  taught,  one  after  another,  to  turn  their 
wool  into  cloth. 

The  Protestants  have  two  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England,  who 
do  duty  in  four  places  of  worship,  three  of  them  in  the  main  settlement, 
and  one  among  the  aboriginal  proselytes ;  and  there  are  six  principal 
schools  for  the  ordinary  branches  of  a  plain  education,  two  of  them 
among  the  Indians  and  four  amouff  the  others.  The  charges  of  reli- 
gion  are  defrayed  partly  by  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  partly 
by  the  Church  Missionary  Society, — the  flocks  neither  paying  their 
tithes  nor  wholly  maintaining  the  sacred  fabrics.  As  to  the  charges  of 
education,  four-fifths  of  them  fall  on  the  pious  and  charitable  associa- 
tion just  mentioned,  while  the  remaining  fifth  is  borne  by  such  indi- 
vidual parents  as  are  both  able  and  willing  to  spare  fifteen  shillings  a 
year  for  the  moral  and  intellectual  culture  of  a  child. 

Fort  Garry,  the  principal  establishment  in  the  place,  stands  in  long. 
97°  W.  and  in  lat.  50°  G'  20"  N.  It  is  situated  at  the  forks  of  the 
Red  River  and  the  Assinihoine,  being  about  fifty  miles  from  Lake 
Winipeg,  and  about  seventy-five  from  the  frontier;  and  it  occupies,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  the  centre  of  the  settlement.  This,  which  is  the 
official  residence  of  the  governor  of  the  colony,  is  a  regularly  built  for- 
tification with  walls  and  bastions  of  stone.  Nearly  opposite,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  united  streams,  is  the  Catholic  Cathedral,  while  the 
principal  Protestant  church  is  about  two  miles  farther  down  on  the  left 
bank.  In  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  this  last  mentioned  place 
of  worship  stands  the  Red  River  Academy,  a  large  and  flourishing 
school  kept  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Macullum,  for  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
gentlemen  in  the  service.  Below  Fort  Garry  many  respectable  dwell- 
ings, most  of  them  two  stories,  belong  to  the  wealthier  class  of  inhabit- 
ants, who  generally  live,  so  far  as  circumstances  permit,  in  the  same 
style ^as  people  of  five  or  six  hundred  a  year  in  England.  The  lower 
fort,  which  is  about  four  times  the  size  of  the  upper  establishment,  is 
in  process  of  being  enclosed  by  loop-holed  walls  and  bastions.     This 


N. 


FROM  RED  RIVKR  SETTLEME.NT  TO  EDMONTON. 


45 


im 


IS  in^ 


V  o^vn  bond  quarters  when  I  visit  tlir  sctilcrncnt ;  aiul  here  al 


tl  h 


-o 


ine  and  tlio 
the  Scotc'h- 
)f  the  latter 
'lies,  and  all 
e  local  dis- 
ments  with 
or  comnni- 
nt  interests 

Its,  who,  in 
riy,  receive 
1  bushel  of 
ruction,  the 
women  of 
turn  their 

gland,  who 

settlement, 

X  principal 

'o  of  them 

Lfes  of  reli- 

and  partly 

lying  their 

charges  of 

e  associa- 

such  indi- 

shillinffs  a 

s  in  long. 
rks  of  the 
*om  Lake 
cupies,  as 
ich  is  the 
built  for- 
te, on  the 
while  the 
>n  the  left 
led  place 
ourishing 


resides  Mr.  Tlioni,  the  Recordir  of  Kiiperl's  I, and. 

On  entering  Jicd  Uiver  from  I/ikc  Winipi^uf,  the  shores  for  the  first 
*|  ten  miles  are  low  and  swampy,  aljonndini,^  in  wild  fowl  of  every  de- 
scription; but  fartlicr  up  they  rise  to  a  bciirht  varying  from  thirty  to 
sixty  ft'ct.  On  the  eastern  or  right  baidi  there  is  ahundance  of  poplar, 
Iiirch,  cliii,  oak,  &LC.,  |)incs  also  being  j)li'ntiful  a  i'ew  niih^s  !)aek  ;  while 
the  we?itern  side,  generally  speaking,  is  out;  ^ast  |)rairie,  with  scarcely 
?  any  timber.  Nearly  as  far  up  as  the  forks,  the  houses  and  farms  of 
the  settlers  are  almost  exclusively  on  the  lelt  bank,  wliile  each  occupier 
generally  owns,  within  a  convenient  distance,  part  of  the  opposite  bush 
as  a  wood-lot/ 

The  soil  oi'  lied  River  Settlement  is  a  black  mould  of  considerable 
depth,  which,  when   first  wrought,  produces   extraordinary  crops,  as 
'H   nuuli,  on  sonu;  occasions,  as  forty  returns  of  wheat;  and,  even  after 
•  I   twenty  successive  years  of  cultivation  without  the  relief  of  manure,  or 
'i    of  lallow  or  of  green  crop,  it  still  yields  from   lifteen   to   twenty-five 
•    l)usjiels  an  acre.     The  wheat  produced  is  ])lumij  and  heavy;  there  arc 
'    also  large  quantities  of  grain  of  all  kinds,  besides  beef,  mutton,  pork, 
^  butter,  cheese  and  wool  in  abundance.     Agriculture,  however,  has  not 
■^  been   without  its  misfortunes.     In  the  year    1 820,  in  consequence  of 
the  heavy  snows  and  steady  severity  of  the  preceding  winter,  the  thaws 
of  the  spring  flooded  tlie  whole  country,  not  only  lilling  the  channels 
of  the  two  rivers,  but  also  cov(!ring  \hc  adjacent  plains  to  a  great  depth. 
^    [Overy  stream  from  mouth  to  source  was  a  torrent,  and  every  swamp  a 
;j    lake,  till  at  last  swamp  and  stream,  as  they  rose  and  rose,  united  to 
M    drown  nearly  all  the  labors  of  preceding  years.     Fence  alter  lence, 
■'^    and  house  after  house,  floated  away  on  the  bosom  of  the  deluge,  while 
I    the  helpless  owners  were  huddled  together  on  spots,  which  the  for- 
,i«:    bearance  alone  of  the  surging  sea  showed  to  be  higher  than   the  rest; 
■yv     and  the  receding  waters  lelt,  and  that  at  a  period  too  late  for  successful 
w     cultivation,  little  but  the  site  of  Red  River  Settlement.     But  the  tem- 
j:,     porary  evil,  as   is  generally  the  case  with  the  devastations  of  nature, 
g     brougi\t  with  it  a  j)ermanent  benefit.     The  ruined  hovels,  for  the  ori- 
ginal setders  had  been  glad  of  any  shelter,  were  gradually  replaced  by 
dwellings  of  more  convenient  dimensions  and  more  comfortable  finish; 
and  the  submerged  lands  were  irrigated  and  manured  into  more  than 
their  natural  fertility.     For  the  next   three   seasons,  however,  frogs 
were,  if  possil)lc,  more  numerous  than  ever  they  were  in  Egypt;  and, 
in   a  subscquetpp  year,  the  crops  were  almost  entirely  devoured  by 
caterpillars,     l^eviouslj'  to  the  great  flood,  whole   armies  of  locusts 
most  seriously  damaged  the  crops  for  three  successive  years. 

The  summers,  though  not  quite  so  long  as  in  Canada,  arc  yet  pretty 
much  the  same  in  other  respects.  The  winters  are  not  only  more 
tedious,  but  also  more  severe.  For  weeks  on  end  the  thermometer 
shows,  at  some  hour  or  other  of  the  four-and-twenty,  upwards  of 
thirty  degrees  below  zero;  and  Uierc  is  hardly  a  winter,  in  which  the 
mercury  escapes  being  solidly  frozen.  During  the  hardest  weather, 
however,  horses  may  be  left  out  of  doors  to  find  provender  for  them- 


46 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


$i 


i ! ) 


selves  under  tlic  snow,  provided  they  have  been  hardened  l)y  constant 
rxposiire  to  llic  advanciiiij^  cold.  IJiit  catth',  though  heariiiif  so  much 
of  a  jreneral  rcscml)hince  to  tlie  hufl'ah),  cannot  lorajrc  for  thenisclves 
in  tliis  way,  hcinu  unahh;  to  scrape  away  the  snow  from  the  jifrass.  In 
the  winter  of  18yH— I,  I  placed  five  hundred  liead  in  tlu;  most  favorable 
spots  to  i)ass  the  winter  in  the  open  air.  'J'wo  liundred  ol'  them  died 
in  the  experiment,  most  of  them  in  a  very  sinjiular  way.  In  order  to 
^uard  ajjjainst  the  wolves,  the  cattle  were  confined  at  nijLflit  within  a 
narrow  enclosure,  where,  to  say  nothin<r  of  their  mufihitinff  or  de- 
stroying each  other's  horns,  the  accumidation  of  dunff,  by  ballinj^  and 
freezing  in  their  hoofs,  lamed  and  disai)led  them.  Within  the  settle- 
ment the  cattle  find  food  for  themselves  about  seven  monilis  in  the 
plains  and  meads;  but,  during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  they  are 
maintained  on  the  straw  of  the  farms,  and  on  hay  cut  on  the  boundless 
common  behind  the  pasturing  grounds  of  the  flocks  and  herds. 

In  addition  to  agriculture,  or  sometimes  in  place  of  it,  the  settlers, 
more  particularly  those  of  mixed  origin,  devote  first  the  summer  and 
then  tlic  autumn,  and  sometimes  the  winter  also,  to  the  hunting  of  the 
buflalo,  bringing  home  vast  quantities  of  pcmmican,  dried  meat,  grease, 
tongues,  ttc,  for  whicii  the  company's  campaigning  business  affords 
the  best  market;  and  even  many  of  the  stationary  agriculturists  send 
oxen  and  carts  on  shares,  to  help  the  poorer  hunters  to  convey  their 
booty  to  the  settlement. 

The  colony  is  governed  by  a  corporation,  called  the  Council  of  As- 
siniboia,  which,  under  an  express  provision  of  the  charter,  exercises 
judicial  powers  as  well  as  legislative  authority ;  and,  in  order  to  put 
both  branches  of  the  duty  on  a  more  satisfactory  footing,  the  company, 
two  years  ago,  introduced  into  the  country  the  professional  gentleman 
already  mentioned,  as  the  pioneer  of  legislation  and  the  organ  of  the 
court. 

On  our  arrival,  we  found  two  men  undergoing  a  term  of  imprison- 
ment for  a  nocturnal  affray ;  and  so  terrible  is  this  mode  of  punish- 
ment to  the  free  and  easy  children  of  the  wilderness,  that  in  hardly  an 
instance,  or,  I  believe,  in  not  a  single  ease,  has  the  same  person  pre- 
sented himself  a  second  time  as  a  candidate  for  the  privation  of  fresh 
air.  As  the  tribunal  is  competent  to  take  cognizance  of  ofTenoes  com- 
mitted in  any  part  of  Rupert's  Land,  a  man  was  brought  from  the 
Saskatchewan,  during  my  visit,  on  a  charge  of  murder.  He  was 
clearly  convicted  of  having  stabbed  a  fellow  servant  in  the  abdomen 
with  what  is  called  a  poker,  a  sharp  pike  capable  of  |||)earing  a  billet 
of  wood  in  order  to  throw  it  on  the  fire  ;  but,  in  consideration  of  his 
having  received  great  provocation,  the  jury,  under  the  direction  of  the 
court,  returned  a  verdict  of  manslaughter.  I  presided  on  the  occasion, 
and  we  condemned  the  criminal  to  one  year's  imprisonment,  with  hard 
labor. 

To  resume  my  journal,  I  had  intended  to  remain  at  Red  River  till 
about  the  middle  of  July  ;  but,  having  changed  my  contemplated  route 
in  consequence  of  information  obtained  on  the  spot,  I  was  obliged  to 
start  ten  or  twelve  days  earlier  than  I  had  proposed.    As  my  new  road 


FROM  RED  RIVKR  SKTTLKMKNT  TO   KDMONTON. 


47 


^Tjj 


wa8  to  lio  thrnutrh  tlm  rnnntry  ol'tlio  IJIackfccl,  I  was  happy  to  obtain 
for  tin-  whole  way  to  Tort  Vancouver,  iho  ("scort  of  Mr.  Kowatul,  who, 
havinuf  hcvn  in  chariio  of  the  Saskafclicwaii  for  many  years,  liad  trreat 
inthieiu'i^  ain()n<r  the  trilx'S  (•!'  the  prairies.  Willi  that  jjjcilllornairs  aid 
and  a  well  appointed  party  of  eiirliteen  or  twenty  nien'in  all,  wc  had 
but  little  to  fear  from  any  Indians  that  we  eonld  meet.  As  the  country 
was  practieahle  for  wheel.-,  as  far  as  Mdmonton,  we  resolved  to  relieve 
our  horses  by  takinij^  as  much  of  our  bafrtrafTC!  as  possible  in  lii^lit  carts; 
and,  in  order  to  save  lis  a  day,  or  perliaps  more,  in  eallinir  at  Fort 
Polly  for  a  relay  of  horses,  we  dispatched  three  men  al)out  a  week 
before  our  own  start,  to  have  the  r(Mpiisite  Jjand  of  najjs  i)roui,du  for  us 
from  that  establishment  to  a  conspicuous  land-mark  in  tiie  sea  ot' 
plains,  known  as  the  IJutte  aux  ('hiens.  Still  larther  to  expediK; 
matters,  wo  sent  ofl*,  about  four  days  afterwards,  three  carts  of  lieavy 
bapjTage,  with  six  men  and  a  few  horses. 

In  addition  to  my  fellow  travelers  and  myself,  my  own  immediatn 
party  was  thus  reduced  to  six  men,  thirty  hors(!S,  and  one  liijht  cart  ; 
and  accordini^ly,  about  five  in  the  morning  of  the  third  of  July,  our 
cavalcade  left  Fort  (Jarry  under  a  salute.  While  we  deliled  through 
the  gates  into  the  open  plains  with  a  h<frizon  before  us  as  well  defined 
as  that  of  the  blue  ocean,  the  scene  resembled  the  moving  of  an  eastern 
caravan  in  the  boundless  sands  of  Arabia, — a  medley  of  pots  and  pans 
and  ketdes  in  our  single  vehicle,  the  unruly  paekhorscs  prancing  under 
their  loads,  and  every  cavalier,  armed  to  the  teeth,  assisting  his  steed 
to  neigh  and  caper  with  bit  and  spur.  The  efiect  was  not  a  little 
heightened  by  a  brilliant  sunrise,  the  tiring  of  cannon,  the  streaming  of 
Hags  and  the  shouting  of  the  spectators.  Mr.  Finlayson  and  his  bro- 
ther volunteered  to  accompany  us  on  our  lirst  stage,  so  as  to  see  us 
fairly  out  of  the  settlement. 

Soon  after  starting  wo  were  brought  to  a  halt  by  an  accident,  which, 
besides  more  serious  consequences,  might  have  affected  my  comfort  to 
a  great  extent.  While  coming  out  in  tlie  Caledonia,  I  had  picked  up, 
with  a  special  reference  to  my  long  and  arduous  journey,  a  smart, 
active,  and  intelligent  Highlander  of  the  name  of  Mclntyre,  who  also 
possessed  the  peculiar  recommendation  of  being  able  to  communicate 
with  me  in  one  of  the  unknown  tongues,  the  Gaelic  of  the  north  of  Scot- 
land. Well,  whether  the  horse  was  too  frisky,  or  the  rider  too  ambi- 
tious to  show  off  the  animal's  points,  Mclntyre's  charger,  taking  fright 
and  becoming  unmanageable,  contrived  to  dislodge  its  saddle  so  as  to ' 
throw  the  poor  fellow  heavily  on  his  head.  Though  he  was  stunned 
for  a  few  minutes,  yet,  on  recovering  his  consciousness,  ho  appeared 
to  be  but  litUc  injured;  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  however,  in  so 
important  a  matter,  he  had  a  little  blood  taken  from  him  immediately, 
—an  operation  which  entirely  removed  every  unpleasant  symptom. 

We  halted  for  breakfast  near  the  Catholic  chapel  of  the  White  Horse 
Plains,  distant  from  Fort  Garry  about  twenty  miles.  This  meal,  con- 
trary to  the  snapping  system  of  the  aquatic  part  of  our  journey,  now 
became  quite  a  luxurious  lounge,  inasmuch  as  the  horses  could  not  eat, 
like  the  voyageurs,  as  fast  as  ourselves.     On  the  important  occasion  in 


48 


FROM  RKD  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


qtirslinn,  wo  rcj^uliirly  tarrioil  llirco  or  four  lioiirs,  tiirninjr  our  r\n<j'> 
loose  to  iii;ik(!  tlic  iiio.sl  of  llicir  time.  II;iviiiif  (;()ni|)l('l(Hi  tli(!  c[r;iii( 
l)usiii('ss  of  inlcrnjil  improvcnu'iit  :U  our  leisure,  we  killed  the  riMnaiii- 
injr  interval,  crch  man  aeeordiiijr  to  his  taste,  in  dressiiiif,  or  halhini;. 
or  sleepiiijr,  or  readini,s  or  writinir,  or  doinif  notliin<^.  As  tlu;  axle  oi 
our  cart  had  hrokcin  at  tiie  very  outset,  it  was  here  repaired  l)v 
the  neijrhljorinj^  hlaeksniilli  ;  and,  in  order  to  provide  ajjainst  the  re- 
eurrence  of  such  a  ealaniity  under  less  fav()ral)lc  circumstances,  a 
second  vehicle  was  eniiaired  to  accompany  us. 

About  two  in  tin;  afternoon,  the  Messrs.  Finlayson,  after  many 
farewells,  returned  to  Fort  (Jarry,  while  we  entered  on  our  second 
stage.  We  had  hardly  started,  when,  by  a  coincidence  equally  unex- 
pected and  unpleasant,  our  cart  upset  over,  perhaps,  the  only  stone 
within  twenty  miles  of  us,  the  country  heinj^  nearly  as  free  of  sucli 
impediments  as  the  tidiest  <farden.  In  fact,  the  ii  onld,  which,  as 
already  nuMitioned,  forms  the  soil,  has  nothin«(  harder  than  itself  to  hind 
it  together,  so  that  the  banks  of  every  little  creek  melt  under  the  inllii- 
cncc  of  the  freshets  of  spring,  almost  as  readily  as  if  themselves  were 
snow  wreaths.  As  wo  coidd  encamp,  at  least  with  our  own  will,  only 
in  the  vicinity  of  water,  we  kc^t  marching  along  till  we  reached,  about 
nine  in  the  evening,  a  small  lake  ;  and  there,  after  a  hearty  su[)per,  we 
turned  in  for  the  night,  or  rather  some  of  us  did  so,  for  most  of  my 
friends  slept  in  the  open  air.  'J'lic  mosquitoes  were  so  troublesome, 
that  the  horses,  hungry  and  tired  as  they  were,  could  neither  feed  nor 
rest.  The  scenery  ofilie  day  had  been  generally  a  perfect  level.  On 
the  east,  north  and  south,  there  was  not  a  mound  or  a  tree  to  vary  the 
vast  expanse  of  gre^jn  sward,  while  to  the  west  were  the  gleaming  bays 
of  the  winding  Assiniiioine,  separated  from  each  other  by  wooded 
points  of  considerable  depth. 

In  the  morning  we  forded  the  Champignan.  The  country  generally 
bore  the  same  appearance  as  yesterday,  excepting  that  our  path  occa- 
sionally ran  through  a  clump  of  trees.  We  also  crossed  the  beds  of 
many  shallow  lakes,  wliich  contai.  water  only  during  the  spring, 
brushing  the  luxuriant  grass  with  our  very  knees;  and,  on  the  hard 
ground,  the  surface  was  beautifully  diversified  with  a  variety  of  flow- 
ers, such  as  the  rose,  the  hyacinth,  ind  the  tiger  lily.  The  rankness 
of  the  vegetal  on  savored  rather  of  the  torrid  zone  with  its  perennial 
spring,  than  of  the  northern  wilds,  which,  within  two  or  three  months, 
had  been  lying  cold  and  dead  in  the  embrace  of  a  hyperborean  winter. 
In  the  course,  however,  of  our  afternoon's  ride,  the  character  of  the 
country  underwent  a  complete  change.  The  plain  gave  place  to  a 
rolling  succession  of  sandy  hills,  which  were  generally  covered  with 
brush ;  and  now  and  then  we  passed  through  spots  which  looked  like 
artiticial  shrubberies.  This  ridge,  evidently  one  of  nature's  steps  fioiii 
a  lower  to  a  higher  level,  may  be  traced  from  Turtle  Mountain  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  international  boundary  to  the  banks  of  Swan 
River,  in  lat.  52°  30',  and  even  round  to  the  Basqua  Hill,  on  the  waters 
of  the  Lower  Saskatchewan.  It  appears  to  have  been,  in  former  days, 
the  shore  of  an  inland  sea,  comprising,  in  one  undistinguishable  mass, 


ON. 


FROM  RKD  RIVKR  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


49 


iiff  our  najs 
'il  tli(!  (Trarid 
i  tlio  HMuain- 
i,  or  hathiiisf. 
«  tlu;  axle  oi 
repaired  l)v 
raiii.><t  the  re- 
iiiislances,  a 

after    many 
our  second 
inally  iinex- 
^   only  stone 
free  of  sueli 
,   wliicli,  as 
itself  to  hind 
ler  the  inllii- 
I  selves  wen 
vi\  will,  only 
ached,  about 
'  sii[)pcr,  we 
most  of  my 
Irouhlesonio. 
her  feed  nor 
t  level.     On 
to  vary  tlie 
eamingbays 
by  wooded  " 

ry  generally 
r  path  oeca- 
the  beds  of 
the  spring, 
»n  the  hard 
!ty  of  flow- 
ic  rankness 
s  perennial 
ree  months, 
ean  winter, 
ictur  of  the 

place  to  a 
vercd  with 
looked  like 

steps  from 
itain  in  thi 
s  of  Swan 

the  waters 
)rmer  days, 
lable  mass, 


Lakes  WinipejT,  Manitoba,  and  ^V  inipeiros,  with  many  of  their  feeders. 
'V\\'\s  view  may,  perhaps,  derive  eonfiruiation  froui  llu^  fact,  tli.it  the 
larL'cst  of  the  tlirec?  frairmenls  of  the  primeval  sheet  of  waters,  namely. 
Lake  Winipi'!^,  still  continues  to  retire  from  its  wt'stcru  side,  and  lo 
encroach  on  its  eastern  bank. 

In  our  evening's  eneampuunt  the  mos(|nitoes  were  so  ntimoronH, 
that  they  literally  motlle(l  tlie  poor  horses  with  black  patches  of  great 
size,  extending  at  the  same  time  a  very  unrriasonable  share  of  their 
attentions  to  oiirselves.  We  had  some  compcmsation,  how(!ver,  lor  this 
annovance  in  the  excelhmce  of  the  water,  for  wc;  had  been  fortuiuite 
enoiiiih  to  lix  our  halt  on  a  running  stream,  instead  of  being  doomed  to 
swallow  the  seething  dregs  of  half-dried  lakes;  ami  we  were  tin;  more 
ready  to  appreciate  the  dillertincc,  as  wo  had  not  yet  overtaken  the 
lieavy  carls  that  contained  our  wine  and  toa. 

IJreakfasting  next  morning  on  the  banks  of  a  small  rivulet,  we  found 
the  last  night's  lires  of  our  advanced  guard  still  burning, — a  discovery 
M-hich  did'used  general  joy,  for,  to  say  nothing  of  the  want  of  luxuries, 
even  our  necessary  provisions  had  begun  to  look  very  lean  upon  it. 
On  resuming  o\ir  journey,  we  passed  among  tolerably  well  wooded 
lulls,  while  on  either  side  of  us  there  lay  a  constant  succession  of  small 
lakes,  some  of  them  salt,  which  abounded  in  wildfowl.  In  the  neigh- 
borhood of  those  waters  the  pasture  was  rich  and  luxuriant;  and  wc 
traversed  two  (ields,  for  so  they  might  be  termed,  of  the  rose  and  the 
sweet  briar,  while  eacli  loaded  the  air  with  its  own  peculiar  perfume. 
On  reachinir  the  summit  of  the  hills,  that  bounded  the  pretty  valley  of 
the  Rapid  Kiver,  we  descried  an  encampment,  which  wc  supposed  to 
be  that  of  our  own  people  waiting  lor  us.  On  a  nearer  approach, 
how  ver,  we  distinguished  merely  some  lodges  of  Saulteaux.  Though 
we  spent  about  an  hour  in  fording  the  stream  under  the  very  eyes  of  the 
savages,  yet  they  oftered  us  no  assistance ;  they  endeavored,  on  the 
contrary,  to  mislead  us  as  to  the  grand  object  of  our  inciuiries,  saying 
that  our  friends  ahead  had  passed  before  the  sun  was  high,  till,  on  being 
accused  of  telling  an  untruth,  they  admitted  that  the  event  in  question 
had  taken  place  several  hours  later.  Their  object,  as  it  was  now  six 
o'clock,  was  to  make  us  halt  at  the  river  for  the  night,  that  they  might 
have  an  opportunity  of  teasing  us  for  presents,  besides  the  chance  of 
increasing  their  stock  of  horses.  About  an  hour  afterwards,  on  reach- 
ing a  slight  eminence,  we  perceived  our  people  just  stopping  to  encamp; 
and,  with  our  imaginations  full  of  hyson  and  souchong,  of  tongues  and 
biscuit,  we  quickly  overtook  our  commissariat,  once  more  enjoying  the 
wanderer's  best  consolation  in  the  shape  of  a  good  supper  washed 
down  with  tea  at  discretion. 

Having  now  to  regulate  our  pace  by  that  of  the  loaded  carts,  wc 
were  obliged  next  day  to  march  much  more  slowly  than  hith(!rto. 
Some  ol  my  utilitarian  friends  brought  a  good  supper  of  wild  fowl, 
which  were  very  numerous  in  the  small  lakes,  among  which  we  were 
still  winding  our  way.  About  eight  in  the  morning  we  (rame  to  a  large 
lake,  where  we  were  prevented  from  attempting  to  breakfast,  by  the 
experience  of  Mr.  Rowand.     While  coming  to  meet  me  at  Red  River, 

PART  I. — 4 


?■; 


m 


n-- 


50 


FROM  RKI)  UIVKR  SKTTLKMKNT  TO  KDMONToN. 


in  llic  spriiifr,  t'mt  L'f'Mtlcman,  nllnuMcil  liy  tlic  hcimty  of  the  situation, 
had  nii-aiii|)(Ml  lor  iIk;  iii^lit  willi  his  kcillc  hiilihliii^r  and  stcaniitn;  all 
('oinrortal)ly  ahoiit  him,  \\h(Mi,  lo  and  ixjiold,  the  tirst  sip  of  tlu;  wel- 
come hcveraj^e  reveah-d  ihe  horril)le  liiith,  that  the  lovely  lake  was  no 
hettcr  than  it  shoidd  lie,  l)ein«f  lilh d  with  sail  water.  We,  therefore, 
jonjred  on  for  another  hour,  havinif  to  wait  for  our  iuiavy  earls  till 
eleven  at  nii^ht,  a  d(  lay  which  induced  me  to  threaten,  in  case  of  a 
re[ietition,  the  sto|)|)in^r  of  the  drams  of  the  deliiKjuents.  In  the  morn- 
iufT  wv  cros^?t'd  the  «Mid  of  Shoal  Lake,  iyinir  in  a  hilly  and  well  wooded 
district.  Our  jiuide,  (Jeorufc  Sinclair,  havini;  velunteered  to  conduct  us 
to  a  lino  cncanij)ment  on  llird-lail  creek,  we  iirired  forward  our  jaded 
cattle  till  nine  in  the  cveniii}^;  hut,  heinfr  still  at  fault,  wo  were  oI)lifrcd 
to  stop  at  a  staynant  lake,  swarinin<]f  with  mosciuitoes,  and  yielding 
very  iiad  water.  Our  horses  were;  now  heginninj;  to  ho.  knocked  up, 
liavin«^  often  deviated  from  the  track  to-day,  and  even  sometimes  lain 
down  with  their  loads  and  riders. 

Durinjj  the  nisjht,  the  poor  animals,  in  (»rder  to  jjet  rid  of  their  tiny 
tormentors,  strayed  to  the  top  of  a  hill,  where  the  hree/c  was  too  mueli 
for  the  mosquitoes;  and  this  eirciimstance,  as  involvinjj  the  delay  of  a 
search,  prevented  us  from  starting  hefore  liv(!  o'clock.  After  an  hour's 
rid(!  over  hilly  and  ruggcul  ground,  w(!  reaclu  il  (Jeorgo  Sinclair's  pro- 
mised encampment  on  the  IJird-lail  Creek,  a  rapidly  flowing  trihutary 
of  the  Assinihoine  ;  and  heyond  this  stream  was  an  undulating  prairie 
of  vast  extent  with  the  river  last-mentioned  in  the  distance.  On  a 
ncighhoring  height  wc  saw  tlirce  hands  of  antelopes.  Some  of  our 
party  attempted  lo  approach  them  by  skirling  round  the  valley;  hut  the 
watchful  animals,  hounding  away  with  characteristic  elegance  and 
rapidity,  were  ([iiickly  out  of  sight,  preserving  their  venison  for  some 
more  fortunate  visitors.  With  the  exception  of  our  own  nags,  and,  of 
course,  also  of  the  horrible  mosquitoes,  these  were  the  first  animals 
that  wc  had  seen  since  leaving  Red  River  Settlement;  but  we  were 
now  entering  on  prairies  well  known  as  the  home  of  many  varieties  of 
the  deer. 

On  ascending  the  hills,  which  formed  the  eastern  embankment  of  the 
valley  of  the  Assinihoine,  we  discerned,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  a  large  band  of  steeds.  Thinking  that  the  animals  might  belong 
to  some  of  the  daring  tribes  of  the  plains,  wc  prepared  our  lirearms, 
&c.,  for  the  possible  visit  of  the  owners  in  their  professional  capacity 
of  horse-slealcrs ;  but,  after  firing  signals,  without  attracting  the  attention 
of  any  human  being,  we  came  to  the  conclusion,  and,  as  it  is  afterwards 
proved,  correctly,  that  the  band  in  question  was  the  stud  of  Fort  EUicc, 
quieUy  grazing  at  some  distance  from  the  establishment.  After  break- 
fast wc  forded  the  river,  sending  our  carts  and  baggage  across  in  a  bat- 
teau,  which  had  apparently  been  left  there  for  our  use,  then  swimming 
the  horses  over  and  finally  making  our  own  passage  in  the  l)arge's  last- 
trip.  About  noon  we  arrived  at  Fort  EUicc,  remaining  there  three  or 
four  hours.  At  this  post,  commonly  known  as  Beaver  Creek,  from 
the  name  of  the  brook  on  which  it  stands,  we  obtained  tidings  of  a 
large  body  of  emigrants,  who  had  left  Red  River  for  the  Columbia  a 


FROM  RKD  RIVKR  SKTTLKMKNT  TO  KHMONTON. 


51 


few  (liiVM  prcvioiisly  to  our  iirri\:il  iVoiii  Monlii  ;il.  TIh'v  Ii;uI  riMclirtl 
|'"orl  llllicc  on  llic  iwciity-sccoiid  of  .lime,  iiiid  wiMrtcd  ii^Miii  iicxf  il:iy. 
Am  tlirso  people  were  purMiinij  llie  s;iine  route  :is  ourselveH,  aiul  woulil 
be:it  a  £,'<">''  Iriiek,  we  resolved,  :is  liir  ;is  pr;ictiiMlde,  to  lollow  tlieir 
trail.  Ill  liie  lirsi  instance,  however,  we  had  to  itii  out  ol  their  jialli  in 
order  to  keep  our  appoinlinent  aloresnid  ■\\  the  Uiitte  aii.v  Chieiis.  'I'o 
arrive  more  ijuiekly  al  this  reiide/vous  o|'  our  relay  of  horses,  we  here 
(Mii:aued,  as  a  special  jjiiide,  an  (dd  lilldW  of  an  Indian,  w  ho  talked 
larirely  of  kiiowinir  a  short  cut  across  the  i-oiiniry  to  the  Do;;  Knoll. 
Hel'ore  siartinir  we  exchaiiijed  some  of  our  cattle  and  vehicles  for  Ireslier 
and  hetter  artiides  of  the  same  descriptions,  rccruitini;  and  reuovatinj; 
our  little  hriirade  to  the  utmost  ufoiir  ahilily. 

I'assiiiir  throuirh  a  swamp/  \V(»od,  we  crossed  ilie  liiTappelle  or 
Callinj;  Uiver.  Our  horses  am  carts  forded  the  .'»treatn  ;  ami  we  (»ur- 
Helv(!S  trav»:rse{l  it  in  a  canoe  oi  ilariniii:,dy  simple  consiruclion,  heini; 
neither  more  nor  less  than  a  few  l»ranches  covered  with  Inillalo  rolx's. 
This  make-shift  l)ar(  ly  served  the  purpose  of  takiii;;  us  over  l>efi»re  it 
pot  altojrelher  filled  with  water.  On  surmountiiiij  the  steep  liiil,  which 
laced  us,  we  found  ourselves  on  a  level  meadow  of  several  thousand 
acres  in  extent;  and  here,  heiiiir  informed  hy  our  new  <»iiide  dial  wi- 
could  iu)t  possibly  reach  any  other  water  that  iiiulit,  w».'  rehu-tantly 
encamj)cd  at  the  early  hour  of  six  in  the  eveninif. 

'I'o  make  up  for  tlu;  early  halt  of  yesterday,  wc  were  au;:iin  in  tim 
saddle  hy  half-past  three  in  tlu^  mornin^r,  trottiiiir  away  w  itli  our  tresh 
chargers  through  some  extensive  prairies  studded  wilh  clumps  of  trees. 
We  soon  .slumhled  on  some  lotlges  of  Saulteaiix,  one  very  talkaiivo 
fellow  accompanying  us  for  a  few  miles.  His  (rrandesl  piece  of  m-ws 
was,  that  wc  win-  likely  to  overtake  a  lar<re  parly  oiCrees,  who,  after 
starting  on  a  campaign  some  time  since,  had  heen  arrested  in  their  i)ro- 
gress  l)y  a  fearful  and  fatal  malady.  'I'lumgh  the  Indians  iiavo  the 
knack  of  inventinir  enormous  fahles,  and  also  of  fortii\  ing  them  with  a 
formidal)lc  array  of  eircMimstances,  yet  I  issued  a  general  order  that 
every  person  should  carry  his  gun  loaded  wilh  hall.  We  were  suller- 
ing  considerable  inconvenience  with  regard  to  our  provisions  from  the 
heat  of  the  weather.  Even  the  meat,  which  we  had  hrought  from  Fort 
Ellice,  was  already  tainted  ;  and  we  were,  mor(M)ver,  tantali/ed  l)y 
seeing  some  antelopes,  which,  with  the  best  intentions  of  hungry  men, 
wc  failed  to  hit. 

While  we  were  encamped  on  a  mound  at  breakfast,  wo  ol)serve(l 
some  fires  in  the  plains  around  us,  while  a  solit;iry  savage  was  seen 
firing  signals.  Our  fears,  or  perhaps  our  discretion,  immediately  iden- 
tified these  symptoms  wilh  the  Cree  warriors,  whom  we  w(!re  exp(!ct- 
ing  to  find  in  our  path.  Our  j'eople  were  (juickly  on  the  alert,  .answer- 
ing the  signals  and  preparing  for  the  rfiception  of  Uie  enemy,  who,  so 
far  as  we  could  discern,  turned  out  to  bo  thrci-  |u)or  Saulteaux,  two 
men  and  a  boy,  on  their  way  to  Fort  Ellice.  I.i  the  vieinit)  of  this 
mound  there  was  a  very  remarkalde  knoll,  known  as  the  ii.ille  'i  Car- 
cajar,  which,  though  not  exceeding  three  hundred  feet  .a  hei^ljt,  is  y<;t. 
a  conspicuous  landmark  in  these  generally  level  and  open  prairies. 


i  I 


■ill? 


lii! 


I. 


!;•   "'^' 


62 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


liike  almost  every  river,  hill  and  vale  in  this  primitive  country,  it  has 
its  traditionary  legend,  which  runs  thus: 

Many,  many  summers  ago,  a  large  party  of  Assiniboines,  pouncing 
on  a  small  band  of  Crees  in  the  neighborhood  of  this  knoll,  nearly 
destroyed  them.  Among  the  victors  was  the  former  wife  of  one  of  the 
vanquished,  who,  in  a  previous  foray,  had  been  carried  olf  by  her  pre- 
sent husband  from  her  ancient  lord  and  master.  Whether  it  was  that 
her  new  friend  was  younger  than  her  old  one,  or  that  she  was  con- 
scious of  having  been  a  willing  accomplice  in  the  elopement,  the  lady, 
rushing  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  directed  every  eflbrt  against  the 
life  of  her  first  lover.  In  spite,  however,  of  the  faithless  amazon's 
special  attentions,  the  Wolverine,  for  such  was  his  name,  eflected  his 
escape  from  the  field  of  carnage,  while  the  conquerors  were  gloating 
over  the  scalps  of  his  brethren  in  arms,  (creeping  stealthily  along,  for 
the  whole  day,  under  cover  of  the  woods,  he  concealed  himself  at 
nightfall  in  a  hole  on  the  top  of  the  rising  ground  in  question.  But 
though  he  had  thus  eluded  the  vigilance  of  his  national  enemies,  yet 
there  was  one  who,  under  the  influence  of  personal  hatred,  had  never 
lost  sight  or  scent  of  his  trail ;  and  no  sooner  had  he  sunk,  exhausted 
by  hunger  and  fatigue,  into  a  sound  sleep,  than  the  unswerving  and 
untiring  bloodhound  sent  an  arrow  into  his  brain  with  a  triumphant 
yell.  Before  the  morning  dawned,  the  virago  proudly  presented  to 
her  Assiniboine  husband  the  bleeding  scalp  of  his  unfortunate  rival ; 
and  the  scene  of  her  desperate  exploit  was  thenceforward  known  as 
the  Butte  a  Carcajar,  or  the  Wolverine  Knoll.  In  proof  of  the  truth  of 
the  story,  the  Indians  assert,  that  the  ghosts  of  the  murderess  and  her 
victim  are  often  to  be  seen,  from  a  considerable  distance,  struggling 
together  on  the  very  summit  of  the  height. 

In  our  afternoon's  march  we  passed  through  a  swampy  country, 
which  was  beset  by  underwood.  The  old  fellow,  who  had  under- 
taken to  guide  us  to  the  Dog  Knoll,  was  several  times  at  fault ;  and 
our  compass  was  a  very  unsatisfactory  substitute  in  the  matter,  inas- 
much as  our  route  was  constantly  winding,  like  a  river,  round  the 
extremities  of  lakes  and  swamps.  At  night  we  made  our  beds  in  a 
small  hollow,  where,  in  order  to  cheat,  if  possible,  the  renowned  horse- 
stealers of  the  neighborhood,  we  did  our  best  to  conceal  our  fires  and 
cattle  from  view.  These  rogues  are  so  clever  in  their  way,  that  they 
have  been  known,  even  under  the  very  noses  of  a  guard,  to  carry  off 
every  nag  of  a  caravan  nt  the  dead  of  night. 

Next  morning  the  prairie  became  harder  and  more  open,  while  the 
grass  was  withering  under  the  recent  drought,  from  the  want  of  shelter 
and  tlie  absence  of  inherent  moisture.  This  was  the  very  country  for 
the  antelope;  and  we  accordingly  caught  many  a  glimpse  of  these 
beautiful  creatures  bounding  over  the  hillocks.  On  reaching  the 
Broken  Arm  River,  we  were  obliged,  by  reason  of  an  impassable 
swamp  on  either  side,  to  lose  a  (ew  hours  in  going  round  its  sources. 
In  the  evening,  just  as  we  came  in  sight  of  the  spot  where  we  intended 
to  halt  for  the  night,  we  espied  two  lodges  of  natives  ;  and,  after  wait- 
ing to  collect  our  party,  we  advanced  with   due  precaution.     The 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


53 


•i'M 


savages,  however,  were  evidently  more  atra'ul  than  we  were,  for,  after 
much  commotion,  the  men  gradually  disappeared,  leaving  the  women 
and  children  to  take  their  chance.  Between  the  two  tents  there  was 
a  vapor  bath,  made  of  branches  of  willow,  stuck  in  the  ground  and 
bent  forward  so  as  to  form  a  dome  of  about  three  feet  in  height. 
This  was  covered  with  skins  to  confine  the  steam  generated  by 
throwing  Avater  on  a  hot  stone.  On  going  up  to  the  bath,  we  were 
much  amused  to  see  the  legs  of  a  man  iianging  out  like  the  tail  of 
a  snake,  while  a  wreath  of  willow  round  the  body  gave  the  fellow 
the  appearance  of  a  statue  of  Bacchus.  He  never  stirred  at  our  ap- 
proach; and  it  was  not  till  the  steam  was  subsiding  that  he  deigned 
to  take  any  notice  of  us,  though  we  were  certainly  the  largest  body 
of  wliites  that  he  had  ever  seen  in  the  country.  When  lie  conde- 
scended to  move,  one  of  the  skins  fell  off,  disclosing  another  Indian 
quietly  squatted  at  his  ease,  who  was  just  as  regardless  of  our  ap- 
proach as  his  companion.  This  affectation  of  an  indifference,  which 
the  bathers  could  not  feel  any  more  than  their  fugitive  brethren,  was 
more  peculiarly  characteristic  of  the  Saulteaux,  the  tribe  to  which 
our  friends  belonged. 

The  lodges  of  these  people  occupied  a  small  knoll  in  the  middle 
of  a  dried  swamp,  round  which  the  plains  were  on  fire.  Before  we 
had  pitched  our  tents  in  the  vicinity,  the  two  bathers  came  dashing 
towards  us  on  horseback,  with  turbans  of  otter  skin,  necklaces  of 
bear's  claws,  and  various  other  ornaments  of  a  similar  description; 
their  grand  object  appeared  to  be  to  get  presents,  if  possible,  from 
us.  We  traded  with  one  of  our  visitors  to  the  extent  of  exchaiig- 
lug  one  of  our  exhausted  hacks  for  a  fresh  horse ;  and,  one  of  them 
having  very  gracefully  thrown  his  turban  over  my  arm,  I  gave  him  an 
order  on  our  nearest  establishment  for  double  its  value.  After  this 
traflicking,  with  the  addition  of  a  gift  of  ammunition,  we  all  parted 
excellent  friends.  In  order  to  please  us,  these  men  told  us  a  flattering 
tale,  according  to  their  custom  in  such  cases,  with  respect  to  the  prox- 
imity of  the  Dog  Knoll,  assuring  us  that  we  could  not  fail  to  reach  it 
next  afternoon. 

lu  ilie  morning  we  forded  the  White  Sand  River  with  the  mud  up  to 
the  bellies  of  our  horses;  and  one  of  the  carts,  perversely  enough 
managed,  in  this  bottomless  mire,  to  upset  over  a  stone,  though  luckily 
without  damaging  its  load.  Ilitiierto  our  weather  had  been  dry,  clear 
and  warm.  Now,  however,  a  cold  rain  fell  all  the  afternoon  and 
night.  'J'o  aggravate  the  evil,  our  road  lay  through  swamps  and 
liiickets,  which  were  often  almost  impassable  to  our  carts,  and  our 
guide  I)ecaine  quite  bewildered,  Icadir.g  i;s  a  dance  first  in  one  direction, 
then  in  another,  and  so  on.  What  with  the  wet  and  tlu?  chilliness  and 
the  uncertainty  we  were  by  no  means  in  high  spirits  or  good  humor. 
The  weather  also  deprived  us  of  an  excellent  supper,  for,  though  a 
red<!"fr  crossed  the  track  within  a  few  yards  of  some  of  our  people, 
yet  he  escaped  with  impunity,  inasmuch  as  every  gun  was  unlit  for 
service. 

We  spent  a  miserable  night  under  the  pouring  torrent,  while  the 


;-| 


id 


64 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


wolves  and  foxos  rendered  our  position  more  hideous  by  their  howling, 
to  the  special  discomfort  of  the  novices,  Vvho  considered  the  serenade 
merely  as  a  prehido  to  an  attack,  as  a  kind  of  war-whoop  on  the  part  of 
the  iiunffry  quadrupeds.  In  the  inornin<r,  after  being  dragged  by  our 
blundering  guide  through  swamps  and  l)rushwood  and  across  two  tribu- 
taries of  the  White  Sand  River,  we  degraded  the  old  fellow  to  the 
ranks,  placing  ourselves  once  more  under  tlie  direction  of  Sinclair;  and 
before  breakfast  we  caught  a  distant  glimpse  of  the  object  of  our  long 
and  anxious  search.  Pushing  forward  widi  renovated  spirits,  we 
speedily  came  in  full  view  of  the  Butte  aux  (Jhiens,  towering  with  a 
height  of  about  four  hundred  feet  over  a  boundless  prairie  as  level  and 
smooth  as  a  pond.  This  vast  plain  has  evidendy  once  been  the  bed  of 
a  lake  with  tlie  Dog  Knoll  as  an  islet  in  its  centre.  It  is  covered  with 
an  alluvial  soil  of  great  fertility;  it  is  strewed  with  water-worn  stones; 
and  it  presents  various  aqueous  deposits. 

Reaching  Uiis  giant  among  pigmies  about  noon,  we  found  at  the  top, 
in  a  bundle  of  brushwood,  a  note  to  the  eifect,  that  our  people,  after 
waiting  there  for  three  days,  had  gone  to  encamp  with  their  horses  for 
three  days  more  on  the  borders  of  a  neighboring  lake.  The  note  was 
dated  on  the  ninth  of  July ;  and  as  we  got  it  only  on  the  eleventh, 
we  began  to  fear  that  the  men  might  again  shift  their  ground  before  we 
could  catch  them.  They  themselves,  however,  had  seen  us ;  and  we 
soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  receiving  a  valuable  acquisition  in  the  shape 
of  nineteen  fresh  horses.  This  reinforcement  just  came  in  time,  for 
our  poor  animals  were  so  jaded  as  to  be  scarcely  aide  to  go  beyond  a 
walk;  and,  this  very  morning,  the  sight  of  a  wolf,  which  started  under 
their  noses,  could  not  scjueeze  a  canter  or  a  trot  out  of  die  whole  band. 

For  several  days  I  had  been  distressed  by  what  I  believed  to  be  a 
rheumatic  affection  of  the  back;  but  an  eruption  soon  showed  itself  on 
my  side,  depriving  me  of  sleep  and  rendering  me  almost  unable  to 
travel.  Still,  however,  I  continued  to  press  forward,  deciding  in  my 
own  mind,  tliat  the  pain  was  less  of  an  evil  dian  delay  would  have 
been.  On  leaving  the  Dog  Knoll,  we  traversed  about  twenty-five 
miles  of  prairie  among  several  large  and  beautiful  lakes.  Our  caval- 
cade now  consisted  in  all  of  nineteen  persons,  fifty  horses  and  six  carts, 
the  order  of  our  march  being  as  follows.  The  guide  was  followed  by 
four  or  five  horsemen  to  beat  a  track ;  then  came  the  carts,  each  with 
a  driver  attended  by  one  or  two  cavaliers;  and  lastly  followed  the  un- 
mounted animals,  whether  loaded  or  light,  under  the  charge  of  the  rest 
of  our  people.  Our  ordinary  rate  of  traveling  was  four  or  five  miles 
an  hour  for  ten,  twelve  or  fourteen  hours  a  day, — the  carts  sometimes 
requiring  a  longer  time  to  accomplish  the  day's  march. 

Next  morning  we  followed,  for  about  twenty  miles,  die  shores  of 
Lac  Sale,  having  waters  as  briny  as  those  of  the  Adantic ;  and  we 
were  actually  obliged,  for  want  of  fresh  water,  to  ride  along  without' 
any  breakfast  till  half-past  eleven,  while,  even  for  this  late  meal,  we 
had  pushed  forward  so  rapidly  as  to  leave  our  carts  nearly  four  hours 
behind  us.  What  with  hunger  and  thirst  and  the  pain  in  my  side,  I 
had  a  wearisome  forenoon  of  it.     The  most  curious  circumstance  with 


respe 
watci 
of  a  e 
Baroi 
of  th( 
or  thi' 
catioi 
other 

Fo 
the  di 
have 
them, 
dcr, 
and  fr 

Ih 
sent  a 
found 
was  d 
ants,- 
meat  ( 
fugiti\ 

V  ill,  '• 

pi- 

in 

of  civ 
more 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMOiNTON. 


55 


respect  to  these  saline  lakes  is  that  they  are  often  separated  from  fresh 
water  only  by  a  narrow  belt  of  land.  This  reminds  me,  by  th(*  by, 
of  a  somewhat  simihir  phenomenon  recorded  in  the  work  of  my  friend 
IJaron  Wranj^ell,  on  Siberia  and  the  Polar  Sea.  In  the  coldest  parts 
of  die  country  there  may  be  found  lakes  of  difl'erent  levels  within  two 
or  three  feet  of  each  other.  In  that  case  the  subterranean  communi- 
cation may  he  supposed  to  be  barred  by  perp(;Uial  frost;  but  in  the 
other  case  the  anomaly  cannot  be  so  easily  and  satisfactorily  explained. 

For  three  or  four  days,  the  soil  had  been  absohitely  manured  with 
the  dunsf  of  die  bufTalo,  so  that  myriads  of  these  animals  must  recently 
have  passed  over  the  ground ;  and  we  hoped  soon  to  meet  a  herd  of 
them,  fur,  independently  of  the  sport,  we  wished  to  replenish  our  lar- 
der, whifh  the  heat  of  the  weather  did  more  to  clear  than  our  kettles 
and  frying  pans. 

Having  encamped  for  the  night  wiUiin  view  of  a  native  lodge,  we 
sent  a  man  to  bring  us  intelligence  as  to  the  true  state  of  affairs.  He 
found  no  other  lodge  than  the  one  which  we  had  seen ;  and  even  that 
was  deserted,  while  everydiing  betokened  the  rapid  dight  of  its  inhabit- 
ants,— clothes  and  utensils  being  thrown  about  in  confusion  and  the 
meat  of  a  buffalo  being  scattered  on  the  ground.  Shouting  after  the 
fugitives,  but  receiving  no  answer,  our  emissary  left  for  them  an  epistle, 
V  iu.  !  lie  had  written  on  a  piece  of  bark,  to  this  effect.  In  the  first 
pi;  "  'Irew  the  figure  of  a  man  with  a  hat  on  his  head  and  a  pipe 
in  '  ■  ;•'  uth,  thus  presenting  to  the  savages  the  well  known  emblems 
of  civilized  beings  and  peaceable  intentions  ;  and  he  then  added  in 
more  mysterious  hieroglyphics,  "  Why  do  you  fly  away  and  distress 
your  children  without  cause  ?  for  we  are  your  friends."  In  the  course 
of  the  night,  the  poor  Saulteau,  having  read  the  letter,  came  to  our 
camp  and  explained  diat,  having  mistaken  us  for  hostile  warriors,  he 
and  his  had  fled  into  the  woods  almost  in  a  state  of  nudity.  How 
wretched  the  lives  of  such  poor  creatures,  obliged  to  wander  about 
almost  in  single  famdies  for  food,  and  scared  at  the  sight  of  a  fellow 
man  as  the  sheep  is  scared  on  the  approach  of  the  wolf. 

Next  morning  we  marched  till  ten  o'clock  in  a  soaking  rain.  An 
encampment  in  such  weather  is  by  no  means  an  exhilarating  sight.  On 
hahing  we  were  wet  and  chilly,  but  had  no  place  to  shelter  ourselves 
from  the  shower.  After  a  drawn  battle  of  nearly  an  hour  with  the 
wind  and  rain  in  die  way  of  making  a  fire,  we  at  last  succeeded  ;  and 
dien,  heaping  on  whole  piles  of  wood,  we  contrived  to  keep  ourselves 
tolerably  comfortable  till  our  tents  were  pitched.  The  horses  were 
the  very  picture  of  misery,  as  they  huddled  themselves  togetiier.  To 
all  these  disagreeables  add  drooping  spirits  and  a  murky  sky;  and  you 
have  a  pretty  correct  idea  of  that  kind  of  pic-nic  breakfast  on  which  the 
clouds  drop  their  fatness. 

The  weather  improving  in  die  afternoon,  we  traveled  a  long  distance 
through  a  picturesque  country,  crossing  the  end  of  an  extensive  lake, 
whose  gently  sloping  banks  of  green  sward  were  crowned  with  thick 
woods.  Near  this  lake,  to  our  no  small  satisfaction,  we  fell  upon  the 
trad  of  the  emigrants  already  mentioned,  which,  besides  preventing 


"M 


m^.. 


*'i     I    ^ 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


any  uncertainty  as  to  our  route,  gave  us  a  well  beaten  track  for  both 
horses  and  carts.  The  business  of  a  guide  is  no  trifle  in  these  regions, 
possessing,  as  they  do,  so  few  distinctive  features.  Our  present  leader, 
an  Indian  of  the  name  of  Mis-quas-quisis,  or  Young  Grass,  was  pecu- 
liarly cautious  and  skillful,  ascending  every  rising  ground  and  scanning 
the  different  objects  in  view,  hills,  lakes,  woods,  &;c.,  and  then,  mut- 
tering a  few  words  to  himself,  he  would  wind  his  way  through  the 
apparently  puzzling  monotony,  till  he  again  reached  some  other  point 
of  observation. 

In  the  course  of  this  day's  march,  we  passed  a  spot,  whose  little 
history  within  my  own  experience,  forcibly  illustrated  the  sameness  of 
the  scenery  and  the  difficulties  of  pilotage.  On  my  return  from  the 
Columbia  in  1825,  while  the  grass  was  still  so  short  as  hardly  to  retain 
any  trace  of  the  footsteps  of  my  party,  my  faithful  servant,  Tom  Tay- 
lor, and  another  man  of  the  name  of  George  Bird,  dismounted  to  fol- 
low a  red  deer ;  and,  after  an  unsuccessful  chase,  they  resolved  to  re- 
turn to  our  party.  After  halting  for  twenty-four  hours  in  order  to  be 
joined  by  them,  I  gave  them  up  for  lost.  At  the  close  of  six  weeks  I 
reached  Norway  House,  on  Lake  Winipeg,  with  a  gloom  on  my  spi- 
rits, which  even  the  completion  of  a  long  and  arduous  journey  could 
not  remove.  I  stepped  ashore  with  my  mind  full  of  the  sad  occur- 
rence, whpn  who  should  advance  to  welcome  me  but  the  invaluable 
Tom  Taylor  and  his  companion  in  misfortune.  Of  the  story  of  their 
wanderings,  which  m.ight  fill  a  volume,  the  outline  was  as  follows: 

After  abandoning  all  hope  of  falling  upon  the  track  of  our  party, 
they  set  themselves  seriously  to  work  in  order  to  find  their  way  to 
some  encampment  of  the  savages,  or  to  one  of  the  company's  posts. 
After  a  day  or  two  their  ammunition  was  expended  and  their  flints 
became  useless,  while  their  feet  were  lacerated  by  the  thorns,  timber, 
stones  and  prickly  grass.  They  had  no  other  clothing  than  their 
trowsers  and  shirts,  having  parted  from  us  in  the  heat  of  the  day  ;  so 
that  they  were  now  exposed  to  the  chills  of  the  night  without  even  the 
comfort  of  a  fire, — a  privation  which  placed  them,  as  it  were,  at  the 
mercy  of  the  wolves.  From  day  to  day  they  lived  on  whatever  the 
chances  of  the  wilderness  afforded  them,  such  as  roots,  and  bark,  and 
eggs,  in  every  stage  of  progress. 

At  length,  after  fourteen  days  of  intense  suffering,  despair  began  to 
take  possession  of  their  minds,  and  they  were  strongly  tempted  to  lie 
down  and  die.  Next  morning,  however,  the  instinctive  love  of  life 
prevailed ;  and  they  slowly  and  painfully  crept  forward,  when  sud- 
denly the  sight  of  our  track  revived  their  energies  and  their  hopes. 
.  Almost  intoxicated  with  joy,  they  followed  the  clue  of  safety,  till  at 
length,  after  growing  more  and  more  indistinct  for  a  time,  it  entirely 
disappeared  from  their  eyes.  At  this  awful  moment  of  disappointment 
and  despondency,  Tom  Taylor,  as  if  led  by  a  merciful  providence  to 
the  spot,  slowly  recognized  the  scenes  of  his  infant  rambles,  though 
he  had  never  seen  them  since  his  childhood.  Life  was  now  in  the 
one  scale  almost  as  certainly  as  death  was  in  the  other ;  and,  under 
the  influence  of  this  definite  motive  for  exertion,  the  two  famished  and 


^■^ 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


57 


lacerated  wanderers  reached  before  nifjht  the  company's  establishment 
on  Swan  River.  Being  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  McDoncU,  the 
jTcntlemaii  in  ciiarge,  they  crawled  rather  than  walked  to  iiis  private 
room,  standiniT  before  him  with  their  torn  and  emaciated  limbs,  while 
their  haggard  ciieeks  and  glaring  eyes  gave  them  the  appearance  of 
maniacs.  After  a  minute  inspection  of  his  visitors,  Mr.  McDonell, 
with  the  aid  of  sundry  expletives,  ascertained,  by  degrees,  tliat  one  of 
his  friends  was  "  the  Governor's  Tom  ;"  and,  having  thus  penetrated 
to  the  bottom  of  the  mystery,  he  nursed  them  into  condition  with  the 
kindness  of  a  father  and  the  skill  of  a  doctor,  and  then  carried  them 
with  himself  to  Norway  House. 

Next  morning  we  continued  to  follow  the  track  of  the  emigrants, 
which  led  us  over  a  great  deal  of  burnt  ground, — a  variety  of  surface, 
which,  when  it  extends  to  more  than  the  length  of  a  single  march,  is 
the  most  embarrassing  of  all  the  obstacles  to  which  a  horseman  can  be 
exposed.  Men  may  triumph  over  physical  privations  through  moral 
inlluences ;  but  horses,  as  Murat  said,  have  no  patriotism.  In  this 
piirt  of  the  country  we  saw  many  sorts  of  birds,  geese,  loons,  pelicans, 
ducks,  cranes,  two  kinds  of  snipe,  liawks,  owls  and  gulls  ;  but  they 
were  all  so  remarkably  shy,  that  we  were  constrained  to  admire  them 
at  a  distance.  In  the  afternoon  we  traversed  a  beautiful  country  with 
lofty  iiills  and  long  valleys  full  of  sylvan  lakes,  wiiile  the  bright  green 
of  the  surface,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  assumed  a  foreign  tinge 
under  an  uninterrupted  profusion  of  roses  and  blue  bells.  On  the 
summit  of  one  of  these  hills  we  commanded  one  of  the  few  extensive 
prospects  that  we  had  of  late  enjoyed.  One  range  of  heights  rose 
behind  another,  each  becoming  fainter  as  it  receded  from  the  eye,  till 
tlie  farthest  was  blended,  in  almost  undistinguishable  confusion,  with 
the  clouds,  while  the  softest  vales  spread  a  panorama  of  hanging 
copses  and  glittering  lakes  at  our  feet. 

We  were  now  within  a  day's  march  of  Carlton,  the  lowest  of  the 
company's  establishments  on  the  Saskatchewan ;  and,  in  order  to 
make  sure  of  reaching  it  on  the  morrow,  we  selected,  at  our  night's 
encampment,  the  best  horses  for  ourselves,  intending  to  go  ahead  of  our 
baggage  in  the  morning  with  no  other  incumbrance  than  a  single  day's 
provisions. 

By  half-past  four,  our  detachment  of  eight  in  all  got  under  way. 
Having  passed  over  a  hilly  and  partially  wooded  district,  we  reached 
the  Bow  River,  being  the  soutii  branch  of  the  Saskatchewan,  about 
ten  o'clock.  This  stream,  taking  its  rise  in  the  Rocky  Mountains 
near  the  international  frontier,  is  of  considerable  size,  without  any 
physical  impediment  of  any  moment;  but  its  upper  waters  are  so  much 
infested  with  warlike  tribes,  that,  though  believed  to  be  rich  in  game, 
it  is  yet  seldom  ascended  by  traders.  Some  years  back,  indeed,  three 
or  four  posts  were  established  on  its  banks  ;  but  they  were  soon 
abandoned  after  the  sacrificing  of  several  lives  in  their  defence.  In 
addition  to  these  permanent  forts,  a  Hying  expedition  on  a  large  scale 
was  projected  in  the  year  1822,  with  the  view  of  testing  the  truth  of  the 
rumors  as  to  the  riches  of  Bow  River.     The  expedition  in  question. 


>- 


Illjl'l 
I 


58 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


besides  Messrs.  M'Kenzie  and  Rowand,  the  pentlemcn  in  charge,  con- 
sisted of  eight  or  ton  subordinate  officers,  and  a  hundred  men.  After 
ascending  to  the  utmost  hmits  of  the  navigation,  surveying  detachments 
were  dispatched  in  every  direct  ion,  meeting  many  natives  who  had 
never  seen  a  European  before.  'I'hese  unsopliisticated  savages,  how- 
ever, liad  tlieir  curiosity  most  strongly  excited  by  a  negro  of  the  name 
of  Pierre  Hungo.  Tiiis  man  they  inspected  in  every  possible  way, 
twisting  him  ai)out  and  pulling  his  hair,  which  was  so  different  from 
their  own  flowing  locks ;  and  at  length  they  came  to  tlie  conclusion 
that  Pierre  Bungo  was  the  oddest  specimen  of  a  white  man  that  they 
had  ever  seen.  These  negroes,  of  whom  there  were  formerly  several 
in  the  company's  service,  were  universal  favorites  with  the  fair  sex  of 
the  red  race ;  and,  at  the  present  day,  Ave  saw  many  an  Indian  that 
appeared  to  have  a  dash  of  the  gentleman  in  black  about  him.  Finding 
that  the.resources  of  the  country  had  been  overrated,  our  people  retired 
the  following  year  with  the  loss  of  a  considerable  part  of  the  original 
outlay  of  £10,000,  carrying  with  them  an  enormous  quantity  of  leather, 
but  very  few  furs.  They  had  lived  in  the  midst  of  plenty,  having  con- 
sumed during  the  winter,  fifteen  hundred  bufl'aloes,  besides  great  quan- 
tities of  venison  of  every  description. 

About  twenty  years  ago,  a  large  encampment  of  Gros  Ventres  and 
Blackfeet  had  been  formed  in  this  neighborhood  for  the  purpose  ot 
hunting  during  the  summer.  Growing  tired,  however,  of  so  peaceful 
and  ignoble  an  occupation,  the  younger  warriors  of  the  allied  tribes 
determined  to  make  an  incursion  into  the  territories  of  the  Assiniboines. 
Having  gone  through  all  the  requisite  enchantments,  they  left  behind 
them  only  the  old  men  with  the  women  and  children.  After  a 
successful  campaign  they  turned  their  steps  homeward  in  triumph, 
loaded  with  scalps  and  other  spoils ;  and  on  reaching  the  top  of  the 
ridge  that  overlooked  the  camp  of  the  infirm  and  defenceless  of  their 
band,  they  notified  their  approach  in  the  proudly  swelling  tones  of  their 
song  of  victory.  Every  lodge,  however,  was  as  still  and  silent  as  the 
grave ;  and  at  length,  singing  more  loudly,  as  they  advanced,  in  order 
to  conceal  their  emotions,  they  found  the  full  tale  of  the  mangled  corpses 
of  their  parents  and  sisters,  of  their  wives  and  children.  In  a  word, 
the  Assiniboines  had  been  there  to  take  their  revenge.  Such  is  a  true 
picture  of  savage  warfare,  and  perhaps  too  often  of  civilized  warfare 
also  ;  calamity  to  both  sides,  and  advantage  to  neither.  On  beholding 
the  dismal  scene,  the  bereaved  conquerors  cast  away  their  spoils,  arms, 
and  clothes ;  and  then,  putting  on  robes  of  leather  and  smearing  their 
heads  with  mud,  they  betook  themselves  to  the  hills,  for  three  days 
and  nights,  to  howl,  and  mourn,  and  cut  their  flesh.  This  mode  of 
expressing  grief  bears  a  very  close  resemblance  to  the  corresponding 
custom  among  the  Jews  in  almost  every  particular. 

At  our  crossing  place  the  Bow  River  was  about  a  third  of  a  mile  in 
width  with  a  strong  current.  About  twenty  miles  farther  down,  it 
falls  into  the  Saskatchewan ;  and  the  united  streams  then  flow  towards 
Lake  Winipeg,  forming  at  their  mouth  the  Grand  Rapid  of  about  three 
miles  in  length,  the  finest  thing  of  the  kind  for  running  in  the  whole 


m 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


59 


jonntry.  We  passed  the  river  without  difficulty  in  a  batteau,  which 
iiad  been  left  there  for  our  accommodation  and  that  of  the  emif^rants, 
[while  our  horses  swam  over  without  any  accident.  After  a  rest  of 
[four  hours,  of  which  our  catde  stood  much  in  need,  we  had  just  mounted 
fto  resume  our  march,  when  Pierre  Dunomais,  who  had  puided  the 
lemii^rants  to  Carlton,  came  up  to  us  on  his  way  back  to  the  Red  River 
iBcttiement.  Not  to  miss  so  favourable  an  opportunity  of  sending  let- 
[ters,  we  detained  our  new  friend  for  a  day. 

Pierre  brought  news  of  a  war,  whicii  had  just  begun  to  rage  between 
[the  Crees  and  the  Blackfeet  in  the  very  country  which  we  were  about 
[to  traverse.  This  unwelcome  business,  in  which  several  lives  had  al- 
[ready  been  lost,  arose  from  a  very  trivial  cause.  Peace  having  been 
hnade,  perhaps  fur  the  hundredth  time,  between  the  two  tribes,  the 
[Crees  visited  the  Blackfeet,  who  were  then  c.>  .'  ped  near  Fort  Pitt, 
for  the  purpose  of  buying  horses ;  and  in  returu  .or  the  nags  they  gave 
all  that  they  possessed,  even  their  guns  and  ammunition.  In  order  to 
celebrate  their  friendly  meeting,  according  to  custom,  by  a  race, — 
Ian  amusement  as  keenly  enjoyed  by  these  savages  as  by  the  eidight- 
ened  jockeys  of  Newmarket  and  Ascot, — the  two  tribes  laid  down  their 
united  stakes  in  a  heap.  The  Blackfeet,  inasmuch  as  they  had  taken 
care  not  to  sell  their  best  chargers,  were  of  course  victorious.  On  pro- 
ceeding, however,  to  appropriate  the  prize  of  victory,  they  were  anti- 
cipated by  a  Cree,  who  rescued  a  tattered  capot,  doubtless  an  old  friend 
of  his  own,  from  the  pile  of  booty  ;  and  the  Blackfeet,  viewing  this  as 
a  violation  of  the  peace,  betook  themselves  to  their  tents.  On  their 
way  they  met  a  celebrated  chief  of  the  Crees,  known  as  the  Crow's 
tShoes,  with  two  of  his  men,  all  unarmed ;  and,  after  a  little  conversa- 
tion, they  slaughtered  all  three  on  the  spot.  In  order  to  revenge  the 
death  of  their  friends,  the  Crees,  first  seizing  arms  from  the  Blackfeet, 
slew  nine  of  them,  till  finding  themselves  outnumbered,  they  fled. 
Such  was  Pierre's  story ;  and,  however  improbable  or  inaccurate  some 
of  the  details  might  be,  the  essential  fact,  that  we  had  to  pass  through 
a  scene  of  military  operations,  was  established  beyond  a  doubt.  lu 
fact,  I  give  all  such  narratives  chiefly  as  a  picture  of  manners,  for, 
whether  true  or  false  in  themselves,  they  are  always  sufficiently  correct 
for  that  purpose. 

A  smart  ride  of  four  or  five  hours  from  the  Bow  River,  through  a 
country  very  much  resembling  an  English  park,  brought  us  to  Fort 
Carlton,  on  the  Saskatchewan,  where  we  found  every  soul  in  the  esta- 
blishment enjoying  a  siesta  with  open  gates, — a  conclusive  proof  either 
of  the  carelessness  of  our  people,  or  of  the  peaceable  disposition  of  the 
neighboring  savages.  Our  day's  work  had  been  remarkable,  almost  to 
a  ludicrous  degree,  from  the  number  of  falls  that  we  encountered,  for 
each  of  us  had  a  roll  or  two  on  the  turf,  so  harmless,  however,  as  i.ot 
to  leave  even  a  single  bruise  to  boast  of.  Besides  the  exhausted  state 
of  our  horses,  the  ground  was  drilled  into  a  honeycomb  by  badger- 
holes,  which,  being  pretty  well  screened  by  grass  at  this  season  of  the 
year,  could  seldom  be  discerned  soon  enough  to  be  avoided. 

At  Carlton  we  took  up  our  quarters  for  a  couple  of  nights.     We  had 


"K 


GO 


FROM  llKl)  lUVER  SKTTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


i 


fill,  f 


Ml 


accompliHlu'd  about  six  hundrod  inilos  in  thirlcu  (lay.— n  very  fair 
rato  of  iravclini;,  ctJnMitU^rinj?  that  many  o(  o»ir  Iioihch  had  coino  the 
whoh'  distance  hfavily  laden.  ThiH  tort  wtands  in  hil.  fi.M''  N.;  it  is  in 
the  I'orin  of  a  hj^'t'nijft!,  lnMiifj  surronnih'd  hy  \voo(U'n  slockailrH  of  ron- 
siderabU'  h('ii<;ht  with  l)aslion.s  at  each  an}>;h>  and  ov(T  the  {ra((!way.  In 
the  ininu'diato  vicinity  there  are  huj];e  jranh'iis  and  lields,  whicli  pro- 
duce al)undanee  of  potatoes  and  other  ve^elal)h's  ;  but  wheat,  thou^;h  it 
has  sonu'linies  sureeeih'd,  has  been  far  more  fr('(|uenlly  (U'Htroyed  by 
the  early  frosts  of  autumn,  which,  <!ven  on  \ivd  Jliver,  occasionally 
blijjlit  the  hopes  of  the  less  active  amonj;  tin;  settlers. 

'J'he  Saskatchewan  is  here  upwards  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wid(%  pre- 
spntinjr.  :is  its  name  implies,  a  swift  current.  It  is  navijralilo  for  l»)ats 
from  liocky  Mountain  Mouse  in  lonjj^.  115"  to  Lake  VVinipejr  in  lonjr. 
1)8°,  upwards  of  seven  hundred  miles  in  a  direct  line,  but  by  the  actual 
course  of  the  streani,  nearly  doid)lo  that  distanc(!.  'rhoui»h,  above 
Edmonton,  (he  river  is  much  obstructtid  by  rapids,  yet,  from  that  fort 
to  Ijake  WinipejT,  it  is  descended  without  a  portajje  alike  by  boats  and 
by  canoes,  while,  even  on  tin;  \ipward  voyaj^e,  the  only  break  in  tiie 
navigation  is  the  (iirand  liapid  already  mentioned. 

The  post  of  C-arlton  is  visited  by  Saidteaux,  (Jrees  and  Assiniboincs 
in  great  nunibers,  about  three  hundrtul  of  iheso  dilferent  tribes  bciinfj^, 
in  some  measure,  attaciied  to  the  establishnuMit  as  hunters  ;  and  occa- 
sionally, though  not  of  late  years,  the  lMackf(!et  have  nuule  hostile 
forages  into  the  neighboring  country.  In  this  district,  and  indeed  on 
the  whole  of  the  Saskatchewan,  though  red'  deer  and  moose  are  now 
becoming  scarce,  yet  the  bullUlo  appears  to  multii)ly  in  spite  of  per- 
petual persecution  on  the  part  alike  of  Uie  whites  and  the  savages. 
Besides  maintaining  all  our  j)eoplc  and  all  the  natives,  during  tlic  whole 
year,  in  an  apparently  wasteful  and  extravagant  manncT,  the  animal  in 
question  is  made  up,  at  our  three  ])rincipai  posts  of  (Jarlton,  Pitt  and 
Edmonton,  into  pemmican  and  dried  meat  for  the  general  supply  of 
the  company's  service.  In  spite  of  the  abundance  of  the  larger  de- 
sciptions  of  game,  the  fur-bearing  animals  were  at  one  time  remarka- 
bly numerous  ;  and  even  now  the  diminution  has  arisen  chiefly  from 
the  recklessness  with  which  the  Indians  destroy,  often  in  mere  wan- 
tonness, all  ages  at  every  season. 

The  day  after  that  of  our  arrival  was  devoted  to  the  writing  of  letters 
and  to  the  making  of  preparations  for  the  rest  of  our  journey.  Late 
in  the  afternoon,  the  main  body  of  our  people  arrived,  having  crossed 
the  Bow  Kiver  with  a  good  deal  of  dilliculty  and  delay  in  consequence 
of  the  extreme  weakness  of  many  of  the  horses.  As  our  route  hence 
lay  on  the  north  or  left  bank  of  the  Saskatchewan,  the  carts,  &,c.,  as 
soon  as  they  came,  were  dispatched  across  the  river  in  order  to  save 
time  in  the  morning. 

About  noon  on  Saturday,  the  seventeenth  of  July,  we  resumed  our 
journey  with  about  a  week's  work  before  us  to  Edmonton.  In  place 
of  sixteen  completely  exhausted  horses  we  received  only  six  fresh 
steeds ;  and,  as  even  they  had  strayed,  we  were  obliged  to  start  with- 
out them,  leaving  two  men  to  bring  them  after  us.     Our  route  lay  over 


1^ 


FROM  RED  RIVKR  SETTLEMKNT  TO  EDMONTON. 


Gl 


a  hilly  country  ho  j(irttiroH«|iii!  iti  its  clirirartrr,  that  alirioHt  c.vcvy  rnrn- 
iiiaiidiii!;  Iiosilioii  pn-HciiIrd  tlir  (ilniiciit.s  ol'  iiti  iiitcTrHliii^  |taii(»r:itiia. 
Ill  (li(!  coiirsr  (>r  tlu!  (;v('iiiii<(,  our  Iwo  iiirii  willi  tin-  six  iKtrscs  ()v«!r- 
took  iiH,  wlitio  ciicainpod  for  iIm;  iii^lil  at  a  iliMlaiicc  of  thirty  iiiih:H  I'roiii 
th(!  I'ort. 

W«!  wcr(!  now  in  thn  htmtintj  proiinds  of  thn  OrocH,  probably  iho 
lart,n'st  tribn  in  thi;  <!o»intry.  0|'  iImh  nation  tlifrc  ar«!  two  distinct 
bran<'hrH,  the  ('rcos  propcsrly  so  called,  and  thc!  SwanipicH,  who  oc(Mipy 
tli(!  bordcrH  ol  IIiidsoirH  May,  all  round  I'roni  ('burcliill  to  Mast  iMain, 
to  a  (h'pth  of  two  or  ihrcc  hnndrod  inilcH.  Of  tho  Swarnpics  nothirif^ 
nior*'  i.s  rcipiircd  lo  Ix;  said  than  what  I  hav(5  already  staled  under  the 
liead  of  Ke(l  Itiver  SelthMnent,  whih;  th(;ir  inland  hnMliren  demand 
more  particuhir  notice.  Abont  forty  years  afro,  they  vv(!re  deserib(!(l 
l)y  Sir  Alcxandcjr  McKen/io  as  havinf^  (rarri(!d  their  victori(!S  as  far  as 
the  borders  of  the  Arctic  dirch;  and  a(!ross  tlu;  llocky  jVIonntains, 
chiefly  b(!causc  the  firearms,  which  th(!y  had  pundiased  from  th(! 
wliit(!s,  had  not  yet  fonnd  their  way,  as  an  arlich;  of  trallic,  to  the 
northern  tribes.  'J'hns  Jbrmidably  e(|ni[)pe(l,  the  ('rees  had  a  frreal 
advantajre  over  their  comparatively  (hd'enceless  n(M^hbors,  whom  they 
stigmatised  as  slaves, — a  name  still  applied,  thongh  willu)Ut  any  offen- 
sive reference  to  its  orif^inal  meaninj.^,  to  the  Chipiiwayans,  the  Yellow 
Knives,  the  Hares,  tho  Dogribs,  the  Lancheanx,  thf;  Nihanies,  Daho- 
tanies,  and  others  on  the  shores  of  McKenzie's  and  JiianJ's  liivers  and 
their  tributaries. 

Soon  afterwards,  however,  tho  relative  powfir  of  tho  Creos  was  con- 
siderably diminished.  'I'lm  m(;asleH  and  small-pox,  finding  their  way 
into  tho  country  from  the  Missouri,  swept  off  a  larire  portion  of  their 
tribe,  while  the  northern  races,  besides  beini?  exemjited  from  this 
scourge,  had  been  provided  with  firearms  through  tho  gradual  advance 
of  the  white  traders  into  the  interior,  so  as  oven  to  become  the  assail- 
ants instead  of  being  tho  victims.  Thus  checked  in  one  direction,  the 
Crees,  branching  off  into  a  variety  of  bands,  gradually  advanced  towards 
the  south,  no  longer  confining  themselves  as  hunters  to  the  thickwood 
countries,  but  scouring  tho  open  prairies  on  horseback  with  tho  buffalo 
to  feed  and  to  clothe  them,  and,  also,  through  tho  company's  establish- 
ments, to  supply  them  with  arms,  ammunition,  and  tobacco.  They 
extend  from  the  most  southerly  waters  of  the  Assiniboine  to  Athabasca, 
which  forms  part  of  the  basin  of  M'Kenzio's  Kiver,  and  to  Isle  a  la 
Crosse,  which  is  situated  on  the  most  northerly  feeder  of  any  magni- 
tude of  Hudson's  Bay. 

Down  to  1818,  the  Crees  were  believed  to  be  regularly  diminishing 
in  numbers ;  but,  in  that  year  and  the  ensuing  one,  they  were  carried 
off  in  thousands  by  a  second  visitation  of  the  measles.  .  Since  then  they 
have  been  recruiting  their  strength;  and  they  are  now,  perhaps,  fully 
as  numerous  as  they  were  in  the  days  of  Sir  Alexander  M'Kenzic. 

Next  day,  the  hottest  that  we  had  yet  had,  we  experienced  a  good 
deal  of  inconvenience  from  thirst.  In  the  afternoon,  after  rnarching  a 
considerable  distance  without  seeing  a  drop  of  water,  we  reached  a 
small  lake ;  but  as  the  hour  was  too  early  for  encamping,  we  passed  it, 


ir 

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62 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


■  'Vl|i 

ll^ 

:         '' 

morr  partinilarly  as  its  stagnant  surfaro  was  by  no  means  attrartivp; 
hut  w(<  Hoon  rcjrrrttod  our  i'astidiousiics.s,  for,  when  the  evening  hegaii 
to  darken,  we  had  seen  neither  hike  nor  hrook,  though  searching  for 
the  hixury  on  hoth  Hides  of  our  traek.  Having  sent  some  men  ahead 
to  look  for  water,  wo  were  at  length  delighted,  about  nine  in  the  even- 
ing, to  learn,  that  they  had  diseovered  a  large  lake  at  some  distanee 
from  our  road.  Huge  lires  were  immediately  lighted  to  serve  as 
biMcons  to  those  who  were  behind;  but  it  was  not  till  eleven  that  Uio 
whole  cavalcade  reached  the  camp.  The  fatigues  and  discomforts  of 
the  day  being  speedily  drowned  in  oceans  of  tea,  served  only  to  make 
us  .elish  our  suppers  and  beds  the  more. 

Since  we  had  fallen  upon  the  trail  of  the  emigrants,  wc  could  ob- 
serve, by  the  number  of  their  encampments,  that  we  were  marching  at 
three  or  four  times  their  pace  ;  so  that,  though  diey  had  started  twenty- 
eight  days  before  us,  they  were  overtaken  by  us  next  morning  after 
wc  had  been  out  exactly  sixteen  in  all.  From  the  information  of  In- 
dians we  were  looking  out  for  these  people  ;  and  accordingly,  about 
two  hours  after  starting,  we  gained  a  view  of  their  lengthened  caval- 
cade, winding  its  course  over  the  plains. 

These  emigrants  consisted  of  agriculturists  and  others,  principally 
natives  of  Red  River  Settlement.  There  were  twenty-three  families, 
the  heads  being  generally  young  and  active,  though  a  few  of  them  were 
advanced  in  life,  more  particularly  one  poor  woman,  npwards  of 
seventy-five  years  of  age,  who  was  tottering  after  her  son  to  his  new 
home.  This  venerable  wanderer  was  a  native  of  the  Saskatchewan, 
of  which,  in  fact,  she  bore  tiie  name.  She  had  been  absent  from  this, 
the  land  of  her  birth,  for  eighteen  years  ;  and,  on  catching  the  first 
glimpse  of  the  river  from  the  hill  near  Carlton,  she  burst,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  old  recollections,  into  a  violent  flood  of  tears.  During  the 
two  days  that  the  party  spent  at  the  fort,  she  scarcely  ever  left  the 
bank  of  the  stream,  appearing  to  regard  it  with  as  much  veneration  as 
the  Hindoo  regards  the  Ganges.  As  a  contrast  to  this  superannuated 
daughter  of  the  Saskatchewan,  the  band  contained  several  very  young 
travelers,  who  had,  in  fact,  made  their  appearance  in  this  world  since 
the  commencement  of  the  journey.  Beyond  the  inevitable  detention 
which  seldom  exceeded  a  few  hours,  these  interesting  events  had  never 
interfered  with  the  progress  of  the  brigade  ;  and  both  mother  and  child 
used  to  jog  on,  as  if  jogging  on  were  the  condition  of  human  existence. 

Each  family  had  two  or  three  carts,  together  with  bands  of  horses, 
catUe,  and  dogs.  The  men  and  lads  traveled  in  the  saddle,  while  the 
vehicles,  which  were  covered  with  awnings  against  the  sun  and  rain, 
carried  the  women  and  the  young  children.  As  they  marched  in  single 
file,  their  cavalcade  extended  above  a  mile  in  length;  and  we  increased 
the  length  of  the  column  by  marching  in  company.  The  emigrants, 
were  all  healthy  and  happy,  living  in  the  greatest  abundance,  and  en- 
Joying  the  journey  with  the  highest  relish. 

Before  coming  up  to  these  people,  we  had  seen  evidence  of  the  com- 
fortable state  of  their  commissariat  in  the  shape  of  two  or  three  sliil 
warm  buffaloes,  from  which  only  the  tongues  and  a  few  other  choice 


FROM  RED  niVF.R  SETTLKMENT  TO  KDMONTON. 


G3 


bits  had  horn  taken.  Tliis  Hpfctaclo  jravc  iiH  hopes  of  soon  scriiifj  the 
animal  oiirfrlvos ;  and  aceonlinjfly  it  was  not  Iouq  before  wc  Haw  our 
jjatne  on  either  .si(h^  of  the  road,  j:razin<i  or  •italkini;  about,  in  bands 
between  twenty  and  a  hundred,  to  ilu;  number  of  al)()Ut  livc^  ihouHaml 
in  all.  Iti  s[)ite  of  their  fatij^ue,  such  ol' our  steeds  as  had  been  trained 
to  the  sport,  were  (|iiiekly  in  the  thick  of  the  herd;  an«l  one  «dd  stager, 
that  had  been  condemned  as  unfit  alike  tor  pack  and  rider,  maintained 
the  chase  so  eagerly,  that  he  eoidd  not  be  brought  back  from  the  pur- 
suit. 

Tho  bnlFalo  is  larger  than  the  domestii;  cattle,  rxcejuing  that  its 
legs  arc  shorter.  Its  large  h(;ad,  about  a  third  part  of  its  entire 
length,  gives  it  a  very  uncouth  appearance,  while  its  shagiry  beard  and 
manc!  resemble  the  lion's,  tho\igh  on  a  larger  scale,  and  when  runninjj 
fast,  it  tosses  its  rugg(;d  frontispiece  at  every  step.  JJut,  notwithstand- 
ing its  ti-rrilic  looks,  it  is  really  a  timid  (creature,  excepting  that,  when 
urged  by  despair  to  do  justice  to  its  physical  powers,  it  becomes  a 
fearful  antagonist.  Several  parties  of  about  six  or  eight  men  each  hav- 
ing been  formed  for  the  occasioti,  each  division  approached  its  own 
chosen  quarry  cautiously,  till,  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  the  devoted 
band,  it  rushed  at  full  gallop  on  its  prey.  Taking  the  alarm,  the  ani- 
mals immediately  started  ofT  at  a  canter,  in  single  fde,  an  old  bull 
usually  taking  the  lead.  When  alongside,  as  they  soon  were,  the 
hunters  fired,  loading  and  discharging  again  and  again,  always  with 
fatal  ed'ect,  without  slackening  their  pace.  The  dexterity  with  which 
the  expi.'rienccd  sportsman  can  manage  his  gun,  is  quite  wonderful. 
While  his  steed  is  constantly  galloping,  he  primes  his  lock,  pours  out 
the  proper  quantity  of  powder,  lirst  into  his  left  hand  and  then  into 
the  muzzle,  drops  a  ball  upon  the  (diargo  M'ilhout  wadding,  having 
merely  wetted  it  in  his  mouth,  and  then  knocks  down  the  fattest 
cow  within  his  reach  ; — all  in  less  than  half  a  minute.  'J'he  morning's 
chase  resulted  in  about  fifty  killed;  but  so  abundant  were  provisions 
at  this  moment,  that,  after  taking  the  tongues,  wc  left  the  carcases  to 
the  mercy  of  the  wolves. 

The  affair,  however,  is  very  diflerent  when  the  professional  hunters 
go  in  hundreds  to  the  plains  to  make  as  much  as  they  can  of  the  builalo. 
When  they  meet  the  herd,  which  often  makes  the  whole  scene  almost 
black  with  its  numbers,  they  rush  forward  pell-mell,  firing  and  loading 
as  already  mentioned  ;  and,  while  the  bullets  fly  amid  clouds  of  smoke 
and  dust,  the  infuriated  and  bewildered  brutes  run  in  every  direction 
with  their  tormentors  still  by  their  sides.  By  reason  of  the  closeness 
of  the  conflict,  serious  accidents  from  shots  are  comparatively  rare  ; 
and  nearly  all  the  casualties  arc  the  result  of  falls,  which  few  riders 
have  leisure  either  to  prevent  or  to  soften.  When  the  buflaloes  are 
dispersed,  or  the  horses  exhausted,  or  the  hunters  satisfled,  then  every 
man  proceeds  to  recognize  his  own  carcases,  having  marked  one  with 
his  cap,  another  with  his  coat,  a  third  with  his  belt,  a  fourth  with  his 
fire-bag,  and  so  forth  ;  and  then  come  into  play  the  science  and  art  of 
curing  what  has  been  killed.  Sometimes  dried  meat  is  preferred, 
the  bones  being  taken  out  and   the  flesh   hung  up  in  the  sun ;  but  if 


^ 

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•■ -v^ 


hr! 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


ppmmiran  bo  tho  oflnr  of  tho  ilay ,  tho  Iran,  aftor  hoinjj  driod,  is  poiindnd 
into  (lust,  wliiirli,  Ix'iti;^  put  into  a  bai;  iiiadu  of  tlic  hide,  in  enriclicil 
>vitli  nearly  an  o(jiial  weight  of  molted  fat. 

Thci  bulfaloes  arc  inrnulibly  innncrouH.  In  tho  yoar  1820,  for  in- 
stance, I  saw  as  many  as  ton  thouHand  of  thoir  j)iitrid  carcases  lyinij 
intred  in  a  sinp^lo  ford  of  the  Saskatchewan,  and  contaniinatiiifr  the  air 
for  many  miles  round.  They  mak(!  yearly  mitfrations  from  one  pan 
o.  the  country  to  another,  reversintf,  in  this  respect,  th{;  ordinary  coursi; 
of  birds  of  passafro.  During  the  winter  they  j;o  north  in  order  to  oli- 
tain  the  rdudter  of  the  woods  ajijainst  the  severity  of  the  weather,  while, 
on  tho  approach  of  summer,  they  proceed  to  the  open  plains  of  the  south 
with  tho  view  of  oludinf?  tho  attacks  of  tho  moscpiitoes.  At  this  tinii; 
of  tho  year  they  had  deserted  the  country  through  which  we  had  l)e('ii 
travelinfj  of  late ;  and  tho  wolves,  thus  deprived  of  their  staple  food, 
were  so  wretchedly  thin,  that  we  could  have  easily  counted  their  ribs 
with  tho  eye  alone.  Durinij  the  autumn  tho  bulValoes  resort  in  larLfc 
numbers  to  tho  salt  lakes,  led  thither  by  instinct  to  purjrc  themselves. 

^Vhile  the  htintinj^  parties  wore  eaj^crly  pursuing  their  game,  the  rest 
of  the  cavalcade  moved  slowly  forward  till  about  noon,  when  we 
halted  for  breakfast  at  the  Turtle  River,  the  emigrants  still  being  in 
company.  In  order  to  do  honor  to  the  day, — the  first  occasion  per- 
liaps,  on  which  two  large  bands  of  civilized  men  had  met  as  friends  on 
these  vast  prairies — I  put  tho  men  in  high  spirits  with  a  dram,  while 
a  donation  of  wine,  tea  and  sugar,  rendered  the  women  the  merriest 
and  happics*  gossips  in  the  world. 

The  elders  of  this  little  congregation  sat  in  council  with  Mr. 
Rowand  and  myself,  on  the  subject  of  their  route  and  various  inci- 
dental matters.  On  leaving  Red  River,  the  emigrants  had  intended  lo 
perform  the  whole  distance  by  land.  Hitherto,  however,  they  had 
been  so  slow  in  their  movements,  having  taken  forty-three  days  to 
one-third  of  their  journey,  that,  in  this  way,  they  could  hardly  reach 
their  destination  before  the  commencement  of  the  winter.  We,  thcrr- 
fore,  proposed,  that  they  should  proceed  by  the  Athabasca  Portage  ol 
the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Boat  Encampment,  and  thence  descend 
the  Columbia  tc  Vancouver.  The  people  agreed  to  this  change  of 
their  plan  ;  but  they  subsequently,  in  accordance  with  the  original 
arrangement,  followed  our  track  all  the  way  to  the  westward. 

Our  breakfast  was  a  complete  specimen  of  a  hunter's  meal,  consist- 
ing of  enormous  piles  of  roasted  ribs,  with  marrow  and  tripe  at  discre- 
tion,— the  spoils  of  the  morning's  chase.  About  three  in  the  afternoon, 
we  took  leave  of  our  fellow  travelers  with  mutual  wishes  for  a  prns- 
perous  journey,  soon  falling  again  upon  the  Turtle  River.  Of  this 
stream  the  tortuous  windings  are  very  remarkable,  sometimes  flowiiiij 
east,  then  north,  next  west,  and  finally  south,  and  returning  again 
after  all  within  a  few  paces  of  its  original  point  of  departure.  As  we 
were  now  on  the  verge  of  an  immense  prairie,  where  no  water  eouhl 
be  obtained,  we  filled  every  pot  and  kettle  for  our  supper.  During 
the  whole  day,  comprising  a  march  of  fifty  miles,  we  saw  no  other 


'Ir  ' 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


65 


water  than  that  of  the  Turtle  River ;  nor  waa  there  any  for  moro  than 
half  that  distance  beyond  our  night's  encampment. 

Notwithstanding];  the  scarcity  of  this  necessary  of  life,  animals  of 
various  kinds  were  abundant.  In  addition  to  the  buffaloes,  wc  saw 
wolves,  badgers,  foxes,  beaver  and  antelopes.  Of  the  last-mentioned 
species,  one  of  our  men  succeeded  in  bringing  down  a  tine  buck  ;  but, 
as  it  was  at  some  distance  from  the  road,  we  were  contented,  in  the 
present  state  of  our  larder,  with  the  tongue  alone. 

Soon  after  going  to  bed,  we  were  startled  by  the  cry  of  "  Indians 
are  coming."  With  our  imaginations  full  of  horse-stealers,  every  man 
shook  off  his  sleep,  cocked  his  gun,  and  prepared  himself  for  the  worst. 
Indians  did  come  ;  but  they  proved  to  bo  Crees,  who,  as  their  tribe 
had  no  reputation  in  this  way,  were  allowed  to  remain  with  us  all 
night. 

It  was  the  noon  of  next  day  before  we  found  water,  the  grass  along 
our  route  being  completely  withered;  and,  as  a  general  rule,  any  neigh- 
borhood, that  refused  drink  to  our  horses,  yielded  them  very  litth; 
food.  By  five  in  the  afternoon  we  again  entered  the  immediate  valley 
of  the  Saskatchewan,  for  the  first  time  sin  e  leaving  Carh  in,  and  at 
this  spot  we  came  upon  the  only  pines  that  we  had  pccn  after  our 
departure  frrm  Red  River.  We  reached  Tort  I'llt  about  dark  ;  and, 
before  passing  through  the  gates,  we  were  salu'<  J  b)  a  volley  from 
eleven  lodges  of  Crees, — an  honor  which  our  i-ags  by  o  mean  appii  • 
ciated,  for,  tired  as  they  were,  they  evinced  their  terror  by  'ickinjj 
and  plunging. 

These  Crees,  like  all  those  that  we  had  previouslv  met,  were  keep 
ing  out  of  the  way  of  the  Blackfect.  We  visiicd  ii,  of  the  lodgtjb, 
where  a  favorite  warrior,  who  had  been  severely  wr  mdtJ  at  the  battle 
of  the  race  course,  was  lying.  On  betaking  himsi  f'to  flight  with  his 
companions,  this  poor  fellow  had  leant  forward  on  his  horse's  neek, 
receiving,  in  that  position,  a  wound  of  the  most  singular  character. 
A  ball  hit  him  below  the  right  shoulder,  passed  in  a  curved  direction 
across  the  spine  and  finally  lodged  near  the  joint  of  llie  left  shoulder. 
After  an  interval  of  thirty-three  days,  we  found  his  left  arm  dreadfully 
inflamed  and  swollen,  while  the  rest  of  his  body  was  a  mere  skeleton. 
With  the  view  of  extracting  the  bullet,  the  Indians,  who  profess  sur- 
gery as  well  as  physic,  in  their  own  way,  had  made  several  punctures 
to  no  purpose;  and  all  that  any  of  us  could  do  for  the  unfortunate 
sufferer,  was  to  administer  a  little  medic  if  for  temporary  relief. 

The  whole  scene  in  this  lodge  was  u<  .  most  melancholy  descrip- 
tion. On  one  side  lay  the  dying  warrior,  his  glassy  eye  and  h;iggard 
looks  revealing  the  agony  which  neither  voice  nor  gesture  deigned  to 
tell ;  near  him  was  a  child  about  tluee  years  old,  with  its  shriveled 
flesh  barely  concealing  its  bon  -s  whose  ceaseless  moaning  formed  a 
striking  contrast  with  the  stubborn  endurance  of  its  father ;  and  per- 
haps the  most  pitiable  object  in  the  tent  was  the  hapless  wife  and 
mother,  sinking  under  anxiety  and  fatigue,  and  blending,  as  it  were, 
in  her  silent  dejection,  at  once  the  apathy  of  her  husband  and  the  sen- 
sibility of  her  boy.    But  this  physical  misery  excited  more  of  our 

PART  I. — 5 


66 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


i   i 


!l 
1 1 


1i! 


hi  ■ '  I, 

If -.i! 


II 


|||!J1 


m- 


syinpatliy  on  account  ol'  its  superstitions  nccompanimcnts.  Durin||r 
the  niii[lit  the  motlicine  man  was  plyini;  his  mystic  arts  to  restore  liealtli 
to  the  sick,  wliilc,  to  provide  aiifaiust  the  worst,  drums  were  beatinj^  to 
drive  away  all  evil  spirits.  What  a  picture  of  the  fruits  of  barbarism 
and  heathenism  united  ! 

Fort  l*itt  is  prettily  situated  on  the  north  or  left  bank  of  the  river. 
It  is  freciuented  by  the  Crees,  Assiniboiiuis  and  IJlackfeet,  having  been 
planted  amonj?  them  only  about  ten  years  before  our  visit;  and,  as  it 
is  thus  <-omparatively  new  amonj;  these  danircrotus  tribes,  it  still  keeps 
up,  both  by  day  and  by  nijrht,  the  system  of  watcli  and  ward,  which 
has  been  discontinued  at  our  older  establislnnents  on  the  Saskatchewan, 
Kdmonton,  (Jarlton  and  Jtocky  Mountain  House.  At  this  place  wc 
exchanged  all  our  horses,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  of  the 
nu)re  hardy  of  the  band ;  most  of  them  had  been  rendered  useless  for 
any  present  purpose  by  soreness  of  backs,  weakness  of  joints,  &lc.  &,c. 

Soon  after  our  arrival,  several  mounted  men  were  observed  crossing 
from  the  opposite  shore,  who  proved  to  be  the  commissariat  of  the  fort 
returning  home  perfectly  light.  In  the  course  of  the  morning,  these 
hunters,  while  watching  for  moose  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  wood  and 
a  lake,  had  discovered  two  Blackfeet  crawling  towards  their  horses. 
'I'hey  lired  at  the  thieves,  learning  immediately  from  a  groan  that  they 
had  not  missed  their  aim ;  but,  not  knowing  how  many  more  of  the 
enemy  might  be  at  hand,  they  lied  without  taking  time  even  to  saddle 
their  animals.  However  disagreeable  this  intelligence  might  be,  we 
consoled  ourselves  by  rellecting,  that,  if  travelers  were  to  be  influenced 
by  wars  and  rumors  of  wars,  they  would  never  pass  through  these 
plains  at  all. 

Though  we  were  now  on  the  safer  side  of  the  Saskatchewan,  in  the 
I'ountry  of  the  (^rees,  yet  in  order  to  save  a  day's  march  on  the  dis- 
tance between  Fort  Pitt  and  Edmonton,  we  resolved  to  cross  the  river 
into  the  territory  of  the  Blackfeet,  merely  taking  care  to  move  in  some- 
what closer  order  than  usual.  Starting  accordingly  from  the  establisli- 
ment  about  eleven  in  the  morning,  we  had  hardly  gained  the  opposite 
shore,  when  an  Indian  dog  on  the  track,  whose  master  could  not  be 
lar  oil",  excited  our  vigilance,  if  not  our  fears.  On  passing  the  spot 
where  the  hunters  had  seen  the  Blackfeet,  we  halted  to  make  a  search, 
hut  discovered  no  trace  of  an  enemy  whether  living  or  dead.  We 
traveled  about  thirty  miles  through  bolder  scenery  than  that  which  we 
had  previously  traversed,  breaking  the  axle  of  one  of  our  carts,  and 
replacing  it  by  a  rough  kind  of  make-shift  at  the  encampment.  As 
unremitting  caution  was  now  indispensable,  our  horses  were  hobbled, 
:ind  a  guard  mounted,  for  the  night. 

Next  morning,  being  the  twenty-second  of  July,  we  had  a  sharp 
frost  before  sunrise  and  afterwards  a  heavy  dew.  The  whole  country 
was  so  parched  up,  that  no  water  could  be  found  for  breakfast  till- 
eleven  o'clock,  and  again,  in  the  afternoon,  we  passed  over  a  perfectly 
arid  plain  of  about  twenty-five  miles  in  length,  encamping  for  the 
night  at  the  commencement  of  the  Chaine  des  Lacs,  a  succession  of 
.small   lakes,  stretching  over  a  distance  of  twenty  or  thirty  miles. 


:m 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


G7 


Duriiijr  the  afternoon  wo  saw  our  lirst  raspherrirs ;  they  proved  to  he 
of  large  size  and  fine  Havor.  Two  days  |)nnioiisly,  we  had  feasted  on 
the  service  berry  or  mis-as-quitoniina, — a  sort  of  a  cross  hetweeu  the 
(•ranl)erry  and  tlic  black  currant;  and,  before  leavinjr  Red  Kiver,  we 
had  found  wild  strawl)erries  ripe.  The  iiiis-as-(|uitotnina,  by  tlu;  by, 
is  jrcnerally  an  in^redi<Mit  in  the;  bjHter  description  ol"  pemniican,  which 
is  made  with  marrow  fat  instead  of  ordinary  jireasc.  In  the  course  of 
the  day,  Mr.  Itowand's  horse,  st(!pj)inir  into  a  l)adi^er-hoU',  j:av(;  him  ii 
very  heavy  fall,  by  which  his  face  was  mucli  <nit  and  by  which,  also, 
as  appeared  some  months  afterwards,  his  breast  bone  was  broken. 

Next  afternoon  we  passed  over  a  space  of  about  four  miles  in  leufrih, 
where  the  frmss  was  ihoroufrhly  beaten  down,  ap|)ar(Mitly  llu;  work  of 
hail.  Sucli  storms,  which  are  almost  always  partial  in  their  operation, 
are  often  remarkably  furious  in  this  country.  Whih;  travelinjr  from 
Ued  River  to  Canada,  in  tin;  fidl  of  18:i7,  I  was  overtaken  near  f^ac  la 
I'lerre  by  a  violent  tempest  of  the  kind,  which,  if  we  had  not  iraincii 
the  fort  in  time,  might  have  proved  fatal.  As  the  smfrular  masses  of 
ice  rattled  on  the  roof,  wc  entertain(;d  fears  for  the  safety  of  th(!  build- 
ing; and,  in  point  of  fact,  the  lodges  of  the  Indians  were  thrown  down 
and  tiicir  canoes  shattered,  while  their  luckless  dogs,  tumbling  about 
like  drunken  men,  scrambled  away  howling  in  quest  of  shelter.  Some 
of  the  pieces,  measured  in  presence  of  Mr.  I'^inlayson,  of  Red  River, 
and  Mr.  Ilargrave,  of  York  Factory,  w(!  found  to  be  fully  five  inches 
and  a  half  in  circumference. 

Throughout  this  country  everything  is  in  extremes — unparalleled 
cold  and  excessive  heat,  long  droughts  balanced  by  drenching  rain,  and 
destructive  hail.  But  it  is  not  in  climate  only  that  these  contrarieties 
prevail.  At  some  seasons,  both  wliiteii  and  natives  are  living  in  waste- 
ful abundance,  on  venison,  buffalo,  fish,  and  game  of  all  kinds,  while  at 
other  times  they  are  reduced  to  the  last  degree  of  hunger,  often  passing 
several  days  without  food.  In  the  year  1820,  when  wintering  at  Atha- 
basca Lake,  our  provisions  fell  short  at  the  establishment ;  and,  on  two 
or  three  occasions,  I  went  for  three  whole  days  and  nights  without 
having  a  single  morsel  to  swallow ;  but  then  again  I  was  one  of  a  party 
of  eleven  men  and  one  woman,  which  discussed  three  ducks  and 
twenty-two  geese  at  a  sitting.  On  the  Saskatchewan  the  daily  rations 
are  eight  pounds  of  meat  a  head,  whereas,  in  other  districts,  our  peopU' 
have  been  sent  on  long  journeys  with  nothing  but  a  pint  of  meal  and 
some  parchment  for  their  sustenance. 

Towards  sunset  we  encamped  on  the  confines  of  an  extensive  forest, 
:i  tongue  of  which,  stretching  away  to  the  northward,  is  known  as  La 
(rrande  Pointe.  In  the  afternoon  we  had  come  upon  a  large  bed  of  the 
oyeberry  or  oos-quisikoomina,  very  nearly  resembling  the  strawberry 
in  taste  and  appearance.  It  grows  abundantly  in  Russia ;  and,  flourish- 
ing, as  it  does,  in  the  same  soils  and  situations  as  the  strawberry,  it 
would  doubUess  thrive  in  England.  The  nights  were  getting  chilly  ; 
and,  whenever  the  sky  was  clear,  a  heavy  dew  fell  from  sunset  to  sun- 
rise on  particular  spots,  so  as  to  look,  when  morning  dawned,  like 


r^'"§ 


ks.« 


■^.:va  « 


I  ':, 


63 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


•I 


large  lakes  in  the  distance.  As  the  power  of  the  sun  increased,  these 
mists  gradually  resolved  themselves  into  streaks  of  various  shapes  and 
sizes,  which,  rising  from  the  ground  in  the  form  of  clouds,  finally  dis- 
appeared. 

Next  morning,  being  anxious  to  reach  Edmonton  before  night,  we 
proceeded  in  advance  of  our  heavy  baggage.  For  the  first  three  or  four 
leagues  the  country  appeared  to  have  been  the  bed  of  some  large  lake; 
and  many  spots  of  several  miles  in  area,  were  as  smooth  and  fiat  as  if 
they  had  been  leveled  by  artificial  means.  The  whole  plain  was 
covered  with  a  luxuriant  crop  of  the  vetch  or  wild  pea,  almost  as  nutri- 
tious a  food  for  cattle  and  horses  as  oats.  As  we  drew  near  to  the 
Saskatchewan,  we  had  to  cross  as  many  as  five  creeks  with  steep  and 
lofty  banks,  the  last  in  particular  being  a  stream  of  scarcely  twenty  feet 
in  span  between  rugged  declivities  of  about  two  hundred  feet  in  height. 

The  summit  of  one  of  the  rising  grounds  in  the  neighborhood  of 
these  creeks,  presented  a  man  on  horseback,  who,  catching  a  glimpse 
of  us,  suddenly  disappeared  down  the  opposite  side  of  the  hill.  We 
urged  ot.r  horses  forward  at  full  speed  in  order  to  overtake  the  fugitive, 
closely  examining  every  bush  and  every  hollow,  till,  on  reaching  the 
last  of  the  five  creeks,  we  found  the  object  of  our  pursuit  in  the  shape 
of  a  native  hunter  attached  to  the  fort.  This  man,  who  rejoiced  in  the 
name  of  Potatoe,  while  his  brother  was  equally  blessed  with  the  tide 
of  Turnip,  had,  in  two  days,  knocked  down  a  moose,  a  red  deer,  and 
a  buflfalo — pretty  good  wages  for  less  than  half  a  week's  work.  While 
speaking  of  names,  I  cannot  help  mentioning,  that  our  guide  from  Fort 
Pitt  was  one  of  three  brothers,  who  bore  the  congenial  or  uncongenial 
appellations  of  Sand-fiy,  Mosquito,  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

On  arriving  in  front  of  Edmonton,  which  was  on  the  opposite  bank 
of  the  Saskatchewan,  we  notified  our  approach  by  a  volley  of  musketry, 
which  was  returned  by  the  cannon  of  the  fort.  A  boat  was  quickly 
dispatched  to  convey  us  across  the  river ;  and,  on  landing,  we  found 
the  residents  of  the  establishment,  and  more  particularly  Mrs.  Rowand 
and  her  daughters,  assembled  to  receive  us. 

Edmonton  is  a  well  built  place,  something  of  a  hexagon  in  form.  It 
is  surrounded  by  high  pickets  and  bastions,  which,  with  the  batlle- 
mented  gateways,  the  flagstafTs,  &c.,  give  it  a  good  deal  of  a  martial 
appearance;  and  it  occupies  a  commanding  situation,  crowning  an 
almost  perpendicular  part  of  the  bank  of  about  two  hundred  fret  in 
height.  The  river  is  nearly  as  wide  as  at  Carlton,  while  the  immediate 
banks  are  well  wooded,  and  the  country  behind  consists  of  roUiug 
prairies. 

This  fort,  both  inside  and  outside,  is  dtcorated  with  paintings  and 
devices  to  suit  the  tastes  of  the  savages  that  frequent  it.  Over  the 
gateway  are  a  most  fanciful  variety  of  vanes ;  but  the  hall,  of  which 
both  the  ceiling  and  the  walls  present  the  grandest  colors  and  the  most' 
fantastic  sculptures,  absolutely  rivets  the  astonished  natives  to  the  spot 
with  wonder  and  admiration.  The  buildings  are  smeared  with  a  red 
earth,  found  in  the  neighborhood,  which,  when  mixed  with  oil,  pro- 
duces a  durable  brown. 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


69 


The  vicinity  is  rich  in  mineral  productions.  A  seam  of  coal,  of 
about  ten  feet  in  depth,  can  be  traced  for  a  very  considerable  distance 
along  both  sides  of  the  river.  This  coal  resembles  slate  in  appearance ; 
and  though  it  rtit'n-es  a  stronger  draft  than  that  of  an  ordinary  chim- 
ney, yet  it  is  found  to  answer  tolerably  well  for  the  blacksmith's  forge. 
Fossil  remains  are  also  found  here  in  abundance;  and  at  the  fort  there 
was  a  pure  stone,  which  had  once  been  a  log  of  wood^  of  about  six 
feet  in  length,  and  four  or  five  in  girth, — the  resemblance  being  so 
complete  as  entirely  to  deceive  the  eye  alone. 

The  storm,  of  which  we  yesterday  observed  the  eflects  in  the  beat- 
ing down  of  the  grass,  had  been  severely  felt  here,  though  in  the  shape 
rather  of  lightning  than  of  hail.  One  flash  had  fallen  on  the  bank 
within  a  few  yards  of  the  walls,  cutting  two  deep  gulleys  down  to  the 
water's  edge. 

The  number  of  the  native  inhabitants  of  the  Saskatchewan  district 
may  serve  to  demonstrate  how  scanty  is  the  aboriginal  population  of 
North  America  at  the  present  day,  more  particularly  as  the  tract  in 
question  is  perhaps  the  most  populous  in  the  country. 

SASKATCHEWAN    DISTRICT. 


Tribes. 

Tents. 

Souls. 

Crees 

500 

3,500 

Assiniboines 

580 

4,060 

Black  feet 

300 

2,100 

Piegans 

350 

2,450 

Blood  Indians 

250 

1,750 

Sarcees 

50 

350 

Gros  Ventres 

300 

2,100 

Saulteaux 

20 

140 

Half-breeds 

40 

280 

Totals     2,390 


16,730 


Small  as  this  census  is  for  a  territory  at  least  as  large  as  England, 
the  force  of  the  company's  servants  is  infinitely  smaller.  But,  in  any 
case  of  inevitable  collision,  our  people  never  recede  from  their  purpose. 
To  give  an  instance :  a  band  of  Assiniboines  had  carried  off  twenty- 
four  horses  from  Edmonton;  and,  being  pursued,  they  were  over- 
taken at  the  small  river  Boutbifere.  One  of  the  keepers  of  the  animals, 
a  very  courageous  man,  of  the  name  of  Francois  Lucie,  plunged  into 
the  stream,  grappling  in  the  midst  with  a  tall  savage;  and  in  spite  of 
his  inferiority  of  strength,  he  kept  so  close  that  his  enemy  could  not 
draw  his  bow.  Still,  however,  the  Ihdian  continued  to  strike  his  as- 
sailant on  the  head  with  the  weapon  in  question,  and  thereby  knocked 
him  off  his  horse  into  the  water.  Springing  ir.imediately  to  his  feet 
Lucie  was  about  to  smite  the  Assiniboine  with  his  dagger,  when  the 
savage  arrested  his  arm  by  seizing  a  whip  which  was  hangi/ig  to  his 
wrist  by  a  loop,  and  then  turning  round  the  handle  with  a  scornful 


70 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


'    .•■.Jil!     f 


i    .     ''/.  I     '•■ 


laiigli,  he  drew  the  string  so  tight  as  to  render  the  poor  man's  hand 
nearly  powerless.  Francois  continued,  nevertheless,  to  saw  away  at 
the  fellow's  fingers  with  his  dagger  till  he  had  nearly  cut  them  off; 
and  when  at  length  the  Assiniboine  of  necessity  relaxed  his  grasp, 
Francois,  with  the  quickness  of  thought,  sheathed  the  deadly  weapon 
in  his  heart. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  Mr.  Rowand  had  secured,  as  a  guide  to 
conduct  us  as  far  as  the  Rocky  Mountains,  a  man  of  the  name  of 
Peechce,  who,  though  himself  a  half-breed,  had  been  brought  up  among 
the  savages,  and  was,  in  fact,  a  chief  of  the  Mountain  Crees.  Beyond 
Edmonton  the  country  is  impracticable  for  carts,  so  that  all  our  bag- 
gage would  have  to  be  conveyed  on  horseback  ;  and  on  this  account 
we  reduced  our  wardrobe  to  the  smallest  possible  compass,  taking  with 
us  only  such  articles  of  clothing  as  were  absolutely  necessary  for  the 


vovage. 


On  the  third  day  after  our  arrival,  the  firing  of  guns  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river,  which  was  heard  early  in  the  morning,  announced 
the  approach  of  nine  native  chiefs,  who  came  forward  in  advance  of  a 
camp  of  fifty  lodges,  which  was  again  followed  by  another  camp  of 
six  times  the  size.  These  chiefs  were  Blackfeet,  Piegans,  Sarcees 
and  Blood  Indians,  all  dressed  in  their  grandest  clothes  and  decorated 
with  scalp  locks.  I  paid  them  a  visit,  giving  each  of  them  some 
tobacco.  Instead  of  receiving  their  presents  with  the  usual  indiffer- 
ence of  savages,  they  thanked  me  in  rotation,  and,  taking  my  hand  in 
theii^,  made  long  prayers  to  me  as  a  high  and  powerful  conjuror. 
They  implored  me  to  grant,  that  their  horses  might  always  be  swift, 
that  the  buflalo  might  constantly  abound,  and  that  their  wives  might 
live  long  and  look  young.  One  of  them  vented  his  gratitude  in  a 
song ;  and  another  blessed  the  house  in  which  he  had  been  so  well 
treated. 

Our  nine  visitors  remained  the  whole  morning,  smoking  and  sleep- 
ing ;  nor  would  they  take  their  departure  till  they  had  obtained  a  pre- 
sent for  each  of  the  chiefs  that  were  coming  behind  them.  Though 
we  had  resolved  to  make  a  start  to-day,  yet  we  could  not  safely  resume 
our  journey,  while  these  Indians  were  hanging  about  the  place,  inas- 
much as  they  would  have  given  information  to  the  approaching  bands ; 
and  then  we  should  have  been  annoyed,  and  perhaps  plundered,  by 
the  fellows  for  whole  days  in  succession.  In  order  to  escape  unseen 
and  unsuspected,  we  adopted  the  following  expedient.  A  boat,  Which 
was  loaded  with  our  baggage,  was  sent  about  six  miles  up  the  river  in 
the  evening,  with  orders  to  lie  concealed  as  much  as  possible ;  and 
early  next  morning  we  were  to  proceed  with  the  horses,  under  cover 
of  the  woods,  along  the  northern  bank  to  join  it.  Then  and  there  we 
were  to  cross  the  Saskatchewan  and  pursue  our  journey  towards  the 
south-west. 

On  this  our  last  afternoon  we  made  a  tour  of  the  farm.  The  pastur- 
age was  most  luxuriant,  and  a  large  dairy  was  maintained.  Among 
the  cattle  was  a  buffalo  heifer  of  seven  years  of  age,  procured  for  the 


FROM  RED  RIVER  SETTLEMENT  TO  EDMONTON. 


71 


purpose  of  crossing  the  breed  ;  but  every  domestic  bull  liad  always 
appeared  to  be  afraid  of  her.  Sheep  could  not  be  kept,  for,  in  addition 
to  the  severity  of  the  climate,  the  packs  of  dogs  and  wolves  in  the 
neighborhood  would  have  destroyed  them.  Barley  generally  yieldetl 
a  fair  return  ;  but  wheat  was  almost  sure  to  be  destroyed  by  the  early 
frosts.  The  garden  produced  potatoes,  turnips  and  a  few  other  hardy 
vegetables. 


^' 


-     -J      V-,>      :,. 


«       ■'' 


rfi:-  ■ 


■i'.h- 


f... 


# 


"*»■*'" 


\Wi 


i: 


11 


1 


iiUt! 


72 


CHAPTER  III. 

FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 

About  five  in  the  morning  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  July,  we  started 
from  Edmonton  in  high  spirits  with  a  fresh  band  of  forty-five  fine 
horses,  and  struck  into  the  adjacent  woods,  before  the  Indians  made 
their  appearance  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  Crossing  the  Sas- 
katchewan at  the  place  where  we  found  our  boats,  we  breakfasted  in  a 
secluded  spot ;  and  thence  we  pursued  our  course,  during  the  whole 
day,  through  a  land  of  marshes  and  thickets,  forming  a  remarkable 
contrast  with  the  rolling  prairies  which  we  had  recently  traversed. 
As  the  forests  had  been  almost  entirely  destroyed  by  fire,  the  fallen 
timber,  often  concealed  alike  from  horse  and  rider  by  the  high  grass, 
occasioned  a  good  deal  both  of  delay  and  of  danger.  In  spite,  how- 
ever, of  all  our  difficulties,  we  contrived,  with  our  new  stud,  to  accom- 
plish sixty  miles  by  eight  in  the  evening. 

In  the  afternoon  we  had  met  Mr.  Rundle,  the  Wesleyan  Missionary 
of  Edmonton,  who  had  been  visiting  a  camp  of  Crees  on  the  borders 
of  Gull  Lake ;  and,  as  that  gentleman  was  anxious  to  have  some  com- 
munication with  me,  he  returned  with  us  to  our  encampment,  which 
we  made  near  the  Atchakapesequa  Seepee  or  Smoking-weed  River. 
This  stream  flowed  in  a  deep  and  shady  valley;  and  its  clear  water 
afforded  us  an  exquisite  treat  after  our  long  and  hot  ride. 

In  the  morning  Mr.  Rundle  accompanied  us  as  far  as  the  Battle 
River,  which  falls  into  the  Saskatdiewan  near  Fort  Pitt.  We  were 
now  beyond  the  level  prairie  with  its  badger-holes,  which  have  obtained 
for  the  people  of  the  Saskatchewan  the  name  of  Les  Gens  des  Brai- 
reaux ;  but  we  had  woods  instead,  which,  if  they  were  less  perilous, 
were  fully  more  embarrassing.  The  scenery,  as  we  approached  the 
mountains,  was  becoming  bolder  every  hour.  The  plains  were  re- 
placed by  ranges  of  lofty  hills;  and  we  were  straining  our  eyes  to 
catch  the  first  glimpse  of  the  perpetual  snows  of  the  mighty  barrier  that 
lay  in  our  path.  The  weather  continued  to  be  exceedingly  warm,  the 
thermometer  showing  83°  in  the  shade ;  and  the  flies  of  every  species, 
from  the  bull-dog,  which  takes  out  the  bit  from  man  and  beast,  to  the 
diminutive  moustique,  annoyed,  to  an  almost  insupportable  degree,  both 
ourselves  and  our  cattle.  To  make  matters  worse,  we  were  this  morn- 
ing attacked,  for  the  first  time,  by  wasps,  which  every  now  and  then 
made  our  poor  animals  dance  and  bolt  and  roll  on  the  ground,  and  so 
much  did  the  horses  dread  the  insects  in  question,  that  not  one  in  the 
band  would  approach  the  spot  where  any  other  had  been  stung, — the 


.^■^■^ 


.r. 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


73 


■'v; 


whole  of  them  sometimes  dashing  off,  in  all  possible  directions,  at  full 
gallop. 

After  passing  two  or  three  very  beautiful  lagoons,  we  encamped  for 
the  night  on  the  banks  of  the  Gull  Lake,  a  fine  sheet  of  transparent 
waters  of  about  twenty  miles  in  length  by  five  or  six  in  width,  sur- 
rounded by  high  hills,  of  which  the  remotest  summits  to  the  westward 
command  a  view  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Though  we  saw  no  traces 
of  Mr.  Rundle's  Crees,  yet  the  report  of  a  musket,  booming  like  that 
of  a  cannon  along  the  lake,  indicated  their  vicinity ;  and,  on  our  an- 
swering what  was  probably  meant  as  a  signal,  we  were  visited  by  a 
few  of  them,  who  proved  to  be  relatives  of  some  of  our  men.  Our 
object  in  desiring  an  interview  was  to  obtain,  if  possible,  a  supply  of 
fresh  meat,  inasmuch  as  the  small  stock  which  we  had  brought  from 
Edmonton,  was  already  exhausted.  The  Indians,  who  were  almost 
as  badly  off  as  ourselves,  had  nothing  to  spare  but  the  remains,  the 
inferior  joints  of  course,  of  a  red  deer;  but  these,  such  as  they  were, 
they  promised  to  bring  us  in  the  morning. 

On  decamping,  a  heavy  fog  threatened  us  with  a  wet  day.  Gradu- 
ally, however,  the  sun  dispersed  the  vapors  ;  and,  as  there  was  no  wind, 
the  heat  became  excessive,  while  our  work  grew  harder  in  consequence 
of  the  steady  rise  of  the  country.  After  fording  the  Paskap  Seepee  or 
Blind  River,  we  reached  Reedy  Lake ;  and  thence,  crossing  a  range  of 
high  hills,  we  breakfasted  on  an  extensive  prairie  beyond  them.  Our 
friends  of  Gull  Lake  had  brought  us  a  little  meat,  and  that  not  very 
tempting  in  its  appearance;  but,  such  as  it  was,  it  saved  our  pemmican 
fo.  one  day  longer.  They  remained  with  us  two  or  three  hours, 
smoking  and  chatting ;  and,  our  guide  Peechee  being  a  great  man  among 
them,  they  formed  a  circle  round  him,  whiffing  and  talking  and  listening, 
for,  notwithstanding  the  taciturnity  of  savages  among  whites,  they  are, 
when  by  themselves,  the  most  loquacious  of  mortals,  apparently  re- 
garding idle  gossip  as  one  of  the  grand  objects  of  life.  In  addition  to 
the  venison,  which  we  got  from  the  Indians,  our  breakfast  was  enriched 
by  the  presence  of  a  few  ducklings  without  green  peas.  We  had  caught 
a  sight  of  a  colony  of  ducks  in  a  small  swamp;  and,  after  scrambling  in 
the  high  grass  and  shallow  water  with  a  most  zealous  combination  of  all 
our  lalents  and  appetites,  we  succeeded  in  bagging  seven  of  the  rising 
brood.  The  excitement  of  such  a  hunt  cannot  possibly  be  appreciated 
by  your  civilized  sportsman,  inasmuch  as  his  larder  is  not  materially 
interested  in  the  question  of  failure  or  success. 

Soon  after  the  commencement  of  our  afternoon's  march,  we  had  to 
cross  the  Red  Deer's  River,  a  large  and  beautiful  stream  flowing  be- 
tween well  wooded  banks  of  considerable  height ;  and,  while  we  were 
riding  three  or  four  miles  down  the  current  in  quest  of  a  ford,  we  found  on 
the  bank  perfecUy  fresh  tracks  of  bear,  red  deer,  moose,  antelopes,  and 
wolves.  Had  we  been  on  a  hunting  excursion  instead  of  traveling 
against  time,  we  might  here  have  enjoyed  a  (ew  days  of  excellent  sport. 
While  the  horses  were  fording  the  river,  we  had  a  pleasant  bath,  after 
which  we  continued  our  march  across  a  prairie  almost  covered  with 
dwarf  willows.     While  quietly  forcing  our  way  through  the  bushes 


■'  »«j 


h 


•** 


Ill  1 : 


74 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


1; 


.1    ^ 


■with  our  party  very  nnioh  scattered,  wo  suddenly  encountered  a  small 
l)and  of  Sarcces,  the  boldest  of  all  the  tribes  that  inhabit  the  plains. 
The  savages  appeared  to  be  taken  as  much  by  surprise  as  ourselves  ; 
and,  in  a  moment,  the  guns  were  uncovered  on  both  sides,  a  halt,  of 
course,  was  made ;  and  a  jiarley  ensued,  the  subject  of  discussion  be- 
ing the  j)respnt  war  between  the  Crees  and  Blackfeet.  The  Sarcees, 
as  allies  of  the  latter  tribe,  naturally  blamed  the  former ;  and  we  took 
credit  vo  the  whites  for  having  kept  their  common  enemy  comparatively 
quiet.  With  the  aid  of  a  little  tobacco  and  ammunition,  we  prolonged 
the  conversation  for  a  suflicient  length  of  time  to  allow  all  our  people 
to  get  fairly  out  of  sight ;  and  we  then  parted  from  our  fickle  customers 
on  the  most  friendly  terms.  We  came  almost  immediately  to  a  small 
river,  whose  banks  of  two  hundred  feet  in  height  were  so  steep,  that  our 
horses  slid  down  sideways  the  greater  part  of  the  distance  to  the  water's 
edge ;  and,  however  troublesome  the  operation  was  in  itself,  we  were 
not  sorry  to  place  so  formidable  a  barrier  between  the  Sarcecs  and  our- 
selves. In  order  to  give  our  somewhat  doubtful  friends  as  wide  a  berth  as 
possible,  we  inarched  more  briskly  than  usual  till  the  evening,  selecting 
lor  our  night's  encampment  a  rising  ground  which  commanded  the  view 
to  a  considerable  distance  ;  and,  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  every 
gun  was  loaded,  while  four  men  mounted  guard. 

Still  remembering  the  Sarcees,  we  made  an  early  move  and  marched 
vigorously  for  about  seven  liours.  Before  breakfast,  however,  we 
met  a  new  object  of  alarm  in  the  fresh  trail  of  a  large  party  of 
horsemen,  who  must  have  passed  as  late  as  last  evening ;  but,  on  se- 
cond thoughts,  we  were  glad  to  observe,  that  the  band  in  question  had 
kept  a  good  deal  to  the  westward  of  our  track.  In  this  same  neigh- 
borhood, we  got  up  an  amusing  scene  in  the  shape  of  a  hunt  of  some 
young  geese.  Some  of  the  men,  without  taking  time  to  strip,  jumped 
into  the  water,  splashing  and  tumbling  about  after  their  prey,  while 
the  others  from  the  bank  kept  up  a  constant  fire  on  the  birds  ;  and 
thus,  between  killed  and  wounded  and  taken,  the  whole  flock  fell  into 
the  hands  of  our  cooks.  ' 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  we  descended  into  a  glen  between 
ranges  of  steep  and  lofty  hills,  through  which  flowed  the  river  L;i 
Biche,  at  one  place  contracted  into  a  mere  rivulet,  and  at  another  spread 
over  a  channel  of  two  hundred  feet  in  width.  In  forcing  our  way 
through  the  tangled  underwood  of  this  valley,  we  were  almost  as  tho- 
roughly drenched  by  the  deposits  of  a  recent  shower  on  the  leaves,  as 
if  we  had  been  actually  exposed  to  the  rain  itself;  and  this  thicket 
again  led  us  into  a  dense  forest  of  pines,  through  which  the  track, 
besides  being  obstructed  by  fallen  timber,  was  so  narrow  as  seriously 
to  impede  the  pack-horses. 

We  encamped  for  the  night  in  an  open  space  amid  an  amphitheatre 
of  twenty  hills,  which  were  covered  with  dark  forests.  Every  hour 
of  this  day's  march  had  marked  our  ascent  to  a  higher  level.  At  Fort 
Pitt,  as  already  mentioned,  we  had  seen  our  first  pines ;  since  then  we 
had  passed  few  trees  of  the  kind,  till  they  began,  this  morning,  to  in- 
crease rapidly  in  number,  while,  in  the*  same  proportion,  every  other 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


75 


sppcios  cjradunlly  disapponrcd.  Tlio  willow  and  poplar  were  iho  last 
to  dispute  the  sway  oi"  this  evcrirrccn  child  of  the  inouiitains,  thotisjli, 
tx'fo'.p  iPat'hiiiiT  our  tMicamprucnt,  oven  thry  had  yiven  up  the  contest; 
and  nothinji  was  to  ho  seen  hiit  the  Idack,  strai<rht,  iiakeil  stem  of  the 
pine,  shootinjj  up  to  an  unbroken  heiiiht  of  eijihty  or  a  hundred  feet, 
wlule  the  somhre  light,  as  it  jrlininiered  alonir  nuinb«;rless  vistas  of 
natural  colunuis,  recalled  to  tin;  iniaijinaliou  the  irlooniy  shades  of  an 
assemblage  of  venerable  cathedrals. 

In  the  way  of  eating,  we  had  now  little  to  expect  beyond  our  own 
stores  of  pemmican  and  dried  meat.  Our  supper  of  to-day  was  the 
tlrst  meal,  at  which  we  had  not  fresh  viands  of  some  kind  or  other ; 
and  we  had  no  great  reason  to  expect  any  considerable  improvement 
for  some  time  to  come.  Next  day,  indeed,  wc  crossed  several  flmall 
pl.iins,  which  are  often  well  stocked  with  buflalo,  one  of  them  in  par- 
ticular being  on  this  account  distinguished  as  La  Prairie  de  la  Graissc; 
but,  as  our  luck  would  have  it,  not  a  hoof  was  to  be  seen.  This  dis- 
appointment was  the  more  to  be  regretted,  inasmuch  as  the  increasing 
cold, — increasing  both  with  the  advance  of  the  season  and  with  our 
own  elevation, — would  now  have  kept  any  booty  much  longer  sound 
and  sweet. 

In  La  Prairie  dc  la  Graissc,  we  caught  our  first  view  of  the  white 
peaks  of  the  mountains,  looking  like  clouds  on  the  verge  of  the  horizon. 
Beyond  this  point  our  track  lay  through  swamps,  which,  even  in  this 
the  dryest  month  of  a  dry  season,  were  almost  impracticable.  The 
horses  constantly  sank  to  their  girths ;  and,  in  endeavoring  to  extricate 
themselves,  they  occasionally  dislodged  their  packs  or  riders  into  the 
settling  morass.  Nor  was  our  progress  much  more  expeditious  in  the 
woods  than  in  the  bogs.  The  horses  were  every  now  and  then  driving 
into  the  pathless  forest  with  the  drivers  at  their  heels,  whose  cries 
might  be  heard  ringing  through  the  usually  solitary  glades  for  miles, 
and  the  fugitives,  when  overtaken,  were  generally  found  to  have  either 
slipt  their  packs  altogether,  or  else  to  have  them  hanging  loose  under 
their  bellies.  In  adjusting  all  this,  the  men  would  lose  the  track,  so 
that  we  had  to  make  occasional  halts  to  collect  our  people.  One  man 
in  particular,  was  missing  for  several  hours  this  morning;  and  they 
who  were  sent  in  search  of  him,  found  him  trying  to  drive  three  obsti- 
nate brutes  before  him.  Though  this  poor  fellow  had  fired  fifteen 
signals  for  assistance,  yet  not  one  of  them  had  been  heard  by  us  ;  and 
this  was  the  more  extraordinary,  as  the  report  of  one's  own  gun  ap- 
peared to  reverberate  through  the  woods  like  the  discharge  of  a  heavy 
piece  of  ordnance. 

About  ten  we  halted  for  breakfast,  that  some  of  our  hunters  might 
follow  a  recent  track  of  the  buflalo ;  but  they  saw  only  three  strag- 
glers, which,  however,  were  out  of  reach.  In  the  afternoon  we 
emerged  from  die  woods  on  a  long,  open  vallej^  terminating  in  a  high 
ridge,  whence  we  obtained  one  of  those  majestic  views  found  only 
"midst  mountain  fastnesses."  As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  moun- 
tain rose  above  mountain,  while  at  our  feet  lay  a  valley  surrounded  by 
an  amphitheatre  of  cold,  bare,  rugged  peaks.     In  these  crags,  which 


...VI 


76 


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i!  V 


were  almost  perpendicular,  neither  conld  tree  plant  its  roots  nor  goat 
find  a  resting-place;  the  "Demon  of  the  Mountains"  alone  could  fix 
his  dwelling  there.  On  the  strong  bosom  of  the  valley  in  question,  we 
pitched  our  tents  for  the  night.  Here  we  found  one  of  the  sources,  in 
spring  a  torrent,  but  now  almost  dry,  of  the  river  La  Riche:  and  here 
we  bade  adieu  to  that  stream,  which,  during  the  last  three  days,  we 
had  crossed  at  least  forty  times.  One  of  the  overhanging  peaks,  from 
its  bearing  a  rude  resemblance  to  an  upturned  i\icc,  is  called  the  Devil's 
Nose. 

The  path  which  we  had  been  following,  was  a  track  of  the  Assini- 
boines,  carried,  for  the  sake  of  concealment,  through  the  thickest 
forests.  These  Indians  and  Peechee  were  the  only  persons  that  had 
ever  pursued  this  route  ;  and  we  were  the  first  whites  that  had  attempted 
this  pass  of  the  mountains. 

In  the  morning  we  entered  a  defile  between  mountainous  ridges, 
marching  for  nine  hours  through  dense  woods.  This  valley,  which 
was  from  two  to  three  miles  in  width,  contained  four  beautiful  lakes, 
communicating  with  each  other  by  small  streams;  and  the  fourth  of  the 
series,  which  was  about  fifteen  miles  by  three,  we  named  after  Pee- 
chee, as  being  our  guide's  usual  home.  At  this  place  he  had  expected 
to  find  his  family;  but  Madame  Peechee  and  the  children  had  left  their 
encampment,  probably  on  account  of  a  scarcity  of  game.  W  hat  an 
idea  of  the  loneliness  and  precariousness  of  savage  life  does  this  single 
glimpse  of  the  biography  of  the  Peechees  suggest. 

Having  marcbcd  for  nine  hours  over  broken  rocks  and  through  thick 
forests,  we  found,  on  halting  for  breakfast,  that  six  of  our  horses,  three 
of  them  with  packs,  were  missing  ;  and  we  instanUy  dispatched  all  our 
men  but  two  in  quest  of  them,  determining,  at  the  same  time,  to  remain 
for  the  rest  of  the  day,  in  order  to  await  their  return.  The  beauty  of 
the  scenery  formed  some  compensation  for  the  loss  of  time.  Our  tents 
were  pitched  in  a  level  meadow  of  about  five  hundred  acres  in  extent, 
enclosed  by  mountains  on  three  sides,  and  by  Peechee's  Lake  on  the 
fourth.  From  the  very  edge  of  thff  water  there  rose  a  gentle  ascent  of 
six  or  eight  hundred  feet,  covered  with  pines  and  composed  almost 
entirely  of  the  accumulated  fragments  of  the  adamantine  heights  above  ; 
and  on  the  upper  border  of  this  slope  there  stood  perpendicular  walls 
of  granite,  of  three  or  four  thousand  feet,  while  among  the  dizzy  alii- 
tudes  of  their  battlemented  summits  the  goat  and  sheep  bounded  in 
playful  security. 

As  ill  luck  would  have  it,  one  of  the  missing  horses  carried  our  best 
provisions ;  but,  by  stewing  two  partridges  and  making  a  little  pem- 
mican  into  a  kind  of  burgoo,  we  contrived  to  produce  both  breakfast 
and  supper  for  eight  hungry  travelers.  Though  we  had  considerably 
increased  our  elevation  by  this  morning's  march,  yet  the  heat  was  great, 
reaching  as  high  as  70°  in  the  shade. 

The  defile  through  which  we  had  jtist  passed,  had  been  the  scene  of 
an  exploit  highly  characteristic  of  savage  life.  One  of  the  Crees, 
whom  we  saw  at  Gull  Lake,  had  been  tracked  into  the  valley,  along 
with  his  wife  and  family,  by  five  youths  of  a  hostile  tribe.     On  per- 


M,   ::V 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FoUT  VANCOUVER. 


77 


I '  tl 


reiving  the  odds  that  were  ngniust  him,  the  mnn  gave  himself  up  for 
lost,  obscrvinji;  to  the  women,  that  as  they  couhl  die  but  once,  they  had 
better  make  up  their  minds  to  submit  to  their  present  fate  without  re- 
sistance. The  wife,  however,  replied,  that  as  they  had  but  one  life  to 
lose,  they  were  the  more  decidedly  bound  to  defend  it  to  tht  hist,  even 
under  the  most  desperate  cireutnstnnces,  luhliii);,  that  as  th(.>y  were 
voimjf  and  by  no  means  pitiful,  ihey  had  an  additional  motive  for  pre- 
venting their  hearts  from  becoming  small.  'J'hen,  suiting  the  action 
to  the  word,  the  heroine  brought  the  foremost  warrior  to  the  earth  with 
a  bullet,  while  the  husband,  animated  by  a  mixtureof  shame  and  hope, 
disposed  of  two  more  of  the  enemy  with  his  arrows.  The  fourth,  who 
had  by  this  time  come  to  pretty  close  quarters,  was  ready  to  take  ven- 
geance on  the  courageous  woman  witli  uplifted  tomahawk,  when  he 
stumbled  and  fell;  and,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  dagger  of  his 
intended  victim  was  buried  in  his  heart.  Dismayed  at  the  death  of 
his  four  companions,  the  sole  survivor  of  the  assailing  party  saved 
himself  by  flight,  after  wounding  his  male  opponent  by  a  ball  in  the 
arm. 

It  was  six  o'clock  next  morning  before  our  people  returned  with  the 
missing  horses,  which  they  had  found  about  fifteen  miles  behind.  On 
starting  we  proceeded  up  a  bold  pass  in  the  mountains,  in  which  we 
crossed  two  branches  of  the  Bow  River,  the  south  branch,  as  already 
mentioned,  of  the  Saskatchewan.  From  the  top  of  a  peak,  that  rose 
perpendicularly  at  least  two  thousand  feet,  there  fell  a  stream  of  water, 
which,  though  of  very  considerable  volume,  looked  like  a  thread  of  ., 
silver  on  the  gray  rock.  It  was  said  to  be  known  as  the  spout,  and  to 
serve  as  a  landmark  in  this  wilderness  of  clill's. 

About  two  in  the  afternoon  we  reached,  as  Peechce  assured  us,  the 
Bow  River  Traverse,  the  spot  at  which  a  fresh  guide  from  the  west 
side  of  the  mountains,  of  the  name  of  Berland,  was  to  meet  us  with  a 
relay  of  horses.  But,  whether  this  was  the  Bow  River  Traverse  or 
not,  no  Berland  was  here  to  be  found.  Thinking  that  the  two  guides 
might  have  diiferent  notions  as  to  the  precise  place  of  rendezvous,  M'e 
dispatched  two  men  to  another  crossing  place  about  twenty  miles  farther 
up  the  stream,  instructing  them,  according  to  circumstances,  either  to 
return  to  this  point  and  pursue  our  track,  or  else  to  cut  across  the 
country  in  order  to  join  us.  The  river,  the  same  as  that  which  we 
crossed  before  reaching  Carlton,  was  here  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
yards  in  width  with  a  strong  and  deep  current.  We  conveyed  baggage 
and  horses  and  everything  else  on  a  raft  covered  with  willows ;  and 
as  we  finished  the  operation  only  at  sunset,  we  encamped  for  the  night 
on  the  south  or  right  bank  of  the  stream. 

As  we  were  always  glad  to  make  our  guns  save  our  pemmican,  we 
had  to-day  knocked  down  a  porcupine,  which, being  desperately  hungry, 
we  pronounced  to  be  very  good  fare.  We  had  also  tried,  but  in  vain, 
to  get  within  shot  of  some  of  the  goats  and  sheep  that  were  clambering 
and  leaping  on  the  peaks :  the  flesh  of  the  latter  is  reckoned  a  great 
delicacy ;  but  that  of  the  former  is  not  much  esteemed. 

The  water  of  the  river  was  cold,  being  formed  chiefly  of  melted 


r\ 


78 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


li 


0      '" 


mi 


Jinow  ;  nnd  the  trm|»frntnrp  of  a  8m:ill  trihiilnry  in  tho  lU'ijr'ihorljoofl  of 
our  (Miup  |)r()v(Ml  i(»  hv  only  12'',  while,  in  ihc  conrHc  of  llu*  alUTnooij, 
\\w  niiTciiry  h:ul  stood  :it  70 '  in  the  Hh:i(h\  We  enjoyed  the  eoohiess 
l)oth  for  ih'inkini^r  atnl  l):tlhinu:,  ihouifh  the  water,  lik<'  that  of  the  Alps, 
uaH  known  to  uive  tlie  jjoitres,  rveii  as  far  (h)W  ;  d  :  ■•  tor's  ol' the  two 
urand  hranehes  of  the  Saskalr-hewan,  to  such  as  :ii  'h'  h'il>ifiially  and 
permanently  tiHc  it.  Our  men,  poor  fellows,  had  .  *i  juilo  enonjrh  oi 
the  luxury  in  the  swiininintr  way,  for,  in  inanajiinfr  the  raft,  ihey  had 
lieen  three  or  four  hours  in  the  current. 

Nt'Xt  niorninj(  w(!  hciran  to  ascend  the  mountains  in  riirht  earnest, 
ri(lin}(  where  we  cotdd  and  walkinjr  where  the  horses  found  the  road 
too  steep  to  earry  us,  while  i)y  our  side  there  rushed  downwards  one 
of  tho  sources  oi' the  liow  Uiver.  We  were  surrounded  hy  j)eaks  am! 
enijrs,  on  whose  summits  lay  perpetual  snow  ;  and  tlie  oidy  sounds  that 
disturbed  the  solittule,  were  the  eraeklinjr  of  prostrate  branches  under 
the  tread  of  our  horses,  ami  the  roarinj;  of  tlu;  stream  as  it  leaj)t  down 
its  rocky  course.  One  peak  presented  a  very  peculiar  leature  in  an 
openinjf  of  about  eijrhty  feet  by  lifiy,  which,  at  a  distance,  mi;,dit  have 
been  taken  for  a  spot  of  snow,  but  which,  as  wo  advanced  nearer, 
assumed  the  appearance  of  the  j^'ateway  of  a  jriant's  fortress. 

About  seven  hours  of  hard  work  broujfht  us  to  the  hcifrjit  of  land,  the 
hinfj^e,  as  it  were,  between  tlu;  eastern  and  tho  western  waters.  We 
breakfasted  on  the  level  isthmus,  which  ilid  not  exceed  fourteen  paces 
in  width,  tiliinir  our  kettles  for  this  our  lonely  meal  at  once  from  the 
crystal  sources  of  tlie  (Columbia  and  the  Saskatchewan,  while  these 
welling  feeders  of  two  opposite  oceans,  murmurini^  over  their  beds  of 
mossy  stones  as  if  to  bid  each  other  a  lonjr  farewell,  could  hardly  fail 
to  attune  our  minds  to  the  sublimity  of  the  scene*.  But  between  these 
kindred  fountains,  the  common  progeny  of  the  satiie  snow-wreaths, 
there  was  this  remarkable  difl'erence  of  temperature,  that  the  source  of 
the  Columbia  showed  40°,  while  that  of  the  Saskatchewan  raised  the 
mercury  to  53.^°,  the  thermometer  meanwhile  standing  as  high  as  71" 
in  the  shade.  , 

From  the  vicinity  of  perpetual  snow,  we  estimated  the  elevation  of 
the  height  of  land  to  be  seven  or  eight  thousand  i'eet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  while  the  surrounding  peaks  appeared  to  rise  nearly  half  of 
that  altitude  over  our  heads.  Still  this  pass  was  inferior  in  grandeur 
to  that  of  the  Athabasca  Portage.  There  the  road,  little  better  than  a 
succession  of  glaciers,  runs  through  a  region  of  perpetual  snow,  where 
nothing  that  can  be  called  a  tree,  presents  itself  to  enliven  and  cheer 
the  eye.  There,  too,  the  relative  position  of  the  opposite  waters  is 
such  as  to  have  hardly  a  parallel  on  the  earth's  surface,  for  a  small 
lake,  appropriately  enough  known  as  the  Committee's  Punch-bowl, 
sends  its  tribute  from  one  end  to  the  Columbia  and  from  the  other  to 
the  McKenzie. 

In  addition  to  the  physical  magnificence  of  the  scene,  I  here  met  an 
unexpected  reminiscence  of  my  own  native  hills  in  the  shape  of  a 
plant,  which  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  very  heather  of  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland ;  and  I  might  well  regard  the  reminiscence  as  unexpected, 


'it 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


79 


inaHinuch  ax,  in  all  my  wandfriuirH  of  more  than  twiMity  years,  I  had 
never  fouiul  aiiylliintr  of  tfic  kind  in  i\(»rtli  America.  As  I  tnolv  :i 
eoiiHiderable  dc^rret;  of  interest  in  tliu  <|iu  snoii  of  tin;  siipnosid  identity, 
1  carried  away  two  specimens,  wliicli,  however,  |>roved  md  a  miniito 
comparison,  to  diU'er  from  tin*  irenuiiie  staple  of  tlu>  hrown  heaths  of  the 
"land  o'  cakes."  We  made  also  another  discovery,  alxnit  which  there 
could  be  no  miutake,  in  a  trunhlosome  and  venomous  species  of  wini;ed 
insects,  which,  in  size  and  anpearance,  mitrht  have  been  taken  for  a 
cross  between  the  bull-doi?  ami  the  house-lly. 

On  resuminijf  our  march,  we  had  not  descended  half  a  mile  before 
we  felt  a  dillerence  in  the  climate,  a  chanife  noticed  hv  all  travelers  in 
these  regions;  and  the  trees  were  also  of  finer  growth.  Whatever 
may  be  the  reason  of  the  sudden  alteration,  the  same  clouds  have  been 
known  to  clothe  tin;  eastern  side*  with  hail  and  snow,  and  to  refresh  the 
western  with  gentle  rain.  With  reference,  however,  to  the  state  of  llu! 
atmosphere,  the  temperature  of  the  water  is  somewhat  anomalous,  for, 
after  a  lapse  of  two  or  three;  days,  the  stream  which  we  followed  was 
subsequently  found  to  be  still  half  a  dcigree  cooler  than  the  source  of 
the  Bow  River  on  the  height  of  land.  In  the  progress  of  our  descent 
we  took  some  interest  in  tracing,  as  it  were,  nature's  manufacture  of  a 
river,  as  every  rill  that  trickled  down  the  rocks,  with  its  thread  of  melt- 
ed snow,  contributed  its  mite  to  the  main  current  of  various  nanu;s, 
the  Kootonais,  or  the  McGilliway,  or  the  Tlatbow.  Rven  at  our  first 
encampment,  after  only  next  half-day's  march,  tlu;  flood  had  already 
gathered  a  breadth  of  Afty  feet. 

Next  morning  we  forded  the  river  twenty-three  times,  eaidi  attempt 
becoming,  of  course,  more  diflicult  than  tlie  preceding  one ;  and  we 
crossed  it  once  more,  immediately  before  breakfast,  near  its  conduenee 
with  another  stream  of  about  eciual  magnitude.  During  this  singh; 
march  the  fifty  feet  of  yesterday  evening  had  swollen  out  into  a  hun- 
dred yards;  and  the  channel  was  so  deep  that  the  packs  got  soaked  on 
the  backs  of  the  horses.  Here  we  made  a  meal  of  our  third  porcupine, 
the  only  fresh  meat  that  we  could  get;  for  though  our  track  bore  the 
recent  marks  of  the  bear,  the  buftalo,  the  antelope,  the  sheep,  the  moose, 
red  deer,  and  the  wolf,  yet  the  noise  of  our  cavalcade  seemed  to  scare 
all  these  animals  themselves  into  the  woods. 

Our  two  men  who  had  been  sent  to  the  upper  traverse  of  the  Bow 
lliver  in  quest  of  Berland,  wers  here  to  rejoin  us;  and,  accordingly, 
just  as  we  were  mounting  for  our  afternoon's  march,  they  arrived  with 
the  unwelcome  news  that  they  had  seen  no  traces  either  of  horses  or 
of  guide.  If  Berland  had  kept  his  appointment  at  all,  our  only  re- 
maining chance  was  to  look  for  him  at  a  crossing  place  on  the  Bow 
River,  about  a  day's  march  below  our  own  traverse;  and,  accordingly, 
as  La  Graisse,  one  of  the  men  who  had  just  returned,  gallantly  volun- 
teered, along  with  an  Iroquois  of  the  name  of  Jose  Tyantas,  to  under- 
take this  forlorn  hope  of  an  expedition,  we  forthwith  dispatched  the 
hardy  fellows  with  a  little  pemmican  and  a  few  pairs  of  moccasons, 
leaving  them  to  supply  all  other  wants  with  their  guns.  In  fact,  they 
were  not  so  liable  to  starve  as  ourselves ;  for,  being  on  foot,  they  were 


■■u 


Kl 


'li/  h     '■ 


PROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


less  likely  to  frighten  the  game  of  the  country  to  a  distance ;  and,  in 
proof  of  this,  La  Graisse  had  brought  us  part  of  a  red  deer  that  he 
had  shot,  which,  though  tough  and  hard,  we  relished  as  a  great  luxury. 

Our  afternoon's  work  was  exceedingly  slow  and  laborious,  as  we 
had  to  pass  through  an  intricate  forest  along  the  banks  of  the  river. 
Having  crossed  a  very  steep  hill  with  the  view  of  encamping,  by  Pee- 
chee's  advice,  on  the  borders  of  a  small  lake,  we  were  disappointed  to 
find  nothing  but  its  dried  bed,  without  a  single  drop  of  water  in  it; 
and  being  alike  unable  to  advance,  and  unwilling  to  return,  we  sent 
back  our  men  for  water  with  the  whole  of  our  surviving  stock  of  pots 
and  kettles.  As  an  evidence  of  the  difficulties  of  our  route,  our  whole 
day's  march  did  not  exceed  twenty  miles. 

Next  morning,  however,  our  bad  roads  surpassed  themselves.  Be- 
sides being  mountainous,  the  ground  was  rugged  and  boggy ;  the  forests 
were  thick  and  tangled;  and  prostrate  trees,  of  large  dimensions,  piled 
and  interlaced  together,  barricaded  our  track.  Leading  our  horses,  we 
forced  our  way  along  by  winding  about  in  every  direction,  by  hewing 
or  removing  fallen  trunks,  and  by  making  the  animals,  according  to 
circumstances,  leap,  or  scramble,  or  crouch.  At  the  end  of  about  four 
hours  we  had  not  accomplished  more  than  two  miles. 

Emerging  from  this  labyrinth  on  a  clear  plain,  where  a  good  road 
lay  along  the  precipitous  banks  of  the  river,  of  about  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  in  height,  one  of  the  horses,  which  fortunately  had  neither 
rider  nor  pack,  missed  its  footing,  but  was  caught  by  the  trees  on  its 
way  Hown.  We  breakfasted  near  a  lofty  mountain,  which  was  to 
forui  our  afternoon's  work.  Its  base  was  washed  not  only  by  the 
Kootonais,  but  also  by  the  Columbia,  properly  so  called,  the  former 
sweeping  far  to  the  south,  and  the  latter  still  farther  to  the  north,  in 
order  to  unite  their  waters  a  little  above  Fort  Colvile.  After  marching 
about  an  hour  we  reached  the  nearer  side  of  the  mountain,  where,  in 
consequence  of  Peechee's  representations  as  to  the  impossibility  alike 
of  crossing  it  before  dark,  and  of  encamping  on  it  for  the  night,  we 
reluctantly  halted  at  the  early  houj;  of  five  o'clock.  Three  wearied  and 
disabled  horses  were  here  abandoned,  with  a  faint  hope  of  their  being 
subsequently  recovered,  if,  in  their  present  helpless  condition,  they 
could  only  protect  themselves  from  the  wolves. 

Soon  after  midnight  ♦he  people  began  to  search  for  the  horses,  some 
of  which  were  found  in  the  woods  at  a  distance  of  five  or  six  miles; 
and  the  mere  fact  that  the  animals  could  be  caught  at  all  amid  thick 
forests  in  the  dark,  spoke  volumes  for  the  patience  and  steadiness,  the 
carefulness  and  sagacity,  the  skill  and  tact  of  our  half-breed  attendants. 
Perhaps  all  the  grooms  in  an  English  county  could  not  have  done  that 
morning's  work.  After  all  the  delay,  we  were  still  able  to  start  by 
five. 

The  ascent  of  the  mountain  was  rugged  and  difficult.  Though  the 
forests  were  more  practicable  than  those  of  yesterday,  yet  our  track 
lay  generally  on  the  steep  and  stony  edge  of  a  glen,  down  which  gushed 
the  sources  of  the  Columbia.  At  one  very  remarkable  spot,  known  as 
the  Red  Rock,  our  path  climbed  the  dry  part  of  the  bed  of  a  boiling 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


81 


torrent,  while  the  narrow  ravine  was  literally  darkened  by  almost  per- 
pendicular walls  of  a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  feet  in  height;  and, 
to  render  the  chasm  still  more  gloomy,  the  opposite  crngs  threw  forward 
each  its  own  forest  of  sombre  pines  into  the  intervening  space.  The 
rays  of  the  sun  could  barely  find  their  way  to  the  depths  of  this  dreary 
vale  so  as  to  render  the  darkness  visible ;  and  the  hoarse  murmur  of 
the  angry  stream,  as  it  bounded  to  escape  from  the  dismal  jaws  of  its 
prison,  only  served  to  make  the  place  appear  more  lonely  and  deso- 
late. We  were  glad  to  emerge  from  this  horrid  gorge,  which  depressed 
our  spirits  even  more  than  it  overawed  our  feelings. 

Our  road  then  lay  over  some  high  hills  of  parciied  clay,  where  the 
reflection  of  the  heat  from  below  and  a  scorching  sun  above  almost 
roasted  us  alive;  every  shrub,, and  every  blade  of  grass,  was  brown 
and  sapless,  just  as  if  newly  swept  by  the  blast  of  a  sirocco.  During 
the  hottest  part  of  the  day,  our  thermometer  was  stowed  away  in  one 
of  our  packages;  but,  when  obtained  in  the  evening,  it  still  stood  at 
81°  in  the  shade. 

From  these  hills  an  abrupt  descent  brought  us  into  a  large  prairie, 
through  which  our  river  wound  a  serpentine  course  ;  and,  as  the  loaded 
horses  did  not  arrive  till  five  o'clock,  we  here  encamped  for  the  night, 
making  one  hearty  meal  for  the  day  after  a  fast  of  twenty-four  hours. 
Our  day's  work  of  twenty  miles  had  fatigued  us  all  to  excess,  for, 
by  reason  of  the  steepness  and  ruggedness  of  the  road,  we  had  been 
obliged  to  walk,  or  rather  to  climb  and  slide,  a  great  portion  of  the 
way.  On  one  of  the  trees,  however,  we  found  something  that  made 
us  forget  our  toils,  a  hieroglyphic  epistle,  sketched  thus  with  a  picv.  : 
of  burnt  wood : 

lU 


We  speedily  interpreted  this  welcome  letter  to  mean,  that  Edward 
Berland  was  waiting  us  with  a  band  of  twenty-seven  horses  at  the 
point  where  our  river  received  a  tributary  before  expanding  itself  into 
two  consecutive  lakes.  As  the  spot  in  question  was  supposed  to  be 
within  a  few  miles  of  us,  Peechee  was  dispatched  to  secure  our  phan- 
tom guide ;  and  two  men  were  also  sent  in  the  opposite  direction  to 
bring  up  a  missing  pack-horse. 

This  prairie  had  perhaps  been  selected  by  our  correspondent  as  his 
pest-office,  from  its  being  the  place,  at  which  the  only  two  routes,  by 
whloh  we  could  have  crossed  the  height  of  land  in  this  part  of  the 
country,  happened  to  converge.  The/emigrants,  having  been  treache- 
rously deserted,  at  Bow  River,  by  their  guide,  a  half-breed  of  some 

PART   I. 6 


■^'"m 


82 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


M; 


Af 


mi 


education,  providentially  met  an  Indian  of  the  name  of  Bras  Crochc, 
who,  being  better  acquainted  with  the  mountains  than  Peechee,  carried 
them  througli  a  little  to  the  southward  by  a  pass  infinitely  superior  to 
ours;  and  they  fell  upon  our  track  again  near  our  present  encampment. 

The  valley,  for  the  prairie  was  surrounded  by  mountains,  swarmed 
with  mosquitoes  to  a  greater  degree  than  any  place  that  we  had  hitherto 
seen.  These  insects  were  as  formidable  as  they  were  numerous,  for 
they  found  our  horses  and  ourselves  such  a  treat  in  this  their  lonely 
haunt,  that  they  kept  coolly  and  steadily  sucking  our  blood,  after  the 
whole  of  us,  both  men  and  beasts,  were  nearly  suflbcated  by  the  smoke 
that  had  been  raised  in  order  to  drive  them  away.  We  could  neither 
eat,  nor  write,  nor  read,  our  hands  being  constantly  employed  in  repell- 
ing or  slaughtering  our  small  but  powerful  enemies.  The  Canadians 
vented  their  curses  on  the  old  maid,  who  had  the  credit  of  having 
brought  this  scounge  upon  earth  by  praying'  for  sompthing  to  fill  up  the 
hopeless  leisure  of  her  single-blessedness;  and,  if  the  tiny  tormentors 
would  but  confine  themselves  to  nunneries  and  monasteries,  the  world 
might  see  something  more  like  the  fitness  of  things  in  the  matter. 

Wherever  the  soil  was  composed  of  clay,  we  had  noticed  large  holes 
at  the  roots  of  trees,  which  had  literally  been  eaten  out  by  the  wild 
.•<heep.  These  animals  use  argillaceous  earth  as  a  medicine,  just  as  the 
dog  nibbles  grass  and  the  fowl  swallows  gravel ;  and  probably  their 
instinct  teaches  them,  that,  in  the  situations  in  question,  the  vegetable 
libres,  something  in  the  nature  of  yeast,  render  the  stuff  both  softer  and 
lighter. 

About  nine  in  the  morning  Peechee  brought  Berland  to  us,  who  had 
been  prevented,  as  he  said,  by  illness,  but,  as  we  suspected,  by  laziness, 
from  going  forward  to  the  Bow  River.  Of  our  new  guide's  horses, 
many,  having  never  carried  either  rider  or  pack,  were  comparatively 
useless ;  and  we  were,  therefore,  obliged  to  complete  our  muster  with 
a  few  of  the  best  and  hardiest  of  our  old  band.  We  left  three  men  to 
take  back  the  remainder  to  Edmonton;  and  by  them  we  forwarded 
letters  to  the  east  side  of  the  mourftains. 

It  was  eleven  o'clock  before  we  evacuated  this  fearful  nest  of  mos- 
quitoes. As  we  advanced,  the  mountains  gradually  became  softer, 
while  their  summits  were  no  longer  clad  with  snow.  The  scenery, 
from  having  been  sublime,  was  now  merely  picturesque.  Our  path 
lay  along  a  prairie  of  about  tv  o  miles  in  width,  skirted  on  the  right  by 
sloping  hills,  and  on  the  left  .y  the  mountains,  presenting  at  their  bases 
an  apparently  artificial  arrangomen'  of  terraces  and  shrubberies.  In 
consequence  of  the  recent  droughts,  every  horse  raised  such  a  cloud  of 
dust  as  almost  to  conceal  itself  froni  view ;  and  as,  through  the  same 
cau:e,  the  country  was  on  fire,  the  atmosphere  was  filled  with  smokr 
so  as  to  give  the  sun  the  same  appearance  of  a  red  wafer,  which  he  so 
olten  assumes  in  the  murky  skies  of  London. 

In  the  atlernoon  we  saw  a  lodge  of  Flat-bow  Indians,  our  first  natives 
on  the  west  side  of  the  continent.  Compared  with  the  Crees,  their 
skins  were  darker,  their  features  less  pleasing,  and  their  figures  less 
erect.     The  head  of  the  house  wore  a  robe  thrown  over  his  shoulders; 


1 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


83 


ilie  mother  sported  a  chemise  of  leather,  rather  short  and  dirty ;  the 
younger  children  had  no  other  dress  than  what  nature  had  given  them; 
and  two  grown  lads,  whose  bodies  were  wrapped  with  shreds  and 
patches,  had  decoraiod  themselves  with  caps  of  green  baize  and  plumes 
of  leathers.  We  encamped  at  the  commencement  of  the  second  Koo- 
tonais  Lake,  obtaining  for  supper  a  few  small  trout  of  excellent  ilavor, 
absurdly  enough  called  by  the  Canadians  poisson  con/uf. 

About  six  in  the  morning  the  two  men  returned  with  ilie  missing 
pack-horse.  Near  our  encampment  we  observed  that  the  stones  in  the 
bed  of  a  little  stream  were  covered  with  a  yellow  crust.  Before  start- 
ing for  the  day,  IJerland  conducted  us  to  three  hot  springs,  about  three 
miles  distant,  wiiich  doubtless  caused  the  phenomenon  in  (juestion. 
The  water  tasted  slightly  of  alum,  and  appeared  to  contain  a  little 
magnesia ;  and,  though  we  had  neglected  to  take  our  thermometer 
with  us,  yet,  on  returning  to  the  camp,  we  estimate^  the  three  tem- 
peratures respectively  at  about  ninety,  a  hundred,  and  a  hundred  and 
twenty  degrees.  Two  winters  back,  Berland,  while  suffering  from  a 
severe  illness,  made  a  bathing  place  of  these  springs ;  and  he  either 
actually  was,  or  believed  that  he  was,  benefited  by  them. 

Our  route  lay  at  first  along  the  face  of  a  steep  hill,  which  rose 
abruptly  from  the  shores  of  the  lake  ;  and  the  footing  was  so  bad,  that 
two  of  the  wild  horses,  which  had  been  loaded  with  packs  by  way  of 
experiment,  slid  or  rolled  down  the  rugged  surface,  therel)y  lacerating 
themselves  dreadfully.  After  getting  beyond  the  end  of  the  lake,  we 
crossed  over  a  lofty  mountain  to  the  well  wooded  banks  of  the  river. 
The  forest,  which  was  still  burning,  had  been  on  fire  for  some  w oeks ; 
and  many  a  magnificent  tree  lay  smouldering  in  our  path.  We 
encamped  in  a  thick  and  gloomy  wood  on  an  uncomfortable  bottom  of 
decaying  vegetables  and  rank  weeds.  To-day  we  had  left  an  Indian 
with  horses,  provisions,  &c.,  for  the  use  of  enr  two  men,  who  had  gone 
back  a  second  time  to  Bow  River;  anu,  i>  i  the  occasion  oi'  s^juding 
our  tired  cattle  to  Edmonton,  we  had  provid*  d  ii  he  suiie  way  for  the 
safety  and  comfort  of  our  courageou?  eiiiii'inrips. 

On  decamping,  we  marched  three  hours  i.iraiigl  '>  .rning  forests,  in 
which  our  track  was  blocked  up  by  ill'  ii  riles  of  uU  smoking  timber. 
After  crossing  a  small  river,  we  t.itpred  a  prait.c-  lying  along  the 
Kootonais,  which  bore  a  considerable  le^t'Tibla-ice  to  »  fine  park. 
Here  arid  there  were  thick  clumps,  w';  '.•  yielded  an  inviihig  shade  ; 
in  other  places  the  trees,  standing  apart  formed  themselves  into  grand 
avenues  ;  and  the  open  sward  was  vr.iied  with  gentle  slopes  and 
mounds.  We  here  encamped  for  break  last,  a  temperature  of  85°  in 
the  shade  imparting  an  exquisite  zest  to  the  cold  and  clear  water  of  the 
Kootonais;  and  the  stream  afforded  us  a  highly  rgv  ;eable  addition  to 
our  meal,  in  the  shape  of  some  fine  trout. 

However  dexterous  our  people  were  in  collecting  onr  horses  from 
the  pasture  for  each  of  our  two  daily  starts,  Uiey  wev^  rither  reckless 
and  cruel  in  their  treatment  of  the  poor  animals.  We  had  an  example 
of  this  to-day,  when  one  of  our  best  horses  had  its  skull  wantonly 
fractured  by  a  blow.     Continuing  our  march   along  the  prairie,  we 


1 1  ajg.  -'•  I 


7it 


i.  4 


!'!  :■! 


lit 


84 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


reached,  towards  sunset,  a  camp  of  six  or  eight  lodges  of  Kootonais 
Indians.  The  whole  premises  appeared  to  be  in  a  state  of  great  con- 
sternation, till  we  were  ascertained  to  be  only  whites  ;  and  then  all 
the  inhabitants,  men,  women  and  children,  rushed  forth,  to  the  num- 
ber of  sixty  or  seventy,  to  shake  hands  with  us.  They  were  a  misera- 
ble set  of  beings,  small,  decrepit  and  dirty.  Though  of  the  men  there 
were  two  that  might  be  called  handsome,  yet  of  the  women  there  were 
none ;  and,  in  fact,  tlic  more  venerable  members  of  the  fair  sex,  more 
particularly,  when  they  shut  their  eyes  and  scratched  their  heads, 
liardly  bore  the  semblance  of  human  beings.  The  camp  was  under 
the  command  of  an  old  chief,  who,  in  virtue  of  a  long  pigtail,  had  for- 
merly got  the  name  of  Grande  Queue.  Many  years  ago,  when  select- 
ing some  boys  to  be  sent  from  the  Columbia  to  Red  River  for  their 
education,  I  had  taken  a  son  of  this  chief  as  one  of  them,  naming  him 
Kootonais  Pelly,  after  his  own  tribe,  and  the  Governor  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company.  The  youngster,  a  fine,  clever,  docile  lad,  died, — a 
blow  from  which  tlie  father  never  recovered;  and  though  the  mention 
of  the  deceased  would  have  been  utterly  repugnant  to  savage  etiquette, 
yet  I  was  pretty  sure  that  the  Grande  Queue,  as  well  as  myself,  was 
thinking  rather  of  the  poor  boy  than  of  anything  else. 

Being  in  great  want  of  provisions,  we  ofiered  a  liberal  reward  to 
sucli  as  would  follow  us  to  our  next  encampment  with  either  meat  or 
fish  ;  and,  though  we  traveled  ten  or  twelve  miles  farther,  till  we 
reached  McDonald's  River  near  its  confluence  with  the  Kootonais,  yet 
almost  all  our  friends,  young  and  old,  male  and  female,  were  there  as 
soon  as  ourselves,  bringing  with  them  some  raspberries  and  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  dried  moose.  Hungry  as  we  were,  this  meat 
was  CO  dry  and  tough  as  to  be  scarcely  eataole.  These  people  remained 
with  us  the  whole  night,  squatting  tiiemselves  in  a  double  ring,  the  men 
in  the  inner  circle  and  the  women  and  children  in  the  outer  one ;  and 
in  this  position  they  did  both  their  smoking  and  sleeping.  While  we 
were  drinking  our  wine,  they  looked  very  wistfully  at  the  flagon  ;  and, 
to  humor  their  silent  solicitations'  we  gave  a  glass  to  two  or  three  of 
the  leaders,  who  diank  it,  with  all  becoming  gravity,  as  "Great  Chiefs 
Rum,"  though  they  were  evidently  disappointed  by  the  v/ant  of  pun- 
gency in  the  draught.  They  were  all  very  dirty,  dressed  in  skins  ; 
but,  squalid  and  poor  as  they  were,  they  possessed  a  band  of  about  two 
hundred  fine  horses.  The  hair  of  the  oldest  among  them  was  as  long, 
and  dark,  and  luxuriant  as  that  of  the  young  people, — a  peculiarity 
observable  among  Indians  in  general,  arising  probably  from  their 
knowing  neither  care  nor  thoug'  t,  or  perhaps  from  their  always  going 
bareheaded. 

After  passing  slowly  through  some  woods  in  the  morning,  we 
crossed  a  hill  of  considerable  height ;  and,  on  reaching  the  valley  be- 
low, where  we  intended  to  breakfast,  we  were  surprised  to  find  it  pre- 
occupied by  a  party  of  whites  and  their  horses.  Our  new  friends 
proved  to  be  a  guide  and  two  men,  Avhom  Mr.  McDonald,  of  Fort  Col- 
vile,  immediately  on  hearing  of  Berlaid's  illness,  had  sent  to  take  his 
place.     They,  of  course,  brought  no  horses,  expecting  to  have  to  take 


^ 


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FROM  P:DM0NT0N  house  to  fort  VANCOUVER. 


85 


charge  of  the  sick  man's  band.  This  was  unfortunate,  for,  at  tliis  par- 
ticuhir  time,  we  had  far  greatiT  need  of  cattle  than  of  guides.  The  tiiree 
men,  however,  did  bring  us  letters  from  the  Columbia,  which  gave  sat- 
isfactory intelligence  of  both  friends  and  business  in  that  quarter. 

In  the  afternoon  we  skirted  along  the  shore  of  the  Grand  Quetc 
Lake,  of  abotit  twenty  miles  in  length  and  four  in  width.  From  the 
bonlers  of  this  sheet  of  water  there  rose  abruptly,  on  all  sides,  lofty 
mountains  of  black  rock,  covered  from  base  to  summit  with  cheerless 
forests  of  pine,  while  tlie  fathomless  depths  of  the  mirror  that  reflected 
them,  might  have  been  taken  for  a  lake  of  ink,  in  which  the  very  fishes 
might  have  been  expected  to  perish.  Through  the  woods  on  the  east- 
ern side  lay  our  path,  if  path  it  could  be  called  where  fragments  of 
ironstone,  with  edges  like  scythes,  were  cutting  the  feet  of  our  poor 
horses  at  every  step. 

On  encamping  for  the  night  at  the  southern  end  of  the  lake,  one  of 
the  party  was  found  to  be  missing, — a  circumstance  which,  considering 
the  perils  that  we  had  encountered  even  with  the  help  of  daylight, — 
excited  a  good  deal  of  alarm.  Signals  were  fired  ;  and  people  were 
sent  to  scout  for  him.  At  length  about  eleven  o'clock,  the  night  being 
as  dark  as  pitch,  we  were  planning  a  closer  and  more  extensive  explo- 
ration of  the  scene  of  our  afternoon's  march,  when,  to  our  infinite  relief, 
our  missing  companion  was  brought  to  the  camp  safe  and  sound.  Having 
lingered  behind  the  party,  he  had  lost  his  way,  which  he  succeeded  in 
finding  again  onljTby  the  last  glimmer  of  the  twilight,  and  had  not  his 
good  fortune  thus  come  to  his  aid,  his  night's  lodging  would  have  been 
on  the  cold  ground  with  no  other  covering  than  what  he  had  been  wear- 
ing during  the  heat  of  the  day.  This  little  event  reminded  us  more  forci- 
bly than  ever  of  the  long  absence  of  our  two  men  v/ho  had  gone  back  to 
Bow  River;  and  we  could  only  hope  ;md  truct  for  the  best.  Nor  was  this 
adventure  the  only  misfortune  of  the  day,  for  one  of  our  horses  had 
strayed  with  a  box  of  valuable  p  ipers,  and  had  been  again  caught  after 
an  anxious  hunt  of  several  hours. 

Mext  morning  our  new  guide,  a  half-breed  of  the  name  of  Pion.  was 
installed  in  office,  while  Berland  wns  sent  ahead  as  far  as  the  Koote- 
nai? r'iver  Traverse  with  a  leiJer,  which  he  was  thence  to  dispatch  to 
Fori  Colvile  by  some  of  the  neighboring  Indians.  Our  path  led  us 
along  the  Grand  Quete  River,  a  stream  which,  in  depth  and  blackness, 
appeared  to  retain  the  characteristics  of  its  reservoir.  The  trees  and 
underwood,  however,  befet  us  so  closely,  that  we  could  catch  only 
occasional  glimpses  of  anything  beyond»them.  We  were  now  getting 
down  into  a  region  of  varied  vegeta*H)n.  In  addition  to  the  pine,  of 
which  one  of  our  party  counted  no  fewer  than  sixteen  sorts,  there 
were  the  poplar,  the  birch,  the  cedar,  &c.,  and  the  underwood,  which 
gave  us  a  vast  deal  of  trouble,  consisted  of  willow,  alder,  thorn,  rose, 
and  poire.  Of  wild  fruits  we  found  a  large  choice,  raspberry,  service- 
berrv',  gooseberry,  currant,  bearplantberry,  grain  de  chapeaux,  grain 
d'orignal,  atehakapescquas,  hips  and  haws,  &(f.,  with  two  almost  un- 
known berries,  a  red  one,  that  was  deemed  poisonous,  and  a  white 


■m 

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I 


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86 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


one,  that  was  said  to  be  eaten  by  the  natives.  The  bUiebcrry,  usually 
growing  here  in  great  abundance,  had  this  season  entirely  failed. 

The  banks  of  the  river  showed  good  signs  of  beaver,  that  animal 
having  been  carefully  protected  against  desiructive  waste  by  the  com- 
paratively thrifty  and  provident  Kootonais ;  and  there  were  also  many 
fresh  tracks  of  deer  and  big  horn,  which,  as  they  crossed  our  line  of 
march  in  every  direction,  and  at  every  angle,  were  sometimes  apt  to  be 
confounded  with  our  own  road, — our  nags,  in  such  cases,  being  gene- 
rally better  pilots  than  ourselves.  Some  of  our  party,  having  got 
bewildered  to-day  among  the  numerous  paths,  determined  to  follow  a 
couple  of  pack-horses,  that  were  trotting  along  before  them,  when  both 
the  animals,  probably  thinking  rather  of  allaying  their  thirst  than  of 
prosecuting  their  journey,  suddenly  dropped  into  the  current  through 
its  scirecn  of  brushwood.  The  foremost  of  those,  who  were  following 
these  faithless  guides,  had  barely  time  to  rein  up  his  steed  within  a  sin- 
gle step  of  the  shelving  bank,  while  the  apparendy  lost  horses  were 
seen  swimming  away  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  With  considerable 
difficulty  the  animals  were  extricated  from  the  deep  water,  though,  as 
ill-luck  would  have  it,  one  of  them  had  soaked  part  of  our  clothing, 
and  the  other  our  lighter  provisions,  snch  as  biscuit,  tea,  sugar,  salt  and 
the  like.  The  accident  might  have  been  more  serious,  for,  if  the  two 
nags  had  not  been  followed  in  their  aberrations,  they  would  have  made 
a  total  loss  of  it. 

Next  morning  we  met  a  few  miserable  Kootonais  with  some  horses, 
which  they  appeared  to  t.irn  to  profiUible  account.  Each  of  the  ani- 
mals might  well  be  styled  a  family  liorse,  being  led  by  the  father  and 
loaded  with  the  mother  and  younger  children  along  witii  pots,  kettles, 
mats,  &c.  &c.  On  asking  one  of  them,  who  was  more  destitute  than 
the  rest,  how  he  came  to  be  so  wretchedly  poor,  we  were  told  by  him 
with  a  boastfulness  of  tone  and  manner,  that  he  had  lost  his  all  by  gam- 
bling, the  grand  amusement  of  Indians  in  general,  but  more  particularly 
of  those  on  the  west  side  of  the  mountains.  Where  we  halted  for 
breakfast,  we  were  gradually  joined  by  thirty  or  forty  more  of  these 
miserable  savages,  all  wending  their  way  after  their  friends  to  the  lake. 
These  unfortunate  creatures  were  very  grateful  for  some  victuals  and 
a  little  tobacco,  which  we  bestowed  on  them  out  of  our  own  rather  mea- 
ger stores.  They  declared  that  they  were  starving,  while,  even  if  their 
'  Migues  had  been  silent,  their  haggard  faces  and  emaciated  bodies  would 
have  told  the  same  melancholy  tale. 

Before  leavirs;  thes-^  Indians  we  had  a  specimen  of  their  ingenuity  at 
a  bargain.  Fiou,  a  lemale  chief  we  had  bought  a  line  mare,  with  her 
colt  of  two  years  of  age,  givhsg  in  exchange  one  of  our  own  horses, 
a  blanket,  twealy  rounds  of  ammunition,  and  a  fathom  of  tobacco. 
AVhen  we  were  all  ready,  however,  for  starling  on  our  afternoon'? 
march,  the  lady,  who  had  doubtless  come  to  the  conclusion  that  she 
had  sold  her  favorite  too  cheap,  tried  to  jockey  us  into  paying  for 
the  foal  which  the  mflre  was  to  produce  next  spring.  This  demand, 
though  most  seriously  meant,  we  treated  as  an  excellent  jest,  settiuir 


'K-\ 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSK  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


87 


setting 


out  lorthwith  in  order  to  avoid  any  further  extension  of  so  fertile  a 
principle  of  extortion. 

In  the  afternoon,  while  traversinjj  some  thick  forests,  we  met  :th'"ut 
fifty  o-  sixty  more  of  the  same  tribe,  all  starving  like  those  th  i? 
gone  ijefore  them,  whilst  the  red  paint,  with  which  their  faces  were 
smeared,  did  not  at  all  tend  to  improve  their  appearance.  With  hut 
two  or  three  exceptions,  the  women  were  diminntive  in  size,  and  ab- 
solutely uf^ly.  One  female,  who  was  tolerably  comely,  was  riding  a 
M  beautiful  liorse,  cross-legged,  of  course,  with  a  pet  dog  in  her  arms ; 
and  when  we  shook  hands  with  herself,  we  drew  forth  her  blandest 
smiles,  by  patting  lier  little  favorite  also. 

After  several  hours  of  execrable  traveling,  we  obtained,  from  the 
top  of  a  high  hill,  a  very  extraordinary  view.  At  our  feet  lay  a  valley 
of  about  thirty  miles  in  length  and  six  in  width,  bounded  on  the  western 
side  by  lofty  mountains,  and  on  the  eastern  by  a  lower  range  of  the 
same  kind,  while  the  verdant  bottom,  unbroken  by  a  single  mound  or 
hillock,  was  threaded  by  a  meandering  stream,  and  studded  on  either 
side  with  lakes,  diminishing  in  the  distance  to  mere  specks  or  stars. 
As  a  recent  fire  had  cleared  tlie  eminence  on  which  we  stood,  except- 
ing that,  towards  the  fort,  the  more  abundant  moisture  had  preserved  a 
rich  belt  of  timber  from  the  flames,  there  was  not  a  single  tree  or  shrul) 
to  obstruct  our  jjrospect.  To  heighten  the  interest  of  the  scene,  the 
sun's  rays  jjikied  one  part  of  the  valley,  while  the  rain  was  falling  in 
another;  and  as  the  clouds  flitted  athwart  the  sky,  the  rajjid  succession 
of  li<rht  and  shade  gave  an  endless  variety  to  the  landscape.  IJefore 
halting  for  the  night,  we  passed  through  ground  where  the  lire  was  still 
raging  iu  the  woods;  and  many  a  noble  tree  lay  prostrate,  while  other 
blackened  trunks  were  ready  to  fall  under  the  first  gale  that  might  visit 
them. 

Rain  alone  was  wanting  to  complete  the  misery  of  forcing  our  way 
through  Miick  forests  and  prickly  underwood,  over  almost  impassable 
tracks;  and  a  heavy  storm,  during  the  night,  supplied  this  deficiency; 
lor,  in  our  morning's  march,  every  twig  and  every  leaf  gave  forth  its 
little  shower  on  the  slightest  touch.  About  noon  we  readied  the  Koo- 
tonais  River  Traverse,  whence  Berland  had  dispatched  my  letter  to 
Fort  (!olvile  by  two  of  the  natives  the  night  before.  AVe  crossed  the 
stream,  which  was  here  very  deep  and  wide,  m  canoes  of  a  peculiar 
construction.  'J'hey  are  ni.ule  of  a  slight  framework,  covered  with 
sheets,  and  sometimes  even  with  a  single  sheet,  of  the  bark  of  the  pine, 
the  bottom  being  l)roader  and  longer  than  the  lop.  Thev  will  carry  two 
or  three  people,  being  both  steered  and  propelled  by  one  man  in  the 
stern,  who,  with  a  single  paddle,  gives  a  stroke  first  on  one  side  and 
then  on  the  other.  'IMiese  lifle  vessels,  however,  are  so  crank,  that 
the  least  movement  will  upset  them;  and,  while  crossing  the  river,  we 
were  afraid  to  budge  an  inch,  lest  we  should  have  cafisyzed  our  frail 
bark. 

In  tiie  immediate  neighborhood  was  a  standing  camp  of  the  Koo- 
tonais,  beautifully  situated  within  a  furlong  of  the  river.  An  amphi- 
theatre of  mountains,  with  a  small  lake  in  the  centre,  was  skirted  bv 


^?^, 


^ 


•^^  th 


iii 


m 


88 


FROM  EDMONTON  IIOUSK  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


a  rich  sward  of  about  half  a  mile  in  depth,  on  whicli  were  cliimpa  of 
as  n()l)le  elms  as  any  part  of  tlie  world  could  produce.  Beneath  the 
sluule  of  these  magnilicent  trees  the  white  tents  were  pitched,  while 
large  bands  of  horses  were  quietly  grazing;  on  the  open  glades.  The 
spot  was  so  soft  and  lovely,  that  a  traveler,  fresh  from  the  rugged 
sublimities  of  the  mountains,  might  almost  be  tempted  here  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  his  days  amid  the  surrounding  beauties  of  nature.  We 
had  the  good  fortune,  however,  to  sec  this  little  paradise  in  its  best 
state,  for  the  lake  was  said  to  rise  in  the  sj)ring,  to  the  height  of 
twenty  feet,  to  form,  in  fact,  one  sheet  of  water  out  of  all  the  lower 
grounds. 

The  lake  in  question  was  the  rendezvous  where  Bcrland,  on  behalf 
of  the  company,  used  to  collect  the  hunts  of  the  Kootonais;  and,  as 
he  was  now  daily  expecting  his  goods,  we  left  him  here  to  commence 
his  trading.  The  people  of  this  neighborhood  were  superior  in  ap- 
pearance to  such  of  their  tribe  as  we  had  hitherto  met,  while  they  were 
extremely  ready  to  assist  us  in  carrying  our  baggage  and  catching  our 
cattle,  &c.  They  numbered  about  a  hundred  and  iifty  souls  in  all, 
possessing,  notwithstanding  their  apparent  poverty,  upwards  of  five 
hundred  line  horses,  besides  a  large  stud  concealed  in  the  mountains 
from  the  inroads  of  the  Blackfeet;  and  these  marauders,  when  they 
openly  show  themselves,  are  generally  beaten  oil'  by  the  Kootonais, 
who,  when  they  must  iight,  are  bold  and  unyielding. 

After  exchanging  three  of  our  horses,  we  resumed  our  journey;  and, 
having  passed  the  lake,  we  ascended  a  very  steep  mountain,  near  the 
top  of  which  we  met  a  Kootonais  on  his  way  to  the  camp,  with  die 
meat  of  an  antelope,  which  he  had  killed.  He  proved  to  be  one  of 
three  whom  Berland,  immediately  on  arriving  among  them  with  my 
letter,  had  dispatched  to  procure  some  fresh  provisions  for  us.  Though 
the  supply  was  thus  destined  for  us,  yet  we  hesitated  about  depriving 
tile  poor  man  of  an  article  which  he  most  probably  required  for  him- 
self; and,  when  we  asked  him  how  much  he  could  spare,  his  only 
answer  was  to  repeat  several  times,  "My  children  are  starving, but  take 
as  much  as  you  please."  We  paid  the  man  liberally  for  one  half  of 
his  booty,  leaving  the  other  half  to  his  family;  and,  as  a  proof  of  the 
scarcity  of  game  at  this  season,  the  two  other  hunters  either  failed,  or 
pretended  to  have  failed,  to  obtain  anything.  This  venison  was  a 
seasonable  relief,  for,  during  several  days  we  had  been  reduced  to  a 
skinny  description  of  dried  meat,  which  was  little  better  than  parch- 
ment. 

Along  our  route,  and  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  native  camps,  we 
found  many  large  trees  cut  down,  which,  from  their  enormous  size,  must 
have  cost  great  labor,  and  as  they  had  not  obstructed  the  track,  we  were 
very  much  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  expenditure  of  so  much  tod.  We 
at"terwards  learned,  however,  from  tiie  Indians,  that  their  objeot  was  to 
collect  from  the  branches  a  moss  having  the  appearance  of  horse  hair, 
which  they  used  as  food.  By  being  boiled  tor  three  days  and  nights, 
this  moss  is  reduced  to  a  white  and  tasteless  pulp,  and  in  this  state  it 
is  eaten  with  the  kammas,  a  root  souiewhat  resembling  an  onion.     To 


^.. 


X 


1 


X 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


89 


hair, 
ni<£]Us, 
state  it 
To 


those  unsavory  viands  arc  occasionally  addcMJ,  insipid  or  rather  naiisp- 
(Mis  cakes  of  hips  and  haws.  Such  was  the  principal,  if  not  the  only 
food  of  these  Inilians  at  the  present  time. 

Just  as  we  wen;  ready  to  start  in  the  inorninir,  T-a  (Jraisse  and  Jose 
'I'vantas,  made  their  appearance  to  our  irreat  satisfaction,  havinir  l)een 
absent  from  us  no  less  than  ten  days,  in  tli«'  second  fruitless  search  for 
Borland.  So  far  from  suirerinir,  as  we  dreaded  on  their  hehalf  from 
lunifrer,  thev  had  never  missed  a  simple  meal,  havin<r  killed  partridires, 
porcupines,  a  red  deer,  <Sic.,  and  havin;^  moreover  stumhled  on  Peechee's 
family,  who  out  of  their  own  al)undant  stock,  supplied  them  with  pro- 
visions. 

We  had  not  proceeded  far  on  our  morninij's  march,  when  we  met 
a  man  of  the  nanre  of  Charlo,  conveying;  from  Fort  (yolvile,  the  /joods 
that  BcrlaiuJ-Avas  expcctin<^  at  the  grand  camp  of  the  Kootonais,  in 
company  with  Madame  Charlo  and  a  child.  The  lady,  a  smart,  buxom 
woman  of  the  Pend'  d'Oreillc  tribe,  sat  eross-lejji^ed  on  a  line  horse, 
while  the  youngster,  about  four  years  old,  was  tied  in  his  saddle  on  a 
steed  of  liis  own,  manai^ing  his  reins  and  whip  in  jrallant  style.  Charlo 
had  with  him  a  j)ag  of  biscuit  and  another  of  flour  for  o»ir  use,  aiul  he 
also  informed  u^that  he  had  loft  a  boat  at  the  Kullespelm  Lake  to  c:irry 
us  down  the  Pghd'  d'Oreille  river  to  a  place  where  we  should  find  a 
band  of  fresh  horses  waitinjr  us.  This  intelligence  was  highly  agreeable 
in  both  its  branches.  The  excliange  of  the  saddle  for  the  boat  would 
be  a  greai  relief  to  ourselves,  and  as  to  our  present  animals,  to  say 
notliing  of  mere  exhaustion,  their  backs  were  galled  and  their  legs 
were  lacerated. 

During  our  afternoon's  march,  one  of  the  loaded  horses  wls  o])served 
suddenly  to  disappear.  On  running  to  the  spot,  we  found  a  hole  of 
about  ten  feet  deep,  apparently  too  small  to  admit  the  body  of  a  horse, 
and  could  just  distinguish  the  poor  animal  lying  on  its  load  with  its  legs 
uppermost.  This  pitfall,  perhaps  the  bed  of  an  old  brook,  had  appar- 
ently been  concealed  from  view  by  the  spreading  roots  of  trees,  which 
had  gradually  got  covered  with  moss.  After  widening  the  mouth  of 
the  cavity,  and  cutting  the  straps  which  attached  the  load,  we  drew  the 
animal  out  of  the  pit  by  cords  tied  to  its  legs.  If  a  rider  had  occupied 
the  place  of  the  pack,  he  must  have  been  crushed  to  death  on  the  spot. 

About  six  in  the  evening  we  reached  the  Kullespelm  Lake,  a  beautiful 
sheet  of  water,  embosomed  in  mountains,  to  which  the  burning  woods, 
more  particularly  at  night,  gave  the  appearance  of  volcanoes.  Our 
boat  proved  to  be  a  ilat-bottomed  batteau,  capable  of  carrying  all  our 
baggage  and  ourselves,  with  a  crew  of  five  men.  The  rest  of  our 
party  went  forward  by  land  to  the  rendezvous,  where  we  were  to  meet 
our  fresh  horses. 

Starting  about  five  in  the  morning,  we  crossed  the  lake  in  two  hours, 
and,  thence  running  down  the  Pend'  d'Oreille  river,  we  reached  our 
rendezvous  about  eight  in  the  evening.  The  banks  were  well  covered 
with  excellent  timber,  while  behind  there  rose  on  either  side  a  line  of 
lofty  hills.  The  soil  appeared  to  be  rich ;  and  the  stream  was  deep 
and  navigable,  excepting  that,  at  one  cascade,  a  portage  was  necessary. 


m 


90 


FROM  K^MONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


i'llil' 


I  1;^ 


f*    r 


At  our  liiiiding  place  wo  found  an  cn('!unj)ni''P.t  of  two  or  three  huiiilred 
l*(!n(l'  d'On.'ilk's,  who  ^vcre  prejjarinj^  to  j.k»  to  hunt  the  Ijullalo.  We 
were  soon  visited  hy  ahout  a  dozen  chiefs,  who  remained  with  us  two 
or  three  liours.  'J'hey  were  handsome  in  their  a|)pe.i ranee,  and  more 
stately  in  their  manners  than  any  savajfes  that  we  had  yei  seen  on  this 
side  of  tiie  mountains,  and  their  graceful  bow,  as  tiiey  shook  hands,  wan 
rivaled  only  by  their  bland  smile.  In  fact,  tlieir  behavior  was  elegant 
and  refined.  Anionjfst  our  visitors  was  one  iinlividual,  who  had  been 
intrusted  with  Charlo's  horses,  and  he  promised  to  bring  them  to  us 
next  morning. 

Near  our  encampment  there  was  a  native  evmetery,  tlic  neat  litdc 
tombs  being  surrounded  by  pickets.  AVe  w(!re  surprised,  however,  to 
see  a  wooilen  cross  placed  at  the  head  of  each  grave,  the  result  of  a  re- 
cent visit  of  some  Catholic  priests;  but,  as  a  practical  ilUu<tration  of  the 
value  of  such  conversions,  we  found  on  a  neighboring  tree  a  number 
of  offerings  to  one  of  the  departed  spirits,  and  a  basket  of  provisions 
for  its  voyage  to  the  next  world.  If  the  Indians  had  any  ditinite  ide;i 
at  all  of  tlie  cross,  they  put  it  merely  on  the  same  footing  as  their  other 
medicines  or  charms. 

Next  day,  while  we  were  waiting  the  arrival  of  such  of  our  people 
as  were  coming  by  land  from  the  KuUespelm  Lake,  we  employed  our 
leisure  in  paying  a  visit  to  the  native  camp,  crossing,  for  this  purpose, 
a  small  stream  in  canoes  closely  resembling  those  that  we  had  seen  on 
the  Kootonais  river.  On  our  arrival,  all  the  inmates  of  about  twenty- 
five  lodges,  at  least  all  such  as  could  move,  rushed  to  shake  hands  with 
us.  The  tents  were  of  every  conceivable  shape,  some  oblong,  others 
round  and  so  on,  while  the  clumsy  framework  was  covered  with  mats, 
or  bark,  or  boughs,  or  skins,  or  anything  else  that  had  come  in  the  way. 
The  interior,  to  say  nothing  of  swarms  of  vermin,  contained  a  most  hete- 
rogeneous collection  of  mats,  guns,  skins,  pots,  pans,  baskets,  kammas, 
berries,  children,  dogs, ashes,  filth  and  rubbish,  and  round  the  sides  were 
arranged  the  beds  of  mats,  generally  raised  a  little  from  the  ground. 
Though  th(  men  were  doing  little  ot  nothing,  yet  the  women  were  all 
busily  employed  in  preparing  kammas  and  berries,  including  hips  and 
haws,  into  cakes  against  winter. 

The  kammas,  which  deserves  a  more  particular  description,  is  very 
like  the  onion,  excepting  that  it  has  little  or  no  taste.  It  grows  on 
swampy  ground;  and,  when  the  plant,  which  bears  a  blue  llower,  has 
produced  its  seed,  the  root  is  dug  up  by  the  women  by  means  of  a  stick 
about  two  feet  long  with  a  handle  across  the  head  of  it,  and  thrown  into 
baskets  slung  on  their  backs.  As  the  article  is  very  abundant,  each  of 
the  poor  creatures  generally  collects  about  a  peck  a  day.  When  taken 
home,  the  kammas  is  j)laced  over  a  gentle  fire  in  the  open  air,  ferment- 
ing, after  about  two  days  and  nights,  into  a  black  substance  which  has 
something  of  the  flavor  of  liquorice.  After  being  pounded  in  a  trough, 
this  stuff  is  formed  into  cakes,  which,  when  thoroughly  baked,  are 
stowed  away  in  baskets  for  the  winter.  After  all  this  preparation  the 
kammas  is  but  a  poor  and  nauseous  food.  These  people,  however,  were 
likely  soon  to  have  something  better  as  a  result  of  their  contact  with 


FROM  KDMONTON  HOUSK  TO  FORT  VANCOUVKU. 


91 


or  tliroo  liuiidred 
u!  Inillulo.  W«* 
ned  with  us  two 
ir.'mcc,  and  more 
yet  seen  on  this 
hook  handn,  wa.** 
vior  was  tdogant 
il,  who  had  been 
jiing  them  to  us 

y,  the  neat  litUe 
scd,  however,  to 
he  result  of  a  re- 
illustration  of  the 
u;  tree  a  number 
iet  of  provisions 
any  definite  idea 
ng  as  their  other 

:h  of  our  people 
ve  employed  our 
for  this  purpose, 
we  had  seen  on 
)f  about  twenty- 
'lako  hands  with 


cription,  is  very 
e.  It  grows  on 
jlue  ilower,  has 
means  of  a  stick 
and  thrown  into 
)undant,  each  of 
V.  When  taken 
len  air,  ferment- 
aiiee  which  has 
led  in  a  trough, 
rhly  baked,  are 
preparation  the 
,  however,  were 
sir  contact  with 


civilization.  In  one  of  their  lodges,  wc  were  surprised  to  find  several 
Itaskets  of  potatoes;  and,  in  answer  to  our  inquiries  on  the  suhjeet,  we 
were  shown  two  patches  ol' ground  where  they  had  l)e«'U  produced,  the 
seed  and  in>plem(.'nts  having  i)een  su|)plied  iVom  I'ort  Colvile. 

We  next  crossed  the  river  to  a  camp  of  about  the  same  size  on  the 
other  side,  where  the  men  were  lounging  and  the  women  laboring  pretty 
much  in  the  same  way  as  those  that  we  had  just  left.  In  one  tent  a 
sight  |)resenti(l  itself,  which  was  eipially  novcd  and  unnatural.  Sur- 
rounded by  a  crowd  of  spectators,  a  party  of  fellows  were  playing  at 
cards,  obtained  in  the  Snake  country  from  some  American  trappers; 
and  a  more  melancholy  exemplification  of  the  inlliUMice  of  civilization 
on  barbarism  could  hardly  be  imagined  than  the  apparently  scientilie 
eagerness  with  which  these  naked  and  hiiiijjry  savag(!s  thumlx'd  and 
Uirned  the  black  and  greasy  pasteboard,  'riiouj^di  the  men,  who  sold 
the  cards,  might  have  taught  the  use  of  them,  yet  I  could  not  help  trac- 
ing the  wretched  exhibition  to  a  more  remote  source — a  source  with 
whi(  h  I  was  myself,  in  some  me.isure,  (connected.  In  this  same  hell 
of  the  wilderness  I  found  Spokan  (Jirry,  one  of  the  lads  already  men- 
tioned as  having  been  sent  to  Hcd  cr  for  their  education;  and  there 
was  little  reason  to  doubt,  that,  .  iiis  superior  knowledge,  he  was 
ihe  master-spirit,  if  not  tlie  prime-mover  of  the  scene.  On  his  riJturn 
to  his  countrymen,  he  had,  for  a  time,  endeavored  to  teach  them  to  read 
and  write;  but  he  had  gradually  abandoned  the  attemj)t,  assigning  as 
liis  reason,  or  his  pretext,  that  the  others  "jawed  him  so  about  it." 
lie  forthwitli  relapsed  into  his  original  barbarism,  taking  to  himself  as 
many  wives  as  he  could  ijet;  and  then,  becoming  a  gambler,  he  lost 
both  all  that  he  had  of  his  own  and  all  that  he  could  beg  or  borrow 
from  others.  He  was  evidently  ashamed  of  his  proceedings,  for  he 
would  not  come  out  of  the  tent  to  shake  hands  even  with  an  old  friend. 

Some  of  the  Indians  were  almost  destitute  of  clothing;  some  had 
blankets,  and  others  had  shirts.  The  prevailing  dress,  however,  was 
the  native  costume,  which,  when  clean,  might  be  deemed  classical.  It 
consists  of  a  tunic  reaching  to  the  knees,  leggings  of  dressed  skin  and 
moccasons,  the  whole  being  fringed  and  garnished  according  to  the  taste 
or  means  of  the  wearer;  and  the  head-gear  is  nothing  more  than  the 
indigenous  crop  of  black  locks,  streaming  over  their  shoulders,  'i'he  ap- 
parel of  both  sexes  is  pretty  much  the  same,  excepting  that  the  tunics 
of  the  ladies  are  longer  and  gayer  than  those  of  the  gentlemen. 

Several  individuals  of  both  sexes  were  comely  enough,  and  in  par- 
ticular one  girl  of  fourteen  or  fifteen,  the  newly-married  wife  of  a  young 
chief,  might  have  passed  for  a  beauty  even  in  the  civilized  world.  On 
the  whole,  the  Pend'  d'Oreilles  possessed  more  regular  features  and  bet- 
ter figures  than  any  savages  that  we  had  hitherto  seen,  excepting  the 
tribes  of  the  plains.  But  how  they  had  become  so  superior  1  could  not 
imagine,  for  the  naked  urchins  of  both  sexes,  that  were  swarming  in 
the  camp  like  so  many  fleas,  afforded  very  little  promise  of  passable 
men  and  women,  tottering  as  they  were,  on  their  spindle-shanks,  under 
the  weight  of  enormous  heads  and  bellies. 

During  our  visit  the  Indians  showed  us  every  attention.     They  ex- 


o/'A'S*'. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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11.25 


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16 


Photographic 

Sdences 
Corporation 


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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  MS80 

(716)S72-4S03 


6^ 


92 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


If 


'  ■■  4  ?  t' 


eH 


plained  all  that  we  saw;  but,  as  our  knowledfrc  of  their  lanpuaiare  was 
limited  to  kammns  and  palac,  we  prolitcd  very  little  by  their  communi- 
cativeness. 'J'hinking  that  we  might  like  a  ride,  they  cautrht  horses  for 
us;  and,  at  tin;  same  time,  they  made  a  still  greater  sacrifice  in  ofl'ering 
us  a  share  of  their  scanty  stock  of  food.  Hut  the  most  agreeal)le  evi- 
dence of  their  politeness  was,  the  fact  that  many  of  them  washed  them- 
selves, but  more  especially  their  iiands,  before  they  came  to  salute  us. 
After  rewarding  them  for  their  civility,  with  presents  of  tobacco,  am- 
munition, provisions,  6n'.,  we  parted  with  mutual  expressions  of  friend- 
ship. 

The  Pend'  d'Oreilles  are  generally  called  the  Flat  Heads,  the  two 
clans,  in  fact,  being  united.  'I'hey  do  not  muster,  in  all,  more  than  a 
hundred  and  lifty  families.  Like  their  neighbors,  the  Kootonais,  they 
are  noted  for  the  iiravery  with  which  they  defend  themselves,  and  also 
for  their  attachment  to  the  whites.  Still  the  two  races  are  entirely  dis- 
tinct, their  languages  being  fundamentally  dillerent.  The  variety  of 
tongues  on  the  west  side  of  the  mountains  is  almost  infinite,  so  thai 
scarcely  any  two  tribes  understand  each  other  perfectly.  They  have 
all,  however,  the  common  character  of  being  very  guttural ;  and,  in  fact, 
the  sentences  often  appear  to  be  mere  jumbles  of  grunts  and  croaks, 
such  as  no  alphabet  could  express  in  writing. 

Early  in  the  afternoon  our  people  arrived  from  the  KuUespelm 
Lake,  bringing  us  such  a  report  of  the  roads  as  made  us  doubly  thank- 
ful for  the  accommodation  of  the  boat.  Leaving  our  old  band  of 
horses  under  the  charge  of  the  Indians,  wj  immediately  started  with 
thirty-two  fresh  steeds.  After  crossing  a  prairie  of  two  or  three  miles 
in  length,  we  spent  two  hours  in  ascending  a  steep  mountain,  from 
whose  summit  we  gained  an  extensive  view  of  ranges  of  rocky  hills: 
and,  while  the  shadows  of  evening  had  already  fallen  on  the  valley  at 
our  feet,  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun  were  still  tinging  the  highest  peaks 
with  a  golden  hue. 

We  encamped  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  with  wolfish  appetites,  for, 
though  we  had  had  a  good  deal  of  exercise  during  the  day,  yet  we  had 
eaten  nothing  since  seven  in  the  morning;  but  what  was  our  disappoint- 
ment to  find  that  six  horses, — one  of  them,  as  a  matter  of  course,  being 
the  commissariat's  steed, — were  missing.  Having  exhausted  our 
patience,  we  went  suppcrless  to  bed  about  midnight;  but  hardly  had 
we  turned  in,  when  a  distant  shout  made  ns  turn  out  again  in  better 
spirits.  The  horses  quickly  arrived;  and,  before  an  hour  had  elapsed, 
we  had  dispatched  a  very  tolerable  allowance  of  venison  and  buftalo 
tongues. 

This  had  been  a  very  hot  day,  the  thermometer  standing  at  85°  in 
the  shade.  The  nights,  however,  were  chilly,  while  iv  exposed  situa- 
tions there  was  even  a  little  frost.  The  power  of  the  sun  was  very 
strikingly  evinced  by  the  gradual  rise  of  the  temperature  during  this 
forenoon.  At  eight  the  mercury  was  still  down  at  45°  ;  by  ten  it  had 
mounted  to  67° ;  and  in  two  hours  more  it  stood,  as  already  mentioned, 
at  18°  higher.     In  consequence  of  these  rapid  changes,  we  felt  the 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


93 


■ffc 


hetii  so  much  moro   oppressive,  that  mo  were  obliged  to  throw  off 
nearly  all  our  clothing. 

Next  morning,  as  Fort  Colvilo  was  only  fifty  miles  distant  from 
our  encampment,  we  resolved,  in  reliance  on  fresh  horses  :ind  tolerable 
roads,  to  wind  np  with  a  gallop.  We  accordingly  raced  along,  raising 
from  the  parciied  j)rairie  such  a  cloud  of  dust  as  concealed  everything 
from  our  view.  In  about  five  hours  we  reached  a  small  stream,  on  the 
banks  of  which  four  or  five  hundred  of  the  company's  horses  were 
grazinff.  Not  to  lose  so  fine  an  opportunity  of  changing  our  sweating 
steeds,  we  allowed  our  cavalcade  to  ])rocee(l,  while  each  of  us  caught 
the  animal  that  pleased  him  best;  and  then,  dashing  off  at  full  speed, 
we  quickly  overtook  our  party  at  a  distance  of  six  miles.  lieing 
again  united,  we  here  halted  for  breakfast.  Meanwhile  Mr.  McDonald, 
who  had  received  my  letter  at  Fort  Col  vile  on  the  preceding  evening, 
had  met  our  people,  before  we  came  up  with  them,  but,  by  mistaking 
the  road,  had  missed  us.  Sending  a  messenger  after  him,  we  had  him 
with  us  in  half  an  hour,  and  along  with  him  such  materials  for  a  feast 
as  we  had  not  seen  since  leaving  Red  River.  Just  fancy,  at  the  base 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  a  roasted  turkey,  a  sucking  pig,  new  bread, 
fresh  butter,  eggs,  ale,  &c.;  and  then  contrast  all  these  dainties  with 
short  allowance  of  pemmican  and  water.  No  wonder  that  some  of 
our  party  ate  more  tlian  what  was  good  for  them. 

While  breakfast  was  preparing,  we  went,  according  to  our  custom, 
to  bathe;  but,  after  our  hard  and  dusty  ride,  we  were  so  much  more 
impatient  than  usual,  that  Mr.  Rowand,  after  plashing  about  for  some 
time  and  descanting  on  the  pleasures  of  swimming,  struck  against  his 
watch.  Handing  ashore  the  luckless  chronometer,  he  cast  off  his 
inexpressibles  on  the  bank  ;  but,  as  misfortunes  never  come  alone,  he 
tbund,  on  attempting  to  dress,  that  the  soaked  garment  had  drifted  away 
of  its  own  accord  to  complete  its  bath.  In  order  to  supply  Mr. 
Rowand's  indispensable  wants,  a  quarter  of  an  hour  elapsed  in  search-'^>-«#^ 
ing  for  a  superfluous  pair  of  trowsers,  the  enthusiastic  swimmer  enjoy- 
ing all  this  additional  time  in  the  water.  i^ 

As  soon  as  we  had  finished  our  morning's  meal,  we  set  out  for  the 
fort,  having  an  hour's  good  ride  before  us.  On  reaching  the  summit 
of  a  hill,  we  obtained  a  fine  view  of  the  pretty  little  valley  in  which 
(^olvile  is  situated.  In  a  prairie  of  three  or  four  miles  in  length,  with 
the  Columbia  River  at  one  end,  and  a  small  lake  in  the  centre,  we  de-  * 
scried  the  now  novel  scene  of  a  large  farm, — barns,  stables,  &c.,  fields 
of  wheat  under  the  hands  of  the  reaper,  maize,  potatoes,  &c.  &c.,  and 
herds  of  cattle  grazing  at  will  beyond  the  fences.  By  the  time  that 
we  reached  the  establishment,  we  found  about  eighty  men,  whites  and 
savages,  all  ready  in  their  Sunday's  best,  to  receive  us  at  the  gate. 

Here  then  terminated  a  long  and  laborious  journey  of  nearly  two  thou- 
sand miles  on  horseback,  across  plains,  mountains,  rivers  and  forests. 
For  six  weeks  and  five  days  we  had  been  constandy  riding,  or  at  least  as 
constanUy  as  the  strength  of  our  horses  would  allow,  from  early  dawn 
to  sunset;  and  we  had  on  an  average  been  in  the  saddle  about  eleven 
hours  and  a  half  a  day.     From   Red  River  to  Edmonton,  one  day's 


1 


*<vx. 


fc* 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


work  with  another  amounted  to  about  fifty  miles;  but  from  Edmon- 
ton  to  (volvilo,  we  more  generally  than  otherwise  fell  short  of  forty. 
We  had  j^reat  cause  to  be  thankful  that  no  serious  accident  had  occurred 
to  man  or  beast,  more  particularly  as  we  had  traversed  every  kind 
of  jirround,  rocks  and  swamps,  rugged  mountains  and  rapid  river;?, 
tangled  brush  and  burning  forests.  Our  clothes  were  the  only  sufl'or- 
ers;  and,  in  fact,  wc  made  our  appearance  among  the  men,  who  waited 
at  the  gate  to  do  us  honor,  with  tattered  garments  and  crownlcss  hats, 
such  as  many  of  them  would  not  have  deigned  to  pick  up  at  their  feet. 
The  weather  had  been  such  as  we  could  hardly  have  anticipated,  an 
almost  unbroken  spell  of  cloudless  skies.  During  seven  weeks  we  had 
not  had  one  entire  day's  rain,  and  we  had  been  blessed  with  genial 
days,  light  winds  and  cool  nights. 

C'olvile  is  a  wooden  fort  of  large  size,  enclosed  with  pickets  and 
bastions.  The  houses  are  of  cedar,  neatly  built  and  well  finished  ;  and 
the  whole  place  bears  a  cleaner  and  more  comfortable  aspect  than 
any  establishment  between  itself  and  Red  River.  It  stands  about  a 
mile  from  the  nearest  point  of  the  Columbia,  and  about  two  miles  from 
the  Chaudi^re  Falls,  where  salmon  are  so  abundant,  that  as  many  as  a 
thousand,  some  of  them  weighing  upwards  of  forty  pounds,  have  been 
caught  in  one  day  with  a  single  basket.  Between  the  salmon  of  this 
river  and  the  fish  of  the  same  name  in  England  there  appears  to  be  a 
slight  difference.  The  flesh  of  tlie  former  is  whiter,  while  its  head  is 
more  bulky  and  less  pointed ;  but  its  flavor,  in  the  proper  season,  is 
delicious. 

The  soil  around  Colvile  is  sandy;  and  the  climate  is  so  hot  and  dry, 
that  there  a  fine  season  means  a  wet  one,  hardly  any  rain  falling,  with 
the  exception  of  occasional  showers,  in  spring  and  autumn.  Notwith- 
standing these  disadvantages,  the  farm  is  remarkably  productive.  Cat- 
de  thrive  well,  while  the  crops  are  abundant.  The  wheat,  which 
weighs  from  sixty-three  to  sixty-five  pounds  a  bushel,  yields  twenty  or 
thirty  returns ;  maize  also  flourishes,  but  does  not  ripen  till  the  month 
of  September ;  potatoes,  peas,  oats,  barley,  turnips,  melons,  cucumbers, 
&c.,  are  plentiful.  A  grist  mill,  which  is  driven  by  water,  is  attached 
to  the  establishment,  and  the  bread  that  we  ate  was  decidedly  the  best 
that  we  had  seen  in  the  whole  country. 

Colvile  stands  in  lat.  48°  37'  N.,  the  winter  being  many  degrees 
milder  than  that  of  the  same  parallel  on  the  east  side  of  the  mountains. 
Amongst  the  wild  flowers  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  fort,  we  noticed 
the  helianthus,  the  lupin,  the  monkshood,  and  the  fuchsia,  in  great 
abundance.  In  the  afternoon  we  took  a  ride  around  the  farm,  and 
were  much  gratified  by  an  inspection  of  the  buildings,  crops,  and  cattle. 
The  Indians  had  now  commenced  agricultural  operations  on  a  small 
scale;  but,  having  made  a  beginning,  they  might  be  expected  to  extend 
their  labors  in  proportion  to  the  benefit  which  they  might  reap  from 
their  new  pursuit. 

The  tribe  in  the  vicinity  is  known  as  the  Chaudidre,  whose  territory 
reaches  as  far  up  as  the  Columbia  Lakes.  The  fort  has  dealings  also 
with  the  Kootonais,  the  Spokans,  the  Pend'  d'Oreilles,  &c.,  who  either 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSK  TO  FORT  VANCOUVKU. 


95 


otwith- 

Cat- 

which 

irenty  or 

month 

umbers, 

ttachcd 

the  best 

degrees 

in tains. 

noticed 

great 

m,  and 

cattle. 

small 

extend 

from 


visit  the  establishment,  or  trade,  as  in  the  case  of  Berland,  at  some  dis- 
tant rendezvous.  Next  morning,  being  the  nineteenth  of  August,  many 
of  the  Chaiidif'res  came  to  visit  mc.  Among  them  was  an  aged  chief, 
with  a  name  far  too  guttural  to  Ik;  written,  who,  in  the  year  1821,  had 
made  me  a  formal  cession  of  the  neighboring  soil.  On  that  occnsion 
he  had  given  the  company  the  huul  and  the  woods,  because  the  whites 
would  make  a  better  use  of  them  than  himself;  but  he  had  reserved 
the  Chaudiere  Falls  as  necessary  to  his  own  people,  remarking,  that 
the  strangers  being  able  to  get  food  out  of  stones  and  sand,  coidd 
manage  to  live  very  well  without  fish.  During  his  visit  he  recited  the 
terms  of  the  contract  witli  perfect  accuracy;  and,  at  the  close  of  half 
an  hour,  the  old  fellow,  whose  whole  wardrobe  was  the  hide  of  a  buf-  -^ 
falo,  was  sent  away  as  happy  as  a  king,  with  a  carpet,  a  shirt,  a  knife, 
and  a  small  stock  of  ammunition  and  tobacco.  Finding  that  speeches 
were  so  well  paid,  the  chief's  heir  apparent  and  several  othc-s,  came 
to  have  their  talk  out,  taking  care,  of  course,  to  continue  the  palaver 
till  the  equivalents  were  forthcoming. 

At  Colvile  we  left  our  guide  IVechee,  whom  I  made  the  happiest  of 
men  by  presenting  him  with  a  telescope,  to  which  he  took  a  mighty 
fancy.     The  old  fellow  afterwards  came  to  Vancouver,  where,  unac- 
customed as  he  was  to  any  scene  of  such  various  occupations,  he  used 
to  complain   bitterly  that  the  unusual  smells  would  kill  him.     Poor 
Peechee,  however,  lived  to  die  in  a  very  different  way.     Having  lost 
a  horse  at  gambling,  and  refused  to  give  it  up,  he  was  shot  through  the 
head  for  his  pains  by  the  winner.     How  truly  may  every  man,  in  the 
savage  state,  be  said  to  hold  his  life  in  his  hand.     Peechee's  own  pre- 
vious experience  suggests  another  instance  of  this.     A  medicine  man, 
having  dunned  Peechee  in  vain  for  a  present  of  a  fine  horse,  told  him 
that  thenceforward  all  his  stud  would  have  large  feet ;  and  when  Pee-  f 
chee,  suspecting  foul  play,  found  the  knave  hammering  away  at  the  ** 
hoofs  of  his  horses  with  a  stone,  he  very  quieUy  sent  a  bullet  through 
his  head. 

As  the  canoe,  in  which  we  were  to  descend  the  river,  was  waiting 
us  below  the  Chaudiere  Falls,  we  set  out  on  horseback,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  twentieth,  for  the  place  of  embarkation.  These  falls  might 
more  properly  be  called  a  rapid,  inasmuch  as  the  highest  of  the  three 
leaps  appeared  to  be  barely  ten  feet,  while  the  whole  length  of  the 
broken  water  was  about  a  furlong.  The  name,  which  is  to  be  found 
over  the  whole  country,  is  derived  not  from  any  supposed  resemblance 
to  the  boiling  of  a  kettle,  but  from  the  shape  into  which  the  perpetual 
eddy  of  the  torrent  moulds  the  stones.  In  the  Chaudiere  Falls,  on  the 
Ottawa,  for  instance,  there  is  a  countless  number  of  these  water-worn 
cauldrons. 

Our  canoe  was  worked  by  six  oars,  besides  bowsman  and  steers- 
man, being  of  the  same  construction  as  that  in  which  we  had  descended 
the  Pend'  d'Oreille  River.  As  the  water  was  high  and  the  current 
strong,  we  glided  quickly  down  the  stream.  We  were  soon  obliged  to 
lighten  our  craft,  to  enable  her  to  run  a  rapid ;  and  thence  we  pro- 
ceeded without  any  interniptions,  save  that  of  dining  ashore  near  the 


hSd 


^-■. 


96 


FUOM  KDMONTON  IIOUSK  TO  FOUT  VANCOUVKR. 


♦:■;• 


T 

•I 


]i 


Spokan  Uivor,  till  half-past  nine,  liaving  accomplished  more  thun  a  hun- 
dn!(l  miles  in  lifteen  hours. 

The  hanks  of  tlu;  (/olumhia,  as  far  back  as  the  eye  could  reach, 
were  dull  and  monotonous,  consistinjr  of  a  succession  of  sandy  llats 
with  very  scanty  hcrbaiie  and  still  less  wood,  which  were  varied,  in  a 
few  places,  by  rocky  hills.  The  drou/rht  had,  as  usual,  parchetl  the 
whole  country,  which  appeared  to  be  pretty  generally  on  lire  wherever 
there  was  anything  to  burn  ;  and  the  atmosphere  was  so  charged  with 
smoke,  that  wc  were  oftt-n  unable  to  distinguish  objects  even  at  a  short 
distance.  The  average  breadth  of  the  river  was  about  three-quarters  o( 
a  mile,  though  here  and  there  was  a  narrow  channel  between  precipi- 
tous rocks,  down  which,  in  spite  of  the  proportional  increase  of  the 
current,  our  canoe  ilew  in  perfju-l  safety. 

Along  the  banks  wc  had  seen  a  few  natives  encamped,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  fishing,  while  large  bands  of  horses,  which,  notwithstanding  the 
dryness  of  the  pasturi;,  were  in  very  excellent  condition,  were  feediuL^ 
near  them.  From  one  of  these  camps  four  lads  came  oil*  to  us  in  a 
small  canoe  ;  and,  when  we  held  out  to  them  a  present  of  tobacco,  they 
were  so  eager  to  seize  it,  that  they  drove  their  tiny  vessel  against  our 
craft  and  pitched  their  bowsman  headlong  into  the  stream.  Hut  the 
youth,  who  seemed  to  be  as  much  at  home  in  the  water  as  on  the 
land,  was  soon  again  in  his  place,  at  the  hazard,  however,  of  nearly 
swamping  his  canoe ;  and,  as  the  day  was  sultry  with  the  mercury  at 
86°  in  the  shade,  we  rather  envied  the  youngster  his  cooling  dip,  more 
particularly  as  he  was  quite  prepared  for  it,  being  unincumbered  with 
a  single  scrap  of  clothing.  Had  we  passed  two  or  three  weeks  sooner, 
we  should  have  seen  a  far  greater  number  of  people.  During  three 
months  of  the  summer  the  Indians  congregate  from  all  parts  to  the 
shores  of  the  river  to  fish  for  salmon;  but,  as  the  season  was  now 
closing,  most  of  them  had  retired  into  the  interior  to  prosecute  their 
other  grand  business  of  gathering  berries. 

Next  day  we  accomplished  upwards  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
without  any  interruption  whatever.  Among  our  rapids,  down  which 
we  glided  very  pleasantly,  the  most  important  was  Les  Petites  Dalles. 
For  about  two  miles  the  river  was  penned  up  between  rocky  shores 
with  many  stones  in  the  stream  ;  and  so  impetuous  was  the  torrent, 
that  it  carried  us  down  the  whole  distance  in  six  or  eight  minutes. 
The  scenery  was  pretty  much  the  same  as  yesterday,  alternately  rock 
and  sand,  with  little  or  no  timber,  and  with  the  pasturage  withered. 

This  morning  we  passed  the  upper  end  of  the  Grande  Coulee,  a 
dry  channel,  apparenUy  the  ancient  bed  of  the  river,  which  again 
reaches  the  Columbia  after  a  course  of  more  than  a  hundred  miles. 
This  parallel  cut  is  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  width,  with  high 
banks  and  a  fertile  bottom,  being  as  nearly  as  possible  a  counterpart  of 
the  corresponding  section  of  the  actual  stream.  Either  the  level  of  the 
Grande  Coulee  must  have  been  raised,  or  its  upper  end  must  have 
been  obstructed :  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  suppositions  there  is  but 
little  room  for  reasonable  doubt. 

About  eleven  in  the  forenoon,  we  called  at  the  company's  post  of 


I 


FROM  EDMONTON  IIOUSK  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


97 


Okannfjan,  fti'imtci'  at  the  mouth  of  thn  Ktrrain  of  iho  name  name,  anil 
inaintaitird  mrrrly  as  an  entrepot  for  the  district  of  Thompson'^  Uiver. 
We  found  the  fort  jrarrisoncd  by  half  a  dozen  women  and  ehildren,  tlie 
])«T8on  in  eharjje  heinj?  absent  at  the  farm,  whieh,  on  aceonnt  of  the 
sterdily  of  the  immechate  neiirlihorhood,  proved  to  be  a  few  miles  dis- 
tant.    We  remained  only  lonjr  «'iiouirh  to  rille  some  pans  (»f  milk. 

At  Dkanajran  we  were  «'(meerned  to  learn,  that  the  Indians  of  the  in- 
terior, as  far  back  as  New  Caledonia,  principally  the  Schonshwaps, 
were  in  a  state  of  considerable  excitemcuit.  The  cause  was  as  follows. 
In  the  month  of  February  last,  a  chief  of  the  name  of  Kortlcpat  visited 
Mr.  HIack,  the  (rcntleman  in  charjfe  of  Thompson's  Kiver,  at  his  post 
of  Kamloops,  when  a  trivial  dispute  took  place  between  them.  Imme- 
diately on  returninj^  to  his  camp  at  a  place  called  the  Pavilion,  Kortlc- 
pat sickened  an»l  died,  enjoining  his  people  with  his  last  breath  to  keep 
on  good  terms  with  the  whites.  Whether  or  not  the  chief's  dying  in- 
junction was  interpreted  into  an  insinuation  that  he  had  perished  in 
consequence  of  having  quarreled  with  his  white  brother,  the  Indians 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  Kortlepat's  death  had  been  caused  by  Mr. 
Hlack's  magic  or  medicine.  In  pursuance  of  this  idea,  the  widow  of 
the  deceased  worked  upon  the  feelings  of  her  luiphew,  till  he  undertook 
to  revenge  her  husband's  untimely  fate.  The  avcMiger  of  blood  forth- 
with set  out  for  Kamloops;  and  when  he  arrived,  both  cold  and  hun- 
gry, he  was,  by  the  orders  of  his  destined  victim,  pla«  ed  l)cfore  a  good 
tire  and  supplied  with  food.  During  the  whole  day,  Mr.  Black,  who 
was  a  hard  student,  remained  writing  in  his  own  apartment;  but,  hav- 
ing gone  out  towards  evening,  he  was  returning  through  the  room 
wliere  his  guest  was  sitting,  and  had  just  reached  the  door  of  his 
chamber,  when  he  fell  down  dead  with  the  contents  of  the  savjige's  gun 
in  his  back.  In  the  appalling  confusion  that  ensued,  the  murderer  was 
allowed  to  escape  from  the  fort,  betaking  himself  immediately  to  the  i 
mountains.  He  was  chased  from  place  to  place;  like  a  wild  beast, 
being  obliged  to  abandon  first  his  horses,  and  lastly  his  wife  and  family  ; 
but  it  was  not  till  after  eight  months  of  vigilant  pursuit,  that  he  was  tinally 
hunted  down  on  the  banks  of  FrasCT's  River,  by  some  of  his  own  peo- 
ple. As  a  proof  of  his  comparative  estimate  of  civilization  and  bar- 
barism, this  miserable  being,  with  the  blood  of  Mr.  IJlack  on  his 
conscience,  earnestly  begged  to  be  delivered  up  to  the  whites ;  and,  on 
being  refused  this  last  boon,  he  leapt  into  the  stream,  swimming  away 
for  his  life  till  he  was  dispatched,  just  like  a  ."ea  otter,  by  arrow  after 
arrow.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  event  that  the  excitement,  of 
which  we  heard  at  Okanagan,  had  gained  a  footing  among  the  friends 
of  Kortlepat  and  his  nephew,  who  had  now  to  place  two  deaths  at  the 
white  man's  door. 

As  we  had  more  of  the  sun  in  the  boat  than  on  horseback,  three 
baths  a  day  were  scarcely  suflicient  to  make  the  heat  endurable:  the 
thermometer  stood  at  85"  even  in  the  shade,  while  in  the  water  it 
showed  only  65".  Cooking  also  was  a  more  troublesome  business 
than  it  had  ever  been  before.  The  scarcity  of  brush  was  so  great, 
that  both  yesterday  and  to-day  we  had  to  search  along  two  or  three 

PART   I. — 7  ab 


;v  \i 


I 

i' 


hi'- 


t'    '    ■ 


I''  li'l 


■>    :>ij 


FROM  KDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


miles  for  Aiol,  anil,  altor  all,  wc  had  to  make  our  fires  of  driftwood. 
}So  srarrc,  ijidord,  was  timber  here,  that  the  pickets  around  graves, 
generally  deemed  saercd,  appeared  to  have  been  pillaged  in  order  to  bo 
burned. 

At  our  night's  cneampment  we  were  visited  by  a  chief  from  the 
Isles  des  Pierres,  and  about  a  dozen  followers,  who  remained  the 
greater  part  of  the  night  smoking  round  our  lire,  without  giving  us  any 
trouble. 

Shortly  after  starting  in  tin;  morning,  wc  ran  down  the  Isles  des 
Pierres  Kapids.  For  alxnit  two  miles  the  river  rushed  between  lofty 
rocks  of  basalt,  while  the  channel  was  obstructed  by  rocky  islets, 
against  which  the  jMhlying  waters  foamed  in  their  fury.  The  descent, 
of  course,  required  all  the  skill  and  coohnjss  of  the  bowsman  and 
steersman  ;  the  vessel  was  tossed  on  the  surging  waters  with  the  surf 
and  spray  continually  dasiiing  over  her  bows;  and  all  at  once,  as  if  by 
magic,  we  were  gliding  silently  along  without  even  a  ripple  on  the  sur- 
face. Soon  afterwards  we  came  to  the  Sault  du  Pretre,  where  the 
river  was  wide  and  shallow.  Some  few  years  ago  a  boat  struck  on  a 
rock  in  this  rapid,  five  men  being  drowned,  and  most  of  the  valuable 
cargo  being  destroyed.  The  accident  must  have  arisen  entirely  from 
the  fault  of  the  bowsman,  inasnmch  as  the  fatal  stone  was  at  some 
distance  from  the  proper  channel. 

For  the  first  twenty  or  thirty  miles  of  our  day's  work,  the  banks  of 
the  river  were  bold  and  rocky,  all  the  rest  being  sandy,  ilat,  and  most 
uninteresting,  excepting  that  for  several  miles  the  southern  shore  was 
a  sandy  clifl",  known  as  the  White  Banks,  of  two  or  three  hundred  feet 
perpendicular.  We  encamped  a  few  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the 
Snake  River,  experiencing  much  difliculty  in  obtaining  firewood ;  and, 
indeed,  with  the  exception  of  a  dozen  stunted  cedars,  wc  saw  no  vege- 
tation to-day.  Though  this  sandy  district  was  believed  to  swarm  with 
rattlesnakes,  yet  we  had  the  good  fortune  to  see  but  a  single  specimen. 
One  of  our  men,  while  collecting  driftwood  on  the  heach,  had  been 
warned  off  in  time  by  the  rattle ;  and  then,  giving  notice  of  his  dis- 
covery, he  held  the  reptile  by  the  throat  with  a  stick,  till  we  exam- 
ined it.  It  was  from  four  to  five  feet  in  length,  with  a  beautifully 
variegated  skin;  and  nine  joints  in  its  ratde  indicated  its  age  to  be  nine 
years.  These  creatures  are  decreasing  in  number  near  the  company's 
posts,  being  eaten,  according  to  general  belief,  by  the  pigs.  This  was 
decidedly  our  hottest  period  of  twenty-four  hours,  the  thermometer 
showing  89°  in  the  shade  at  noon,  and  83*^  near  midnight. 

We  saw  a  few  Indians,  who,  if  we  might  judge  from  their  unusual 
state  of  perfect  nudity,  felt  the  weather  as  severely  as  ourselves.  Their 
canoes  were  merely  hollowed  trunks  of  about  thirty  feet  in  length  by 
two  or  three  in  width,  and  the  same  in  depth,  only  just  large  enough 
to  enable  them  to  paddle  on  their  hams.  The  wonder  was,  how  they 
prevented  these  shells  from  capsizing,  more  especially  in  the  whirling 
eddies  of  a  rapid;  and  yet,  wliile  racing  with  us  this  morning  in  the 
Sault  du  Pretre,  they  left  us  far  behind.     In  the  long  run,  however. 


♦ 


liHtM 


FROM  KDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VAN'COUVKR. 


09 


snvajTos  slaml  no  chance  against  wliitcs,  hcinc;  inferior,  alike  in  stcndi- 
ncfs,  and  perseverance,  and  strenijtli. 

A  few  miles  of  our  next  day's  work  hroMirht  iis  to  the  Snake  lliver. 
known  also  as  the  South  IJranch,  Lewis  and  (.'larke's,  &c.  tV:c.  'l'hou>:h 
at  the  point  of  conlluenee,  it  was  equal  in  size  to  the  Oolumhia,  yrt 
the  stream  Ix'low  did  not  appear  to  he  lari^er  than  either  of  the  united 
floods.  Ai)out  <'i;,'ht  or  ten  miles  farther  down,  the  Wallawalla  poured 
its  tribute  into  th(>  Colunihia;  and  here  wc  haltcil  for  hrcakt'ast  at  the 
company's  estahlishment. 

A  more  dismal  situation  than  that  of  this  post,  can  hardly  he  imair- 
ined.  The  fort  is  surroumleil  hy  a  sandy  desert,  which  product's 
nothinf^  hut  wormwood,  cxceptinji  that  the  horses  and  cattle  liud  a  liille 
pasturage  on  the  hills.  As  not  a  single  tree  j^rows  within  several 
miles  in  any  direction,  the  I)uildini][s  are  constructed  entirely  of  drifi- 
wood,  about  which  many  a  skirmish  has  taken  place  with  tin;  Indian^, 
just  as  anxious,  perhaps,  to  secure  the  treason?  as  ourselves.  'I'liis 
district  of  country  is  subject  to  very  hi<rh  winds,  which,  sw(!eping  ovt-r 
the  sands,  raise  such  a  cloud  of  dust  as  renders  it  danfjerous,  or  even 
impossible  to  leave  the  house  durinn^  the  continuance  oflheijale.  The 
climate  is  dry  and  hot,  very  little  rain  fallinir  at  any  season. 

Shortly  before  our  arrival,  Mr.  Pambran,  who  was  in  charf^e,  had 
met  a  melancholy  death  by  beini,^  inj\ired  by  the  raised  pummel  of  his 
Spanish  saddle,  leavinir  a  wife  and  a  larsre  family  of  younu  children  to 
bewail  his  untimely  fate.  This  event,  of  course,  threw  a  <rloom  over 
our  visit. 

We  met  here  an  American  missionary  of  the  name  of  Manjrer,  who 
had  been  two  years  on  the  Columbia  alonjj  with  his  family.  This  fjen- 
tleman  was  grievously  disappointed  with  the  country — a  feeling  com- 
mon, in  his  opinion,  to  most  of  his  fellow-citizens.  But  the  ministers 
of  the  Gospel,  moreover,  had  a  grievance  n; cuHar  to  themselves,  for, 
instead  of  finding  the  savages  eager  to  embr  ■  • '.  Christianity,  as  they  had 
been  led  to  expect,  they  saw  a  snperstitious,  ^oalous  and  bigoted  peo- 
ple. They  soon  ascertained  that  they  could  gain  converts  only  by- 
buying  them ;  and  they  were  even  reproached  by  the  savages  on  the 
ground,  that,  if  they  were  really  good  men,  they  would  procure  guns 
and  blankets  for  them  from  the  Great  Spirit,  merely  by  their  prayers. 
In  short,  the  Indians,  discovering  that  the  new  religion  did  not  render 
them  independent  of  the  traders,  any  more  than  their  old  one,  regarded 
the  missionaries  as  mere  failures,  as  nothing  better  than  impostors. 
Under  these  discouraging  circumstances,  Mr.  Manger  was  desirous  of 
returning  home.  Accordingly,  last  spring,  he  accompanied  one  of  the 
company's  parties  to  the  Snake  country,  in  hopes  of  meeting  a  caravan 
which  used  to  come  from  St.  Louis  with  supplies  for  the  trappers ; 
but,  as  the  caravan  in  question  either  did  not  arrive,  or  at  all  events  did 
not  return,  he  retraced  his  steps  to  Wallawalla. 

Soon  after  our  visit,  the  establishment  was  accidentally  destroyed  by- 
fire  during  the  night.  The  property,  however,  was  nearly  all  saved, 
and  that  mainly  through  the  assistance  of  the  Cayuses  and  other  natives, 
who,  besides  rescuing  what  they  could  from  the  flames,  protected  the 


^r 


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Ij^n 


mi 


fU. 


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f 


I'i  I 


100 


FROM  KDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVKR. 


goods  from  pillaj^r,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M'Kinlay  from  insult.  This  ron- 
(liu't  of  ilu!  Hav;«p('8  was  equally  crcditablo  to  both  parties,  indicating 
past  lil)crality  on  the  one  side  not  Iohh  clearly  than  present  humanity 
on  the  other.  With  Indians,  in  fact,  firmness  and  management  can  do 
everylhinp.  As  a  negative  proof  of  this,  these  same  Cayuses,  who  had 
so  zealously  exerted  themselves  on  lichalfof  the  company,  had  a  short 
time  previously  assaulted  Dr.  Whitman  l)y  pointing  his  own  gun  against 
his  breast,  mtsrely  because  the  worthy  missionary's  people  had  rudely 
turned  one  of  their  tribe  out  of  the  doctor's  house.  Now  this  same 
kind  of  discipline  is  often  enforced  with  perfect  impunity  by  the  com- 
pany's servants,  who  contrive  either  to  carry  their  point  without  giving 
offence,  or  to  soothe  any  irritation  which  may  be  excited.  Wood,  as 
already  mentioned,  being  caught  at  Wallawalla  only  by  fishing  for  it, 
Mr.  M'Kinlay,  with  the  aid  of  his  aboriginal  friends,  was  obliged  to 
rebuild  his  establishment  with  adobes  or  baked  bricks. 

At  Wallawalla  we  exchanged  our  craft,  which  was  very  leaky,  for 
another  of  the  same  size  and  build  ;  and,  as  the  Indians  below  were 
more  likely  to  be  troublesome  than  any  that  we  had  hitherto  seen,  Mr. 
McKinlay  provided  us  with  an  interpreter.  A  short  distance  below 
the  fort,  we  passed  between  basaltic  rocks ;  and  one  of  them,  a  trun- 
I'ated  pyramid  of  about  a  hundred  and  eighty  feet  in  height,  supported, 
on  its  s(iuarc  platform,  two  oblong  blocks  of  stone,  something  like 
chimneys,  of  about  twenty-five  feet  in  height,  and  ten  in  width,  known 
respectively  as  McKenzie's  and  Ross's  Ileads.  Below  these  rocks 
our  course  lay  through  dreary  plains  of  sand,  which  presented  no  other 
vegetation  than  wormwood  and  prickly  pear,  and  possessed  no  other 
inhabitants  than  the  rattlesnake  and  the  prairie  fowl.  In  the  spring, 
liowever,  the  plains  behind  were  said  to  be  clothed  with  fine  herbage, 
which,  as  if  to  aggravate  the  withering  influences  of  summer,  the  Indians 
used  to  set  on  fire  in  order  to  dry  the  seeds  of  the  helianthus,  as  part 
of  their  provender  against  the  winter. 

In  consequence  of  a  stifi'  breeze,  which  was  blowing  right  up  the 
river,  we  were  obliged  to  encamp  by  three  in  the  afternoon.  Here 
our  people  shot  a  brace  of  prairie  fowls,  a  bird  peculiar  to  this  country : 
it  appeared  to  be  a  species  of  grouse,  excepting  that  it  had  gayer  plum- 
age and  was  nearly  twice  as  large.  During  the  day  we  passed  several 
«'ncampments  of  Snake  Indians,  a  poor,  miserable,  degraded  race. 
Their  huts  were  made  of  driftwood,  mats,  &c. ;  and,  whether  through 
love  of  festivity  or  from  motives  of  superstition,  drums,  which  were 
audible  from  a  great  distance,  were  beating  in  one  of  them. 

Soon  after  midnight,  the  wind  having  abated,  we  resumed  our  jour- 
ney, finding  our  way  with  care  by  the  light  of  the  stars.  The  cha- 
racter of  the  banks  of  the  river  was  now  completely  changed.  The 
sandy  plains  had  given  place  to  bold  cliffs  of  basaltic  rocks,  not  merely 
along  the  narrow  channels  of  the  stream,  but  even  round  its  broader 
expanses.  Some  of  the  bays,  indeed,  presented  grand  amphitheatres, 
whose  columnar  tiers  of  seats,  comparatively  reduced  the  Roman  Co- 
liseum to  a  toy  ;  and  doubdess,  iu  times  not  very  remote,  those,  who 
could  enjoy  the  agonies  of  a  dying  gladiator,  might  here  have  found 


i:' 


FROM  KDMONTON  IIOUSK  TO  FORT  VANCOUVKR. 


101 


rongenial  recrealion  in  ihe  voluntary  conlcHta  of  blood-tliirsly  barha-   ft  ^ 
rians.  • 

Hcinif  now  in  tlie  country  of  tlio  Cayusps,  wo  saw  a  few  individuals 
of  the  irihe.  Their  chief,  who  rejoiced  in  the  name  of  Five  Crows, 
was  said  to  he  the  richest  niiin  iu  the  country,  possessing  upwards  of 
a  thousand  horses,  a  few  cattle,  niany  slaves,  and  various  other  sourccM 
of  wealth.  Having,  in  adcHtiou  to  all  this,  the  recommendation  of  he- 
iiijj  young,  tall,  and  handsome,  he  had  lately  raised  his  eyes  to  a  beau- 
tiful and  amiable  girl,  daughter  of  one  of  the  company's  oflicers.  After 
enduring  the  flames  of  love  for  some  time  in  silence,  he  determined 
to  make  his  proposals  in  proper  form  ;  and  accordingly,  having  first 
dismissed  his  five  wives,  he  presented  himself  and  a  band  of  retainers, 
master  and  men  all  as  gay  as  butterllies,  at  the  gates  of  the  fort,  where 
the  father  of  his  "  lady  love"  resided.  To  his  disniay,  and  perhaps  also 
to  his  astonishment,  his  suit  was  rejected ;  and,  in  the  first  transports  of 
his  anguish,  he  so  far  forgot  himself  as  to  marry  one  of  his  female 
slaves,  to  the  great  scandal  of  his  family  and  his  tribe. 

As  we  descended,  the  rocks  becami;  loftier  and  the  current  stronger. 
Aliout  two  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  Les  Chutes,  where  we  made  a 
portage,  after  having  run  nearly  four  hundred  miles  without  even  lighten- 
ing our  craft.  As  my  own  experience,  as  well  as  that  of  others,  had 
taught  me  to  keep  a  strict  eye  on  the  "  Chivalry  of  Wishram,"  always 
congregated  here  in  considerable  numbers,  I  marshaled  our  party  into 
three  well  armed  bands,  two  to  guard  either  end  of  the  portage,  and 
the  third  to  transj)ort  the  baggage. 

My  own  dilliculties  with  these  people  occurred  in  1829  on  my  up- 
ward voyage.  About  that  same  time  ten  Americans  had  been  murdered 
in  the  Snake  country  ;  a  party  of  twenty-one  men  had  been  destroyed 
on  the  Umqua ;  and  the  crew  of  one  of  the  company's  vessels,  to  the 
number  of  twenty-seven,  were  supposed  to  have  been  butchered  after 
shipwreck  at  the  mouth  of  the  ('olumbia.  As  no  means  had  been  taken 
to  avenge  these  massacres,  the  Indians  began  to  think  of  rooting  the 
whites  out  of  the  country ;  and  accordingly,  when  they  heard  that  I 
was  to  proceed  up  the  river  in  the  summer,  they  assembled  a  force  of 
four  or  five  hundred  warriors  at  this  very  portage.  My  party  consisted 
of  Mr.  McMillan  and  Dr.  Todd,  and  twenty-seven  men.  We  cfTeeted 
the  lower  two  portages  without  ditllculty,  but  not  without  indications 
of  hostility;  but,  before  we  arrived  at  liCs  Chutes,  a  friendly  native 
warned  Mr.  McMillan  of  a  plan  laid  to  attack  us  here.  We  crossed, 
however,  to  the  upper  end  without  interruption,  where  the  portage  ter- 
minated in  a  steep  rock  with  a  narrow  ledge  below,  on  the  immediate 
margin  of  the  stream.  On  the  narrow  ledge  in  question,  about  two- 
thirds  of  our  party  were  busily  occupied  in  the  embarkation  of  our 
baggage,  while  the  remainder,  consisting,  besides  myself,  of  Mr. 
McMillan,  Dr.  Todd,  Tom  Taylor,  already  mentioned,  and  his  brother, 
and  about  half  a  dozen  Sandwich  Islanders,  showed  front  to  the  enemy 
on  the  platform  above.  When  we  were  nearly  ready  to  take  our  de- 
parture, the  Indians,  instead  of  squatting  themselves  down  to  smoke 
the  pipe  of  peace,  crowded  round  us,  gradually  forcing  us  to  the  edge 


r 


■• 


■I 


.VI 

■/■■•  ! 
i'  i 


102 


FUOM  KDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FOllT  VANCflUVER. 


i      1      fl 


i|;  :ii 


;-Si!;t 


qI  the  declivity,  :iii(I  then,  :ih  the  concerted  Bij:n:d  for  coininenciiifr  the 
attack,  oril(  red  ih«'ir  women  ami  chihiren  to  retire.  With  a  precipice 
behind  us,  and  beiori;  uh  a  horcU;  of  reckless  and  blood'thirsty  Haviifjrcs, 
our  Niluation  was  now  most  critical,  more  particularly  ns  the  neccHsity 
of  concealiiiff  our  danger  Irom  our  people  l»i  low  embarrassed  our  every 
movement.  At  this  moment  of  anxiety  the  chief  ^[rasped  liirt  do^^cr. 
In  the  twiuklinir  of  an  eye  our  ten  or  eleven  jiuus  w(!re  leveled,  while 
some  of  my  Sandwich  Islanders,  with  tlu;  characteristic  courajje  of 
their  race,  exclaimed,  aH  if  to  anticipate  my  instructions,  "  Me  broke 
him."  With  my  fmj^er  on  my  iri^rifcr,  and  my  eye  on  that  of  the 
chief,  I  commanded  that  no  man  should  fire  till  1  had  set  the  example, 
lor  any  rash  discharge  on  our  part,  though  each  shot,  at*  such  close 
({uarters,  would  have  told  against  two  or  three  lives,  mi^ht  have  goaded 
the  savajres  into  a  desperate  and  fatal  rush.  'I'he  chiers  eye  fell,  his 
chc(!k  blanched,  his  lips*  grew  livid  ;  and  he  ceased  to  clutch  his  weapon. 
Still,  however,  he  retained  his  ])osilion,  till,  after  ajjain  prcparinfr  to 
strike,  and  a^ain  (piailin^  before  the  tube  which  to  himself  at  least 
would  be  certain  death,  he  recoiled  on  his  people,  who  again,  in  their 
ttirn,  retreated  a  few  paces.  'I'he  distance;  to  which  we  had  thus 
driven  the  enemy  by  the  mere  display  of  lirmness,  was  less  valuable 
to  us  in  itself  than  on  account  of  tin;  reaction  of  feeliiiir  which  it  evinced; 
ami,  availing  ourselves  of  the  favourable  opportunity,  we  imtnediately 
embarked,  without  having  either  sustained  or  indicted  any  injury. 

IJut  now  these  pirates  had  degi.neraled  into  something  like  honesty 
and  politeness.  On  our  approaching  the  landing  place,  an  Indian  of 
short  stature  and  a  big  belly, — the  very  picture  of  a  grinning  Bacchus, 
— waded  out  about  two  hundred  yards  in  order  to  be  the  tirst  to  shake 
hands  with  us.  We  were  hardly  ashore,  when  we  were  surrounilcd 
by  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  savages  of  several  tribes,  who  were  all, 
however,  under  the  control  of  one  chief;  and  on  this  occasion  the 
'*  Chivalry  of  Wishram"  actually  condescended  to  carry  our  boat  and 
baggage  for  us,  expecting  merely  to  be  somewhat  too  well  paid.  The 
path,  above  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length,  ran  over  a  rocky  pass,  whose 
iiollows  and  levels  were  covered  with  sand,  almost  the  only  soil  in  this 
land  of  droughts. 

The  Chutes  vary  very  much  in  appearance  according  to  the  height 
of  the  waters.  At  one  season  may  be  seen  cascades  of  twenty  or 
thirty  feet  in  height,  while,  at  another,  the  current  swells  itself  up  into 
little  more  than  a  raj)id,  so  as  even  to  be  navigable  for  boats.  At  pre- 
sent the  highest  fall  was  scarcely  ten  feet;  and,  as  the  stream,  besides 
being  confined  within  a  narrow  channel,  was  interrupted  by  rocks  and 
islets,  its  foaming  and  roaring  presented  a  striking  emblem  of  the  for- 
mer disposition  of  the  neighboring  tribes.  At  the  lower  end  of  the 
portage  we  intended  to  dine  on  salmon,  which  we  had  procured  from 
the  Indians;  but,  after  cooking  it,  we  felt  so  incommoded  by  the  crowd, 
that  we  pushed  off  to  eat  our  dinner  as  we  should  be  drifting  down  the 
river.  Our  meal  was  brouglit  to  an  abrupt  termination  by  our  having 
to  run  down  Lcs  Pctites  Dalles  Rapid.     Some  Indians  on  the  bank 


*,;^ 


FROM   KPMJINTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVKIl. 


103 


were  wntcliiiijr.  xpear  in  IimimI,  for  (inlmon  ;  ami  ho  itiirnl  were  ihf^y  on 
their  opcu|»:iti()n,  iliat  tliey  lu'ver  even  raised  tluir  eyes  t(»  look  ai  us,  a» 
we  (lew  |>:iHt  tlieni. 

A  nhort  Hpace  «)('  ttniootli  waUir,  like  the  ealm  that  preeedes  the  »torm, 
broiiirjit  lis  to  livs  Dalles  or  the  l.onir  ISarrows. — a  spot  which,  with 
its  treaehertuM  «avaires  of  lornier  (lays  anil  its  whirlini;  torrents,  niiL'lit 
once  have  l)e<'n  eonsitlereil  as  enihodyinij  tin?  Seylla  and  the  Charylidi!* 
of  thj'se  reirions.  At  the  entrance  of  tht;  L'ort'e,  the  river  is  suddenly 
contracted  tt»  one-third  of  its  width  i>y  perpendicular  walls,  while  the 
surires,  there  dainnH'tl  up,  slruL'i,de  with  each  other  t«»  dash  alonjr  thnniijh 
its  narrow  hed.  Our  yuide,  havini;  surveyed  the  state  of  the  rapiil, 
determined  to  run  it,  recomniendinir  to  us,  however,  to  walk  across  the 
po/iajfe  in  order  to  liyhten  our  craft. 

At  tin;  landiiiir  place-  we  found  ahout  thirty  women  and  children,  all 
the  men  heintr  ahscnt  tishiuL'.  Thesi!  ffooil  fidks,  ircnerally  speakintr, 
were  nearly  as  niked  as  when  they  were  l)(»rn, — a  remark  which  woidd 
apply  with  |)eculiar  force  to  tin;  natives  between  this  and  the  8(!U  an«l 
alonir  the  coast.  With  such  a  disrejrard  of  external  decency,  chastity,  of 
course,  is  a  mere  name,  or  rather  it  has  not  a  naiuc  to  express  it  in  any 
one  of  the  nativ(!  laniiuaires.  We  found  the  portajje  to  consist  of  a 
heap  of  volcanic  rocks,  the  hollows  and  levels,  as  on  that  of  Les  Chutes, 
being  covered  with  saiul. 

After  shippintj  '^  flood  deal  of  water,  our  little  vessel  reached  the 
place  of  (!ml)arkation,  opposite  to  a  small  rocky  island,  where  a  melan- 
choly accident  happened  a  few  years  back.  At  a  season  when  the 
water  was  very  hitrh,  one  of  the  company's  boats  was  descendimi  the 
river,  and  throutrh  the  rashness  of  an  American  who  happened  to  be 
on  board,  the  crew  were  incbiced  to  run  this  rapid,  while  the  j^onthMuan 
in  charge  more  prudently  resolved  to  prefer  the  portage.  Hurled 
madly  along  by  the  boiling  waters,  the  boat  was  just  emerging  into  a 
place  of  safety,  when,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  island  just  men- 
tioned, she  was  sucked  stern  foremost  into  a  whirlpool;  and,  in  a 
single  instant,  a  tide  that  told  no  tales,  was  foaming  over  the  spot, 
where  eleven  men,  a  woman  and  a  child  had  found  a  watery  grave. 

Below  the  Long  Narrows,  we  saw  numbers  of  hair  seals,  as  many 
as  seventeen  in  one  group;  and  we  succeeded  in  shooting  tineof  them, 
which,  however,  was  lost  to  us, — the  creature  sinking,  if  killed  at  once, 
but  floating,  if  dying  afterwanls  of  its  wound.  These  animals  ascend 
the  Columbia  in  quest  of  the  salmon;  and  certainly  that  lish  is  some- 
times taken  with  a  hair  seal's  mouthful  out  of  its  side. 

At  a  distance  of  two  or  three  miles  below  the  rapids,  we  reached  the 
American  Mission  of  Whaspicum,  remarkable  to  us  as  the  place  where 
we  saw  growing  timber  for  the  tirst  time  since  leaving  Ukanagan.  On 
visiting  the  establishment,  we  were  much  pleased  with  the  progress 
that  had  been  made  in  three  years.  Two  comfortable  houses,  in 
which  five  families  resided,  had  been  erected;  a  field  of  wheat  had  this 
year  yielded  about  ten  returns  ;  and  the  gardens  had  produced  abund- 
ance of  melons,  potatoes  and  other  vegetables,  while  the  dairy  gave  an 


tf 


104 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


adequate  supply  of  milk  and  butter.  The  missionaries  said  that  they 
were  as  happy  in  their  new  home  as  they  could  expect  to  be  in  such 
a  wilderness,  admitting  at  the  same  time  that  they  had  not  found  the 
land  of  promise  which  they  came  to  seek.  The  climate,  however, 
was,  at  least  in  point  of  temperature,  rather  favorable  than  otherwise, 
the  greatest  heat  in  the  shade,  during  the  past  summer,  having  been 
101°,  and  the  most  intense  cold  of  the  preceding  winter  having  been 
14°  above  zero.  But  the  soil  was  not  good;  nor  could  it  possibly  be 
so,  where  twenty-one  rattlesnakes,  reptiles  delighting  in  sands  and 
rocks,  had  been  killed  within  the  last  three  months. 

Mr.  Lee,  the  head  of  the  mission,  accompanied  us  to  our  encamp- 
men.  to  supper ;  and  while  that  meal  was  preparing,  we  enjoyed  a 
deliciv^us  bath  by  moonlight  In  the  stream  that  now  glittered  so  placidly 
before  us.  As  we  expected  to  reach  Vancouver  next  day,  we  raised 
camp  immediately  after  satisfying  our  hunger,  and,  by  eleven  o'clock, 
were  once  more  pursuing  our  way  towards  the  Pacific.  Wrappi:ng 
our  cloaks  around  us  to  keep  off  the  mists,  we  laid  ourselves  down  on 
the  bottom  of  our  craft  to  sleep. 

In  the  morning,  the  banks  of  the  river,  no  longer  sublime,  were 
merely  picturesque,  being  covered  with  forests  to  the  water's  edge  or 
even  farther,  for  there  were  stumps  or  remains  of  large  trees  growing  in 
the  very  stream.  This  aquatic  forest  was  there,  when  the  country 
was  first  visited  by  Europeans  ;  and  the  Indians  then  stated  that  the 
appearance  had  always  been  the  same  as  far  back  as  their  memory 
could  carry  them.  Doctors  differ  as  to  the  probable  cause  of  the  phe- 
nomenon. Some  think  that  the  bed  of  the  river  must  have  subsided, 
while  others  are  of  opinion  that  the  thing  has  drifted  bodily,  by  what  is 
called  a  land-slip,  from  above. 

We  breakfasted  on  the  lowest  of  the  three  portages  of  the  Cascades, 
the  highest  point,  by  the  by,  reached  by  the  tide.  At  this  succession 
of  small  cataracts,  the  river  falls  about  fifty  or  sixty  feet  in  a  distance 
of  about  half  a  mile.  We  here  saw  some  of  the  company's  men  cur- 
ing salmon  for  exportation  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  California. 
We  also  met  here  several  Chinook,  canoes,  large  and  small,  very  ele- 
gantly formed,  with  an  elevated  prow,  out  of  a  single  log. 

The  rocks  along  the  shore  were  bold  and  lofty ;  and,  in  the  bed  of 
the  river,  one  detached  mass,  about  a  hundred  feet  perpendicular  on  all 
sides,  bore  the  appropriate  name  of  Pillar  Rock.  This  part  of  the 
river  was  about  a  mile  and  a  half  wide,  receiving  several  cascades, — 
an  index  of  a  moister  climate, — from  the  cliffs  on  its  banks.  About 
two  in  the  afternoon  we  met,  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  waterfall  of 
some  hundred  feet  in  height,  a  boat  proceeding  from  Vancouver  to 
Wallawalla  with  letters,  taking  out  of  her  such  as  belonged  to  our- 
selves. 

About  sunset  we  called  at  the  company's  saw  and  grist  mills,  distant 
six  miles  from  the  fort,  while  the  company's  schooner  Cadboro,  that 
was  lying  there,  honored  us  with  a  salute,  which  served  also  as  a  sig- 
nal of  our  arrival  to  the  good  folks  of  Vancouver.     Being  anxious  to 


tf 


FROM  EDMONTON  HOUSE  TO  FORT  VANCOUVER. 


105 


approach  head  quarters  in  proper  style,  our  men  here  exchanged  the 
oar  for  the  paddle,  which,  hesides  being  more  orthodox  in  itself,  was 
better  adapted  to  the  quick  notes  of  the  voyageurs'  song.  In  less  than 
an  hour  afterwards,  we  landed  on  the  beach,  having  thus  crossed  the 
continent  of  North  America  at  its  widest  part,  by  a  route  of  :ibout  five 
thousand  miles,  in  the  space  of  twelve  weeks  of  actual  traveling.  We 
were  received  by  Mr.  Douglas,  as  Mr.  McLaughlin,  the  gentleman  in 
diarge,  was  absent  at  Puget  Sound. 


■■'^; 


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^,     ^^-^ 


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I'    :     '!»♦ 


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),  that 
lasig. 
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"%. 


106 


t*' 


»'T 


rilAPTER  IV. 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA, 


K     ' 


At  Vancouver  wo  found  two  vessels  of  the  United  States  Exploring 
Squadron,  under  the  eomniand  of  Commodore  Wilkes,  which  had 
come  hither  with  the  view  of  surveying  the  coast  and  river,  and  we 
here  spent  a  week  all  the  more  aL^reeably  on  tills  account.  As  I  should 
afterwards  have  a  l)etter  opportunity  of  noticing  this  fort  in  connection 
with  the  neighboring  country,  I  left  my  journal  untouched  till  I  re- 
sumed my  voyage,  in  order  to  inspect  our  own  parts  to  the  north>^ard, 
and  to  visit  tlie  Russians  at  Sitka. 

.  On  the  IsT of  September,  my  party,  now  strengthened  by  the  acces- 
sion of  Mr.  Douglas,  took  leave,  on  the  beach,  of  Commodore  Wilkes 
and  his  officers,  with  mutual  wishes  for  safety  and  success;  and,  by 
eleven  in  the  forenoon  we  were  under  way  in  a  large  and  heavy  bat- 
teau,  with  a  crew  of  ten  men.  On  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Wil- 
lamette, on  the  left  side  of  the  Columbia,  we  ascended  the  stream  till, 
after  rounding  Multonomah,  or  Wappatoo  Island,  we  were  retracing 
our  steps  to  the  main  river  by  the  lower  channel  of  its  tributary.  Our 
object  in  thus  deviating  from  our  proper  course,  was  to  call  at  the 
Company's  dairy;  and,  accordingly,  after  following  the  current  of  the 
west  branch  of  the  Willamette  for  aliout  five  miles,  we  landed  on  the 
delta  in  question  in  the  nelirhborhood  of  our  establishment.         * 

This  beautiful  island  is  fifteen  miles  in  length  by  seven  at  its  greatest 
breadth,  covered  with  abundance  of  timber  and  the  richest  pasturage; 
and  it  doubUess  owes  much  of  its  fertility  to  the  fact,  that  it  is  regu- 
larly overflowed  in  spring,  with  the  exception  of  its  higher  ridges, 
on  one  of  which  our  dairies  stand.  It  consists  entirely  of  alluvial  soil, 
formed,  most  probably,  by  the  accumulation  of  mud  and  driftwood 
against  a  rock  at  its  lower  extremity. 

At  the  dairy  we  found  about  a  hundred  milch  cows,  which  were  said 
to  yield,  on  an  average,  not  more  than  sixty  pounds  of  butter  each  in 
a  year;  and  there  were  also  two  or  three  hundred  cattle  that  were  left, 
merely  with  a  view  to  their  breeding,  to  roam  about  at  will.  The 
whole  were  under  the  charge  of  three  or  four  families  that  resided  on 
the  spot. 

In  addition  to  the  rock  already  mentioned, — the  back-bone,  so  to 
speak,  of  all  the  alluvial  accretions, — the  island  contains,  in  its  inte- 
rior, a  block  of  black  basalt,  rudely  chiseled  by  the  Indians  of  ancient 
days  into  a  column  of  four  feet  in  height  and  three  feet  in  diameter. 
Around  such  a  curiosity  superstition  has,  of  course,  thrown  her  mantle. 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


"tr 


107 


The  savages,  and  indeed  the  dairymen  also,  religriously  believe,  that 
any  person  who  may  touch  the  lonely  pillar,  .vill  bring  down  on  him- 
self the  vengeance  of  its  tutelary  deity.  Though  we  had  not  time  at 
present  to  enter  the  lists  against  this  jealous  spirit,  yet  Mr.  Douglas,  a 
year  or  two  ago,  had  been  rash  enough  to  try  to  move  his  mysterious 
shrine  from  its  place.  On  returning  to  the  dairy  to  sleep,  he  got  into 
bad  bread  with  the  Canadian  who  was  in  charge,  for  having  thus  dared 
the  demon  of  the  stone  to  do  his  worst;  and,  after  a  good  deal  of  argu- 
ment, they  parted  for  the  night,  the  master  as  skeptical,  and  the  man  as 
credulous  as  ever.  The  darkness,  however,  decided  this  drawn  battle 
in  the  Canadian's  favor,  for  a  fearful  storm,  the  work,  of  course,  of  the 
indignant  goblin,  almost  pulled  down  tiie  house  over  the  impious  head 
of  Mr.  Douglas. 

About  sunset  we  again  entered  the  Columbia,  endeavoring  to  reach 
Deer's  Island  for  supper.  Failing  in  this  attempt,  we  snapped  up  a 
hasty  meal  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river;  and  then,  after  wrapping  our- 
selves in  a  blanket  each,  we  lay  down  to  sleep  in  the  boat  while  she 
should  be  drifting  down  the  stream  all  night.  In  the  morning  we  were 
toiling  up  the  Cowlitz,  a  northerly  feeder  of  the  Columbia,  its  lofty  banks 
being  crowned  with  beautiful  forests,  whose  leafy  bowers,  unencum- 
bered by  brushwood,  realized  the  poet's  "boundless  contiguity  of 
shade."  As  a  proof  of  the  occasional  height  of  the  waters  of  this 
narrow  and  rapid  river,  driftwood  and  other  aqueous  deposits  were 
hanging,  high  and  dry,  on  the  overshadowing  branches,  at  an  altitude 
of  thirty  or  forty  feet  above  the  present  level  of  the  stream.  When 
the  Cowlitz  thus  fills  its  bed,  it  ceases  to  be  navigable,  at  least  for 
upward  crafts,  by  reason  of  the  violence  of  the  current;  and  perhaps 
the  same  circumstance  may  explain  the  otherwise  inexplicable  fact, 
that,  though  the  salmon  enter  this  river  in  autumn  on  their  way  from 
the  sea,  yet  in  spring,  when  the  waters  are,  of  course,  at  their  highest, 
they  never  do  so  by  any  chance. 

Even  at  present,  the  current  was  so  powerful,  that  our  rate  of  pro- 
gress never  exceeded  two  miles  an  hour.  When  I  descended  the  Cow- 
litz in  1828,  there  was  a  large  population  along  its  banks ;  but  since  then 
the  intermittent  fever,  which  commenced  its  ravages  in  the  following 
year,  had  left  but  few  to  mourn  for  those  that  fell.  During  the  whole 
of  our  day's  course,  till  we  came  upon  a  small  camp  in  the  evening, 
the  shores  were  silent  and  solitary,  the  deserted  villages  forming  me- 
lancholy monuments  of  the  generation  that  had  passed  away.  Along  the 
river  large  quantities  of  an  imperfect  coal  are  found  on  the  surface. 

Our  batleau  carried  as  curious  a  muster  of  races  arid  languages  as 
perhaps  had  ever  been  congregated  within  the  same  compass  in  any 
part  of  the  world.  Our  crew  of  ten  men  contained  Iroquois,  who 
spoke  their  own  tongue;  a  Cree  half-bred,  of  French  origin,  who  ap- 
peared to  have  borrowed  his  dialect  from  both  his  parents;  a  North 
Briton,  who  understood  only  the  Gaelic  of  his  native  hills;  Canadi- 
ans, who,  of  course,  knew  French;  and  Sandwich  Islanders,  who 
jabbered  a  medley  of  Chinook,  English,  and  their  own  vernacular 
jargon.     Add  to  all  this  that  the  passengers  were  natives  of  England, 


»  -;  ■ 

A 

'4i 


108 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


■^h 


■!!' 


,./M 


Scotland,  Russia,  Canada,  and  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  territo- 
ries ;  and  you  have  the  prettiest  congress  of  nations,  the  nicest  con- 
fusion of  tongues,  that  has  ever  taken  place  since  the  days  of  the 
Tower  of  Babel.  At  the  native  camp,  near  which  we  halted  for  the 
night,  we  enriched  our  many  clans  with  one  variety  more  by  hiring  a 
canoe,  and  its  complement  of  Chinooks,  to  accompany  us. 

Next  morning  Mr.  Douglas,  in  company  with  our  Chinook  allies, 
started  a  little  before  us,  in  order  to  get  horses,  &c.,  ready  for  us  at 
the  landing  place ;  .ind  by  noon,  when  we  reached  the  spot  in  question, 
we  found  that,  in  his  lighter  craft,  he  had  gained  four  hours  on  us, 
having  thus  had  time  to  bring  our  steeds  from  the  Cowlitz  Farm,  about 
ten  miles  distant.  Right  glad  were  we  to  leave  our  clumsy  batteau 
after  an  imprisonment  of  eight  and  forty  hours. 

Between  the  Cowlitz  River  and  Puget  Sound, — a  distance  of  about 
sixty  miles, — the  country,  which  is  watered  by  many  streams  and 
lakes,  consists  of  an  alternation  of  plains  and  belts  of  wood.  It  is 
well  adapted  both  for  tillage  and  for  pasturage,  possessing  a  genial 
climate,  good  soil,  excellent  timber,  water  power,  natural  clearjpgs, 
and  a  seaport,  and  that,  too,  within  reach  of  more  than  one  advantage- 
ous market.  When  this  tract  was  explored  a  few  years  ago,  the  com- 
pany established  two  farms  upon  it,  which  were  subsequently  trans- 
ferred to  the  Puget  Sound  Agricultural  Association,  formed  under  the 
company's  auspices,  with  the  view  of  producing  wheat,  wool,  hides, 
and  tallow,  for  exportation. 

On  the  Cowlitz  farm  there  were  already  about  a  thousand  acres  of 
land  under  the  plough,  besides  a  large  dairy,  an  extensive  park  for 
horses,  &c. ;  and  the  crops  this  season  had  amounted  to  eight  or  nine 
thousand  bushels  of  wheat,  four  thousand  of  oats,  with  due  proportions 
of  barley,  potatoes,  &c.  The  other  farm  was  on  the  shores  of  Puget 
Sound;  and  as  its  soil  was  found  to  be  better  fitted  for  pasturage  than 
tillage,  it  had  been  appropriated  almost  exclusively  to  the  flocks  and 
herds,  so  that  now,  with  only  two  hundred  acres  of  cultivated  land,  it 
possessed  six  thousand  sheep,  twelve  hundred  cattle,  besides  horses, 
pigs,  &c. 

In  addition  to  these  two  farms,  there  was  a  Catholic  mission,  with 
about  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  under  the  plough.  There  were  also 
a  few  Canadian  settlers,  retired  servants  of  The  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany ;  and  it  was  to  this  same  neighborhood  that  the  emigrants  from 
Red  River  were  wending  their  way. 

The  climate  is  propitious,  while  the  seasons  are  remarkably  regular. 
Between  the  beginning  of  April  and  the  end  of  September  there  is  a 
continuance  of  dry  weather,  generally  warm,  and  often  hot,  the  mer- 
cury having  this  year  risen  at  Nisqually  to  107°  in  the  shade;  March 
and  October  are  unsettled  and  showery;  and  during  the  four  months 
of  winter  there  is  almost  constant  rain,  wliile  the  temperature  is  so 
mild  that  the  cattle  and  sheep  not  only  remain  out  of  doors,  but  even 
find  fresh  grass  for  themselves  from  day  to  day. 

Of  the  aborigines  there  are  but  three  small  tribes  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, the  Cowlitz,  the  Checaylis  and  the  'Squally,  now  all  quiet,  in- 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


109 


offensive  and  industrious  people;  and, as  aproof  of  this  tlieir  character, 
ihey  do  very  well  as  a^ricult  Tal  servants,  thereby  forming  an  import- 
ant element  in  estimating  the  advantages  of  the  district  for  settlement 
and  cultivation. 

Having  halted  five  miles  beyond  the  Cowlitz  farm,  we  raised  camp 
next  morning  at  four.  The  belts  of  wood  which  separated  the  plains 
from  each  other  were  composed  of  stately  cedars  and  pines,  many  of 
them  rising  without  a  branch  or  a  bend  to  a  height  of  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet.  Some  of  these  primeval  children  of  the  soil  were  three  or 
four  hundred  feet  high,  while  they  measured  thirty  in  girth  at  a  dis- 
tance of  five  feet  from  the  ground ;  and,  by  actual  measurement,  one 
fallen  trunk,  by  no  means  the  largest  that  could  have  been  selected, 
was  found  to  be  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  and  to  be  twenty-five 
round  at  eight  feet  from  the  root. 

Like  the  Multonomah  Island,  these  plains  have  their  mysterious 
stone.  This  rudely  carved  block,  the  only  thing  of  the  kind  in  the 
neighborhood,  was  carried  to  its  present  position  from  a  considerable 
distance  by  a  mighty  man  of  old  times,  who  could  lift  a  horse  by 
stooping  under  its  belly,  and  carry  about  the  brute,  all  alive  and  kick- 
ing, for  a  whole  day.  It  is  perhaps  a  blessing  that  the  human  race  in 
these  parts  has  degenerated,  for  otherwise  horses  would  have  been  as 
likely  to  bridle  and  spur  men  as  men  to  bridle  and  spur  horses.  The 
stone,  which  weighs  about  a  ton,  still  remains  where  the  Skookoom,  to 
use  the  native  term,  dropped  it,  a  monument  of  the  degeneracy  of  all 
succeeding  sojourners  in  the  country,  whether  red  or  white. 

We  breakfasted  at  the  Checaylis,  a  navigable  stream  falling  into 
Gray's  Harbor,  about  forty  miles  to  the  north  of  Cape  Disappoint- 
ment. Near  this  river  was  a  narrow  belt  of  wood,  which  divided  the 
stronger  soil,  that  we  had  passed,  from  the  lighter  soil  that  lay  before 
us,  no  clay  being  found  to  the  northward  as  far  as  Puget  Sound,  and 
no  sand  to  the  southward  as  far  as  the  Cowlitz  River. 

Beyond  the  Checaylis  the  plains  became  more  extensive,  with  fewer 
belts  of  wood,  though  there  was  still  more  than  a  sufficiency  of  timber 
for  every  purpose.  Towards  the  'Squally,  or,  as  the  whites  term  it 
by  way  of  elegance,  the  Nisqually  River,  we  passed  over  a  space  of 
ten  or  twelve  miles  in  length,  covered  with  thousands  of  mounds,  or 
hammocks,  all  of  a  perfectly  round  shape,  but  of  different  sizes.  They 
are  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  and  from  five  to  fifteen  in 
height;  and  they  all  touch,  but  barely  touch,  each  other.  They  must 
have  been  the  work  of  nature;  for,  if  they  were  the  work  of  man, 
there  would  have  been  pits  adjacent  whence  the  earth  was  taken;  but, 
M'hatever  has  been  their  origin,  they  must  be  very  ancient,  inasmuch 
as  many  of  them  bear  large  trees. 

After  crossing  the  'Squally  River  we  arrived  at  Fort  Nisqually  on  the 
evening  of  our  fourth  day  from  Fort  Vancouver.  Being  unwilling  to 
commence  our  voyage  on  a  Sunday,  we  remained  here  for  six  and  thirty 
iiours  inspecting  the  farm  and  dairy  and  visiting  Dr.  Richmond,  an 
American  missionary  stationed  in  the  neighborhood.  The  surrounding 
scenery  is  very  beautiful.    On  the  borders  of  an  arm  of  the  sea  of  about 


^ 


•I 


110 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


two  miles  in  width,  arc  undulnting  plains  of  excellent  pasturnffc  present- 
in}^  a  pretty  variety  of  copses  of  oak  and  placid  lakes,  and  abounding  in 
chevreuil  and  other  game. 

The  sound  yields  plenty  of  fish,  such  as  salmon,  rock,  cod,  halibut, 
flounders,  (fee.  The  dog-fish  and  the  shark  are  also  numerous,  some  of 
the  latter  having  been  caught  here,  this  summer,  of  five  or  six  feet  in 
length. 

Near  tlie  fort  there  was  a  small  camp  of  'Squallies  under  the  command 
of  Luckalett,  a  good  friend  of  the  traders.  The  establishment  is  frequent- 
ed also  by  the  (.'hillams,  the  Paaylaps,  the  Scatchetts,  tiie  Checaylis,  and 
other  tribes,  amounting  in  all,  the  'Squallies  included,  to  nearly  four 
thousand  souls. 

At  noon  on  Monday,  the  6th  of  September,  we  embarked  on  board 
of  the  lieaver  steamer.  Captain  McXcill,  leaving  Mr.  Hopkins  in  tem- 
porary charge  of  Nisqually  along  with  Mr.  Heath.  Starting  under  a 
salute  of  seven  guns,  we  pushed  along  against  a  strong  breeze,  till  we 
anchored,  about  five  in  the  afternoon,  to  enable  the  engineer  to  repair 
some  damage  which  the  m.achinery  had  sustained;  but,  the  job  being 
completed  by  nine,  we  then  steamed  on  all  night. 

About  seven  in  the  morning  we  passed  along  the  inner  end  of  Fuca's 
Straits,  the  first  of  the  numberless  inlets  of  this  coast  that  was  ever  dis- 
covered by  civilized  man.  The  neighboring  country,  comprising  the 
southern  end  of  Vancouver's  Island,  is  well  adapted  for  colonization, 
for,  in  addition  to  a  tolerable  soil  and  a  moderate  climate,  it  possesses 
excellent  harbors  and  abundance  of  timber.  It  will  doubtless  become, 
in  time,  the  most  valuable  section  of  the  whole  coast  above  California. 

As  a  foul  wind  and  a  heavy  sea  prevented  us  from  making  more  than 
two  miles  and  a  half  an  hour,  we  resolved  to  wood  and  water  behind 
Point  Roberts,  near  the  mouth  of  Frazer's  River,  a  stream  which,  after 
traversing  New  Caledonia,  on  its  way  from  the  Rocky  Mountains,  falls 
into  the  Gulf  of  Georgia,  in  lat.  49°.  If  this  parallel,  as  proposed  by 
the  Americans,  should  become  the  international  boundary  on  the  west 
side  of  the  height  of  land,  Britain  would  not  only  be  surrendering  all  the 
territory  of  any  agricultural  value,  but  would  also  virtually  cut  oflf  the 
interior  and  the  coast  of  her  own  share  from  each  other.  Frazer's 
River  had  never  been  wholly  descended  by  whites  previously  to  1828, 
when,  in  order  to  explore  the  navigation  all  the  way  to  the  sea,  I  started 
from  Stuart's  Lake  with  three  canoes.  I  found  the  stream  hardly  prac- 
ticable even  for  any  craft  excepting  that,  for  the  first  twenty-five  miles 
from  its  mouth,  it  might  receive  large  vessels.  This  river,  therefore, 
is  of  little  or  no  use  to  England,  as  a  channel  of  communication  with 
the  interior;  and,  in  fact,  the  trade  of  New  Caledonia,  the  very  country 
which  it  drains,  is  carried  on  over  land  to  Okanagan  and  thence  down 
the  Columbia. 

Behind  Point  Roberts  there  was  a  large  camp  of  about  a  thousand 
savages,  inhabitants  of  Vancouver's  Island,  who  periodically  cross  the 
gulf  to  Frazer's  River  for  the  purpose  of  fishing.  A  great  number  of 
canoes  assisted  us  in  bringing  over  wood  and  water  from  the  shore, 
some  of  them  paddled  entirely  by  young  girls  of  remarkably  interesting 


c^ 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


ill 


and  comnly  nppearanre.     These  people  oflered  us  salmon,  potatoes, 
berries  and  shell-fish  for  sale. 

The  wind  havinj?  moderated,  wo  weijilird  atiehor  about  one  in  the 
morninjj  and  continued  our  course  between  Vancouver's  Island  and  the 
main  land  till  three  in  the  afternoon.  The  channel  rarely  exceeded  six 
miles  in  width;  and  the  shores,  on  Ijoth  sides,  were  so  mountainous 
that  the  peaks,  thouirh  situated  only  in  50^  of  latitude,  were  covered 
with  perpetual  snow.  In  the  course  of  the  forenoon  we  crossed  the 
parallel  of  the  once  famoiis  Nootka  Sound,  breastinjf  the  open  ocean  on 
the  other  side  of  Vancouver's  Island,  an  inlet  wliich,  after  nearly  in- 
volving Spain  and  England  in  war,  was  reduced  into  insiirnificance  by 
the  discovery  of  the  very  path  which  we  were  traversing.  So  long  as 
the  port  in  question  was  supposed  to  be  on  the  old  continent,  it  pro- 
mised to  be  a  channel  of  communication  with  the  interior,  the  more 
valuable  on  account  of  the  absence  of  any  rival,  while,  with  the  help 
of  the  imagination,  it  was  magnified  into  the  mouth  of  the  great  river  of 
the  west. 

We  anchored  in  the  snug  little  harbor  of  the  Island  of  Feveda  to  take 
in  wood  and  water.  Captain  McNeill  generally  preferred  halting  here 
on  account  of  the  superiority  of  the  fuel,  which  was  both  close  in  the 
grain  and  resinous;  and  he  stated  that  a  cord  of  it  was  almost  as  dura- 
ble as  two  cords  of  any  other  growth.  For  this  singular  fact  there  must 
be  a  reason,  which  may  be  expected  to  lurk  rather  in  the  soil  than  in 
the  climate;  and,  whether  or  not  the  two  peculiarities  be  respectively 
cause  and  effect,  the  isle  in  question  is  almost  entirely  composed  of 
limestone,  which,  if  it  exist  elsewhere  on  the  coast,  is  found  only  in 
very  small  quantities. 

Rather  with  the  view  of  beguiling  the  time  than  in  the  hope  of  en- 
riching our  larder,  we  went  ashore  to  shoot  deer,  which  were  said  to  be 
here  very  numerous;  and  we  certainly  did  see  several  chevreuil,  which 
took  care,  however,  to  keep  at  a  safe  distance  from  us.  But  we  found 
one  object  of  interest  in  an  old  beaver-dam  of  great  extent;  none  of  us 
had  ever  seen  signs  of  the  beaver  in  a  similar  situation  or  ever  suspected 
any  predilection  on  the  part  of  the  animal  for  salt  water.  Perhaps, 
with  so  mountainous  a  coast  and  so  narrow  a  sea,  nature  may  have 
formed  a  congenial  path  over  the  briny  depths  by  means  of  the  fresh- 
ets of  spring,  just  as  every  rapid  river  overlays  an  extent  of  ocean  pro- 
portioned to  the  strength  of  its  current. 

Failing  in  our  attempts  on  the  deer,  I  resolved  to  angle  away  the 
hours  without  caring  much  what  I  might  hook,  and  I  succeeded  to  ad- 
miration in  hauling  up  several  dog-fish — the  presence  of  those  sharks 
in  miniature  sufficiently  accounting  for  the  absence  of  more  delicate 
prey. 

So  far  as  utility  was  concerned,  our  failures  in  the  sporting  way 
were  remedied  by  an  Indian,  who,  with  his  pretty  wife  and  a  child, 
brought  us  off  a  brace  of  deer ;  and  then  the  industrious  fellow,  for  some 
trifling  consideration  or  other,  assisted  us  in  wooding  and  watering, — 
a  kind  of  help  which,  in  order  to  save  time,  Captain  McNeill  was 
always  glad  to  accept. 


I 


m 


112 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


¥ 


II 


"We  were  detained  the  whole  of  the  next  day  by  the  same  indis- 
priisable  business  of  supplying  the  steamer  with  fuel.  In  fact,  as  the 
'  ^ssel  carries  only  one  day's  stock,  about  forty  cords,  and  takes  about 
the  same  time  to  cut  the  wood  as  to  burn  it,  she  is  at  least  as  much  at 
anchor  as  she  is  under  way,  a  good  deal  of  her  delay,  however,  being 
rendered  necessary,  without  reference  to  the  demands  of  her  furnace, 
by  wind  and  weather,  and  also  for  the  purpose  of  dealing  with  the 
natives.  Still,  on  the  whole,  the  paddle  is  far  preferable  to  canvas  in 
these  inland  waters,  which  extend  from  Puget  iSound  to  Cross  Sound, 
by  reason  of  the  strength  of  the  currents,  the  variableness  of  the  winds, 
the  narrowness  of  the  channc.'ls  and  the  intricacy  and  ruggedness  of  the 
line  of  coast.  We  found  Vancouver's  charts  so  minute  and  accurate, 
that,  amid  all  our  difFiculties,  we  never  had  to  struggle  with  such  as 
mere  science  could  be  expected  to  overcome,  and,  in  justice  both  to 
our  own  navigator  and  to  one  of  his  successors  in  the  same  path,  I 
ought  to  mention,  that  Commodore  Wilkes,  after  a  comparatively 
tedious  survey  from  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  to  that  of  Frazer's 
River,  admitted,  that  he  had  required  to  make  but  few  and  inconsider- 
able corrections. 

Leaving  Feveda  early  on  the  morning  of  the  tenth,  we  steamed 
against  a  strong  wind,  till  at  dusk  we  got  into  the  safe  harbor  of  Port 
Neville.  In  the  course  of  the  forenoon,  three  villages  of  Comouc?, 
that  were  opposite  to  Point  Mudge,  sent  off  forty  or  fifty  canoes  to 
us,  whose  inmates,  amounting  perhaps  to  eight  hundred  of  all  ages  and 
both  sexes,  made  all  sorts  of  noises  to  induce  us  to  stop.  They 
appeared  to  be  a  well  made  race,  the  women  in  particular  having 
a  soft  and  pleasing  expression  of  countenance.  The  ladies,  who 
obviously  appreciated  their  own  beauty,  attempted,  by  a  liberal  dis- 
play of  their  charms,  and  by  every  winning  way  that  they  could  devise, 
to  obtain  permission  to  come  on  board.  We  did  allow  a  chief  of  the 
Quakeolths  to  embark  along  with  his  wife  and  child,  as  he  was  desir- 
ous of  obtaining  a  passage  to  his  village,  about  seventy  miles  distant, 
while  his  canoe,  a  pretty  little  craft  of  about  twelve  paddles,  was  taken 
in  tow.  This  was  not  this  grandee's  first  trip  in  the  Beaver.  On  a 
former  occasion  he  had  made  love  to  the  captain's  wife,  who  was 
accompanying  her  husband  ;  and,  when  he  found  her  obdurate,  he 
transferred  his  attentions  to  Mrs.  Manson,  who  happened  to  be  on 
board  along  with  Mr.  Manson  himself,  till,  on  being  sent  by  her  to 
negotiate  with  her  husband,  he  gravely  backed  his  application  by 
offering  him  a  large  bundle  of  furs.  On  the  present  occasion,  also, 
this  ardent  admirer  of  the  fair  sex  was  true  to  his  system,  for  he  took 
a  great  fancy  to  an  English  woman  on  board,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
with  more  generosity  than  justice,  he  recommended  his  own  princess, 
not  to  the  woman's  husband,  but  to  myself. 

In  the  fleet,  that  swarmed  around  us,  we  observed  two  peculiarly 
neat  canoes  with  fourteen  paddles  each,  which  savoured  very  strongly 
of  honeymoon.  Each  carried  a  young  couple,  who,  both  in  dress  and 
demeanor,  were  evidently  a  newly  married  pair.  The  gentlemen, 
with  their  "  arms  around  their  dearies  O,"  were  lavishing  their  litde 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


113 


attentioiiH  on  the  ladies  to  the  obvious  satisfaction  of  both  parlies.  The 
brides  were  young  and  pretty,  tastefully  decked  out  with  beads,  bracc- 
Itts,  anklets  and  various  ornaments  in  their  hair,  and  above  all,  with 
blankets  so  sweet,  and  sound,  and  clean,  that  they  could  not  be  other- 
wise than  new.  The  bridegrooms  were  smart,  active,  handsome 
fellows,  all  as  fine  as  a  holiday,  and  more  particularly  proud  of  their 
turbans  of  white  calico. 

In  the  afternoon  we  passed  another  village  near  the  narrowest  point 
of  Johnston's  Straits.  Here  we  were  greatly  impeded  by  deep  whirl- 
pools and  a  short  sea,  which  were  said  generally  to  mark  tiie  narrows, 
and  to  be  caused  by  the  collision  of  the  tides  or  currents  flowing  round 
the  opposite  ends  of  Vancouver's  Island  from  the  open  ocean.  John- 
ston's Straits  might  be  reckoned,  as  it  were,  the  height  of  land  in  the 
Gulf  of  Georgia. 

Next  morning  a  dense  fog  threatened  to  detain  us  all  day,  and  might 
have  detained  us  for  weeks.  In  fact,  Mr.  Finlayson  of  Red  River 
was,  in  the  year  1837,  held  a  prisoner  for  a  fortnight,  within  a  few 
miles  of  his  home,  by  a  fog  worthy  of  keeping  Christmas  in  London. 
Luckily,  however,  we  got  out  of  limbo  about  noon  ;  and,  passing 
within  an  hour  the  home  of  our  Quakeolth  Lothario,  we  entered 
McNeill's  Harbor  for  the  purpose  of  trading,  where  we  were  soon 
visited  by  thirty  or  forty  canoes,  crowded  with  men,  women  and 
children.  The  standard  of  prices  being  fixed  after  two  hours  of  hig- 
gling, the  business  then  went  on  briskly.  To  avoid  the  inconvenience 
and  danger  of  a  crowd,  half  a  dozen  only  of  the  savages  were  to  be 
admitted  on  deck  at  once  ;  and,  in  order  to  enforce  the  regulation,  five 
sentinels  were  stationed  at  the  gangways,  on  the  poop  and  on  the 
paddle  boxes,  while  the  boarding  netting,  as  amounting  to  a  mystery 
or  a  medicine,  formed  a  better  protection  than  all  the  watchmen  put 
together. 

Stationing  himself  at  the  steerage  hatchway.  Captain  McNeill  threw 
down  each  skin,  as  he  examined  it,  with  its  price  chalked  on  it, — the 
equivalents  being  handed  up  from  below  by  the  two  or  three  men  that 
were  in  charge  of  the  store.  The  natives,  now  that  they  no  longer 
dare  to  employ  force  against  the  whites,  still  occasionally  resort  to 
fraud,  practising  every  trick  and  device  to  cheat  their  trader.  One 
favorite  artifice  is  to  stretch  the  tails  of  land  otters  into  those  of  sea 
otters.  Again,  when  a  skin  is  rejected  as  being  deficient  in  size  or 
defective  in  quality,  it  is  immediately,  according  to  circumstances, 
enlarged,  or  colored,  or  pressed  to  order,  and  is  then  submitted,  as  a 
virgin  article,  to  the  buyer's  criticism  by  a  different  customer.  In 
short,  these  artists  of  the  northwest  coast  could  dye  a  horse  with  any 
jockey  in  the  civilized  world,  or  "  freshen  up"  a  faded  sole  with  the 
most  ingenious  and  unscrupulous  of  fishmongers.  As  he  has  neither 
mayor  nor  alderman  to  invoke  in  such  cases,  Captain  McNeill  dis- 
penses summary  justice  on  his  own  account,  commissioning  his 
boatswain  to  take  the  law,  and  the  rope's  end  as  its  emblem,  into  his 
own  hand.  " 

PART  I. — 8  '#  ^ 


t 


J 


114 


FUOM  VANCOUVKR  TO  SITKA. 


Hoth  men  antl  women  were  wcU-prown,  with  reeular  and  plcasini; 
features.  Inilei'tl  the  jjirls  were  exeeedingly  pretty,  and  looked  quite 
healthy.  In  fact,  hcHidcs  living  well  on  the  best  of  lish  and  the  bent 
of  venison,  these  people  have  comparatively  few  diseases  among  thcnj. 
They  have  kept  pretty  free  of  syphilis  by  having  had  little  or  no  inter- 
course with  foreign  seamen,  for  sailing  vessels  never  attempted,  as  a 
matter  of  business,  the  channel  between  Vancouver's  Island  and  the 
mainland.  Curiously  enough,  too,  they  have  been  exempted  from  the 
small-pox,  though  their  brethren,  both  to  the  south  of  the  Columbia 
and  in  llussian  America,  have  sufl'ered  severely  from  that  terrible 
scourge.  To  secure  to  them  a  continuance  of  this  happy  immunity, 
we  begged  permission  from  the  chiefs  of  the  Quakcolths,  to  vaccinate 
the  children  of  the  tribe  ;  but  as  they  neither  did,  nor  could,  appreciate 
the  unknown  blessing,  we  preferred  leaving  things  as  they  were,  know- 
ing well,  from  our  experience  of  the  native  character,  that  our  medicine 
would  get  the  credit  of  any  epidemic  that  might  follow,  or  perhaps  ol 
any  failure  of  the  hunt  or  the  fishery. 

Instead  of  letting  their  hair  flow  loosely  over  the  shoulders,  as 
most  of  the  aborigines  of  North  America  do,  these  people  brush  it  up 
all  round,  tying  it  in  a  bunch  at  the  crown  of  the  head,  or  else  hanging 
it  down  the  back  in  the  form  of  a  thick  pigtail.  This  mode  of  dress- 
ing the  hair  naturally  gives  the  head  something  of  a  conical  appear- 
ance ;  and  as  custom  more  or  less  influences  one's  ideas  of  beauty,  the 
Quakeolths  deliberately  cherish  this  peculiarity  of  aspect  by  the  appli- 
cation of  ligatures  in  infancy.  Whether  they  are  obliged  to  sleep  with 
their  eyes  open,  like  the  drummer-boy  who  escaped  a  flogging  for 
doing  so,  by  showing  that  his  queue  held  back  his  eyelids,  I  cannot  tell. 
This  much,  however,  I  did  observe,  that  the  denuding  of  the  face  pro- 
duced a  good-humored  semblance  of  candor  and  honesty  which  their 
whole  history  belied. 

Speaking  of  the  dressing  of  hair,  there  was  on  board  of  one  of  the 
ships  of  the  American  Squadron,  a  captive  chief  of  the  Fejee  Islands, 
who,  when  "  forced  from  home  and  all  its  pleasures,"  had  begged,  al- 
most with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  his  friseur  might  be  allowed  to  accom- 
pany him  into  exile.  So  careful  are  the  grandees  of  that  group  said 
to  be  of  their  well  curled  locks,  that,  to  prevent  any  derangement  of 
the  same,  they  sleep  with  their  necks  across  a  bamboo,  and  their  heads; 
in  free  space. 

In  addition  to  the  mode  of  dressing  the  hair,  the  people  of  this  coast 
have  several  other  peculiarities  which  appear  to  indicate  an  Asiatic  ori- 
gin. In  taking  a  woman  to  wife,  the  husband  buys  her  from  her  father 
for  a  price  as  his  perpetual  property ;  so  that,  if  she  separates  from 
him,  whetheruhrough  his  fault  or  her  own,  she  can  never  marry  another 
during  his  life.  Again,  with  respect  to  funerals,  the  corpse,  after  being 
kept  for  several  days,  is  consumed  by  fire,  while  the  widow,  if  any 
there  be,  rests  her  head  on  the  body,  till  dragged  from  the  flames,  rather 
dead  than  alive,  by  her  relatives.  If  the  poor  creature  recovers  from  the 
efl'ects  of  this  species  of  suttee,  she  collects  the  ashes  of  her  deceased 
lord  and  master,  which  she  carries  about  her  person  for  three  long  years ; 


FROM  VANCOUVKIl  TO  SITKA. 


115 


pleaHiiiir 
ed  quite 
ihe  best 
ig  them, 
no  intiT- 
led,  as  a 
and  the 
from  the 
JoluniMii 
terrible 
iimunity, 
vaccinate 
ppreciate 
re,  know- 
in  edici  no 
erliaps  ol 

ilders,  as 
ush  it  up 
B  hanging 

of  drcss- 
il  appear- 
eauly,  the 
the  appU- 
sleep  vvitli 

gging  for 

annot  tell. 

face  pro- 

lich  their 

»ne  of  the 
|e  Islands, 
legged,  al- 
Ito  accont- 
Toup  said 
jemenl  ol 
leir  headti 

[this  coast 
Isiatic  ori- 
ler  father 
ites  from 
l:y  another 
Ifter  being 
Iw,  if  any 
)es,  rather 
from  the 
deceased 
ing  years; 


and  any  levity  on  her  part  during  this  period,  or  even  any  dericiomy 
in  grief,  renders  her  an  outeast  for  e\er. 

Though  these  tribes  no  longer  dare  to  massacre  or  plunder  whiio 
visitors,  yet  they  are  stil)  as  treacherous  as  ever  to  each  other.  About 
a  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  Quakeolths  were  recently  proceeding  by 
canoe  to  Nootka,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  trading,  and  partly  with  the 
view  of  paying  off  some  old  score  or  other  to  a  hostile  clan.  On  their 
way  they  found  a  party  of  armed  Sebassamen,  about  thirty  in  number, 
on  a  small  island,  whom  they  coolly  determined  to  destroy  by  strata- 
gem. Accordingly,  making  signs  of  peace  and  lying  on  their  paddles, 
they  explained  that  they  were  going  to  make  war  in  the  neisrhborhood 
of  Nootka,  adding,  at  the  same  time,  that  with  ref(!ren<'e  to  this  t)bject 
of  their  expedition,  they  would  be  glad  to  give  the  Sebassamen  a  capital 
bargain  of  sea  otters  in  exchange  for  their  guns  and  ammunition.  Con- 
scious of  their  weakness,  the  Sebassamen  accepted  the  insidious  oiler, 
and  that  the  more  readily,  inasmuch  as  the  particular  skins  in  (luestioii, 
the  only  equivalent  received  at  our  forts  for  arms,  «S:c.,  might  soon  be 
made  to  double  the  stock  that  they  were  surrendering.  Meanwhile  the 
Quakeolths  were  landing  one  canoe  after  another,  till  at  last,  besides 
recovering  their  sea  otters,  they  butchered  four  and  twenty  of  their 
credulous  customers.  The  six  wretches,  whom  the  villains  spared 
for  a  bondage  worse  than  death,  we  saw  in  the  little  fleet  that  was 
lying  alongside  of  ourselves. 

Hut  the  Quakeolths,  notwithstanding  all  their  guile  and  ferocity,  re- 
ligiously observe,  even  towards  their  foes,  the  laws  of  hospitality.  If 
a  stray  enemy,  who  may  find  himself  in  the  vicinity  of  one  of  their 
camps,  can  proceed,  before  he  is  recognized,  to  the  chiefs  lodge,  he  is 
safe,  both  in  person  and  in  property,  on  the  easy  condition  of  making 
a  small  present  to  his  protector.  The  guest  remains  as  long  as  he 
pleases,  enjoying  the  festivities  of  the  whole  village ;  .and  when  he 
wishes  to  depart,  he  carries  away  his  property  untouched,  together 
with  a  present  fully  equal  to  what  he  himself  may  have  given.  More- 
over, the  Quakeolths,  more  honorable  and  consistent  tlian  the  Arabs, 
are  so  far  from  following  their  guest  in  order  to  plunder  him,  that  they 
guarantee  his  safety  to  the  utmost  limits  of  their  territory. 

To  resume  my  narrative,  our  traffic  continued  till  the  following 
noon ;  and  meanwhile,  such  of  our  men  as  were  not  occupied  in  trading 
or  watching,  had  been  cutting  wood,  which  the  Indians  conveyed  on 
board  in  their  canoes.  The  furs,  amounting  in  value  to  about  five 
hundred  pounds  sterling,  consisted  of  martens,  racoons,  beaver,  bears, 
lynxes,  and  both  kinds  of  otters,  while  the  equivalents  were  blankets, 
tobacco,  vermilion,  files,  knives,  a  small  quantity  of  cloth,  and  only 
two  guns  with  a  corresponding  allowance  of  ammunition.  Generally 
speaking,  the  natives  were  tiresome  in  their  bargaining  ;  and  they  were 
ever  ready  to  suspend  business  for  a  moment  in  order  to  enjoy  any 
passing  joke.  They  appeared,  however,  to  understand  the  precise 
length  to  which  they  might  go  in  teasing  Captain  M'Neill.  They 
made  sad  work,  by  the  by, of  his  name,  for,  whenever  his  head  showed 
itself  above  the  bulwarks,  young  and  old,  male  and  female,  vociferated 


I  m 


ti  ■       V 


116 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


li/  •» 


from  every  cnnop,  Ma-ta-hcll,  Mn-ta-hcll,  Ma-ta-hrll,  a  word  which,  witlj 
ihc  coniparntivr  iiKhHlinctiH'Hs  of  ilH  first  nyllable,  Hounded  very  like  a 
reqiicHl  on  their  part  that  their  trader  mi^ht  jfo  a  (freat  way  beyond  the 
en>?ineer'H  furnaee.  Their  organs  ol'«|)eeeh  are  altojjethcr  too  feeble  for 
the  enunciation  of  KnpliNfi  words  ;  and,  as  a  proof  of  this,  Macuhtih  and 
liins^init  are  stated  in  "Astoria"  to  have  been  their  cleverest  iiaitations 
of  Vancouver  and  Jirottirfiton. 

Alonpf  the  whole  coast  the  savages  generally  live  well.  They  have 
l)oth  shell  fish  and  other  fish  in  great  variety,  with  berries,  seaweed  and 
venison.  Of  the  finny  race,  salmon  is  the  best  and  most  abundant, 
while,  at  certain  seasons,  the  ullachan,  very  closely  resembling  the 
sardine  in  richness  and  delicacy,  is  taken  with  great  care  in  some 
localities.  This  fish  yields  an  extraordinary  quantity  of  very  fine  oil, 
which,  being  highly  prized  by  the  natives,  is  a  great  article  of  trade 
M'ith  the  Indians  of  the  interior,  and  also  of  such  parts  of  the  coast  as 
do  not  furnish  the  luxury  in  question.  This  uil  is  used  as  a  sauce  at 
all  their  meals — if  supping  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night  can  be 
called  a  meal — with  fish,  with  seaweed,  with  berries,  with  roots,  with 
venison,  &c.  Nor  is  it  less  available  for  the  toilet  than  for  culinary 
purposes ;  it  is  made  to  supply  the  want  of  soap  and  water,  smearing 
the  face  or  any  other  part  of  the  body  that  is  deemed  worthy  of  ablu- 
tion, which,  when  well  scrubbed  with  a  mop  of  sedge,  looks  as  clean 
as  possible.  In  addition  to  this  essential  business  of  purifying  and 
polishing,  the  oil  of  the  ullachan  does  duty  as  bear's  grease  for  the 
luiir ;  and  some  of  the  young  damsels,  when  fresh  from  their  unctuous 
labors,  must  be  admitted  to  shine  considerably  in  society. 

Still,  however,  the  natives  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages  cherish  various 
peculiarities  which  are  repugnant  to  our  notions  of  taste  and  cleanli- 
ness. They  eructate  so  industriously  that  they  may  almost  be  said  to 
breathe  by  belching,  while,  if  the  truth  must  be  told,  the  expectora- 
tion of  atmosphere  is  by  no  means  their  only  mode  of  creating  an  in- 
ternal vacuum.  Then  they  pick  vermin  from  their  heads  and  garments, 
which,  on  a  principle  of  strict  justice,  they  invariably  put  into  their 
mouths,  excepting  that  a  tender  mother  sometimes  waives  her  own 
natural  right  to  the  delicacy  in  favor  of  her  child.  Lastly,  they  are 
perpetually  spitting,  not  in  solid  globules,  but  in  a  curiously  hissing 
spray  of  small  shot. 

While  our  people  were  chopping  wood,  they  got  one  of  their  axes 
stolen.  They  said  nothing,  however,  about  it,  till  they  came  on  board ; 
and  then  a  beaver  was  taken  from  a  noisy  fellow  with  a  hint,  that,  if  he 
wished  to  have  his  skin  back,  he  had  better  find  the  missing  article 
before  the  return  of  the  steamer.  Though  these  natives,  when  they  are 
in  our  power,  are  perfectly  good-humored,  yet,  when  they  have  strength 
on  their  side,  they  are  the  very  reverse.  Some  years  ago,  my  late 
friend,  Captain  Simpson,  was  in  this  neighborhood  with  the  Cadboro 
schooner,  when  the  Indians,  despising  the  smallness  and  weakness  of 
that  vessel,  attacked  a  boat's  crew,  killing  one  man  and  wounding 
another ;  and  about  the  same  time,  a  little  to  the  southward  near  Nis- 
qually,  the  Clellams  assassinated  one  of  the  company's  officers  and 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


117 


fivo  mm,  on  U'  ir  way  from  Fort  lian^loy  to  V'amrouvcr  with  Irttrrs. 
In  llu!  al)8oiMi'  of  any  oilier  means  of  obtainint^  rcdresH,  our  people  had 
recournc  to  the  \\w  ol  Mt»ne8.  wliicli,  after  the  Io8h  of  several  liven  on 
the  Hide  r)f  llie  n;iiiv'e»,  brou^iil  ihe  Hava^es  to  their  .seiiHOM,  while  tin 
Hteainer'H  »nv  -ilerious  auil  rapid  movements  wpeedily  completed  their 
Hul)ju>ration.  in  fuet,  whether  in  matters  »)f  lih*  and  death,  or  of  petty 
theftH,  the  rule  of  retaliation  is  the  only  standard  of  equity  which  the 
tribes  on  this  (toast  ar(!  rapable  of  appreciating. 

Leavinff  the  Quakeolths  at  one  in  the  afternoon  of  the  twelfth,  and 
passintf  through  Qjiecn  Charlotte's  Sound,  we  reached,  i)y  five  o'clock, 
the  harbor  of  Nhushady  Ncweitco  at  the  nortlu^rn  end  of  Vancouver's 
Island,  in  a  heavy  fog.  Several  of  the  Indians,  as  usual,  came  olF  to 
us,  the  chief,  a  j{rave,  pensive,  handsome  mau,  and  a  j^arrulous  old  fel- 
low of  the  name  of  Shell  Fish,  bciuff  admitted  on  boaril.  The  chief 
broujriii  to  the  doctor  a  little  boy  of  a  son,  who,  by  fallinj;  on  the  point 
of  a  pair  of  scissors,  had  been  stabbed  in  the  abdomen  about  an  inch 
and  a  half  above  the  navel  ;  but,  as  the  wound  had  bi;en  received  ten 
days  previously  and  had  not  been  followed  by  fever,  we  thought  it  better 
to  let  the  thing  alone.  The  young  patient  was  accompanied  by  the 
native  surgeon,  who  had  the  gratification  to  hear  our  praises  of  his 
dressing  and  bandaging — practice  that  would  have  done  him  no  dis- 
credit in  the  civilized  world. 

During  the;  night  the  fog  increased  to  such  a  degree,  that  next  morn- 
ing wc  could  not  see  a  hundred  yards  from  the  ship.  In  spite,  how- 
ever, of  the  impenetrable  darkness,  the  Ncwettces  returned  to  us  in 
great  numbers,  and  drove  a  high  trade  for  an  hour  or  two;  and  we  thus 
got  furs  to  the  value  of  about  two  hundred  pounds  sterling,  in  exchange 
for  which  the  blanket  was  the  principal  article  in  demand.  During  the 
preceding  two  years,  the  absence  of  competition  in  this  quarter  had 
enabled  us  to  put  the  trade  on  a  much  better  footing  by  the  entire  disuse 
of  spirituous  liquors,  and  by  the  qualified  interdiction,  as  already  men- 
tioned, of  the  sale  of  arms  and  ammunition.  These  changes,  however 
unsatisfactory  to  the  parties  interested,  may  nevertheless  be  considered 
as  a  great  blessing  to  the  whole  of  the  native  population,  as  arresting 
the  progress  at  once  of  the  sword,  and  of  the  pestilence. 

We  had  a  good  deal  of  amusement  to-day  in  endeavoring  to  teach 
our  savage  visitors  a  few  words  of  English ;  and  wonderfully  apt  they 
were  in  acquiring  our  language.  The  letter  r  plagued  them  most,  getting 
the  better  of  them,  in  fact,  after  all  their  eflbrts  in  working  about  their 
lips  and  tongues  in  every  manner  of  way  ;  and  the  nearest  approach 
that  they  made,  amid  roars  of  laughter,  to  our  fellow  traveler's  name, 
was  Wowand.  Among  some  of  the  tribes  on  the  east  side  of  the  moun- 
tains, this  same  consonant,  as  also  its  kindred  /,  is  disguised  into  n.  Of 
their  acquisitions,  such  as  they  were,  our  Newettee  pupils  were  very 
proud,  dragging  them  in  by  the  head  and  shoulders,  on  all  occasions. 

After  our  friends  had  disposed  of  their  furs,  they  brought  into  the 
market  a  large  number  of  hiaquays,  white  shells  found  only  on  the  west 
side  of  Vancouver's  Island.  These  articles,  thus  practically  correspond- 
ing with  the  cowries  of  the  East  Indies,  are  used  as  small  change  all 


118 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


1  .       J*  .">    '4 


u 


mrM\M 


wRw 

A 

I  |Hw^  ii 

ii  ji^Hffl  \i 

i  jislH,  " 

181) '' 

Hil 

,1 

Uu,. 

alotiff  the  coast  and  in  many  parts  of  the  interior;  and  they  are  also 
applied  to  more  fanciful  purposes  ii:  the  shape  of  necklaces,  ornaments 
for  the  hair  and  so  forth,  while  occasionally  a  large  hiaquay  may  be 
seen  balancing  itself  through  the  cartilage  of  a  pretty  girl's  nose.  Our 
visitors  also  offered  for  sale  some  specimens,  rather  inferior  in  their 
way,  of  the  humming  bird.  There  were  said  to  be  no  fewer  than 
live  varieties  of  that  beautiful  creature  between  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  and  the  head  of  Vancouver's  Island,  but,  with  the  exception 
of  the  neighborhood  of  the  hot  springs  of  Sitka,  the  more  northerly 
coast  did  not  possess  the  curiosity. 

In  the  evening  I  went  out  to  fish  with  one  of  the  chiefs ;  and, 
though  we  were  quite  alone,  yet  we  contrived,  partly  by  words  of  English 
and  Chinook,  and  partly  by  signs,  to  carry  on  an  animated  conversation. 
The  mode  of  proceeding  was  by  dragging  a  line  with  a  baited  hook  at 
the  end,  while  the  canoe  was  paddled  through  the  water  at  the  rate  of 
two  miles  and  a  half  an  hour;  and  in  this  way  we  caught  a  salmon,  a 
rock  cod,  much  resembling  a  perch  of  about  two  pounds  in  weight,  and 
a  curious  amimal,  known  among  the  sailors  as  the  devil's  fish.  Some 
few  years  back,  no  white  man  would  have  gone  out  alone  amidst 
twenty  or  thirty  native  canoes ;  but,  besides  that  the  savages,  even  on 
general  grounds,  were  now  less  likely  to  show  the  cloven  foot,  I  had  the 
mysterious  prestige  of  the  steamer  and  her  guns  in  my  favor,  to  say 
notliing  of  the  comfortable  consciousness  of  a  brace  of  loaded  pistols  in 
my  belt.  I  returned  on  board  about  dusk  to  the  no  small  relief  of  my 
friends,  who,  having  lost  sight  of  the  canoe,  were  afraid  that  the  hope 
of  a  large  ransom  might  tempt  the  savages,  according  to  old  use  and 
wont,  to  run  off  with  the  great  white  chief.  In  former  days,  the  Indians 
of  the  northwest  coast,  before  their  views  on  the  subject  of  expediency 
Avere  enlarged,  frequently  acted  on  the  simple  principle,  that  a  skipper, 
who  could  command  untold  treasures  of  guns  and  ammunition,  blankets 
and  tobacco,  was  a  more  profitable,  as  well  as  an  easier  quarry  than  a 
bear  or  an  otter. 

We  observed  among  these  people  various  ingenious  manufactures. 
They  make  light  blankets  for  summer  from  the  hair  of  the  dog,  the 
wolf,  the  chamois  goat  and  the  big  horn  sheep,  while  they  weave  also 
mats  of  sedge  as  a  very  common  wrapper  for  both  men  and  women. 
They  also  mould  and  carve  their  canoes  with  great  taste.  These  little 
vessels,  which  are  all  formed  out  of  single  trunks,  present,  of  course, 
a  greater  variety  of  size  in  this  land  of  colossal  trees  than  crafts 
of  a  similar  description  present  in  any  other  country;  but,  whether 
large  or  small,  they  are  all  gracefully  shaped,  with  slightly  elevated 
prows  and  sterns.  They  fly  through  the  water  with  the  paddle,  like 
so  many  wherries,  while  such  of  them,  as  are  of  any  considerable  size, 
are  perfectly  safe  under  sail. 

It  was  noon  of  the  next  day,  the  fourteenth  of  the  month,  before  the 
weather  cleared  sufficiently  for  a  start.  Just  while  getting  up  the 
steam  again.  Captain  McNeill  discovered,  that  the  capot  of  one  of  the 
wood-cutters  had  been  stolen  in  the  bush  on  the  previous  evening.  After 
a  great  deal  of  fruitless  clamor  on  both  sides,  the  captain  took  an  axe 


.mjt 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


119 


from  the  rhief,  who,  now  that  ho  had  a  personal  interest  in  the  matter, 
instantaneously  informed  against  another  s^randee  of  the  amiahle  and 
innocent  name  of  Nancy;  but  as,  in  Mr.  Nancy's  absence,  we  had  no 
means  of  ascertain injr  the  truth,  we  still  held  on  by  the  chief's  axe. 
Our  friend,  who  was  by  this  time  in  his  canoe,  opened  against  Captain 
McNeill  with  the  following  harangue  in  Chinook: — "The  white  men 
are  very  pitiful,  since  they  have  stolen  my  axe.  My  axe  must  have 
been  very  good  indeed,  otherwise  the  ship  would  not  have  stolen  it.  If 
an  Indian  steals  anything,  he  is  ashamed  and  hides  his  face;  but  the 
great  ship-chief  Ma-ta-hell  steals  my  axe  and  is  not  ashamed,  but  stands 
there  scolding  and  laughing  at  me,  whom  he  has  robbed.  It  is  good  to 
be  a  white  chief,  because  he  can  steal  and  at  the  same  time  show  his 
face.  If  he  was  not  strong  with  a  large  ship  and  long  guns,  he  would 
not  be  so  brave.  I  am  weak  now,  but  I  maybe  strong  by  and  by,  and 
then  perhaps  I  will  take  payment  for  my  axe.  But  it  is  very  good  to 
be  a  white  chief  in  a  large  ship  with  big  guns;  he  can  steal  from  a  poor 
Indian  who  is  here  alone  in  his  canoe,  with  his  wife  and  child,  and  no 
big  guns  to  protect  him."  All  this  was  said  with  provoking  coolness, 
while  a  contemptous  smile  played  on  the  speaker's  manly  countenance ; 
and  his  pretty  little  princess,  to  whom  he  ever  and  anon  turned  round 
for  encouragement,  was  constantly  freshening  the  inspiration,  as  it  were, 
by  her  blandest  looks.  To  detain  the  axe  was  impossible  after  so  rich 
a  treat;  and  we  restored  it  the  more  readily,  as  we  were  convinced  by 
the  chief's  tone  and  manner  that  he  was  guiltless  with  respect  to  the 
missing  capot. 

About  one  in  the  afternoon  we  got  under  way.  We  were  soon  nearly 
abreast  of  Smith's  Inlet,  where  we  should  have  to  encounter  the  un- 
broken swell  of  the  open  ocean  for  upwards  of  twenty-five  miles, 
being,  in  fact,  the  only  exposed  part  of  the  coast  of  any  extent  between 
Fuca's  Straits  and  Cross  Sound;  and  the  passage  would  also  be  the 
more  dangerous  on  account  of  the  presence  of  the  Pearl  and  Virgin 
rocks.  Just  at  this  point,  to  our  great  mortification,  the  fog  again 
gathered  so  thickly  around  us,  that  we  could  not  see  to  the  distance  of 
fifty  yards;  and  we  had,  therefore,  no  other  choice  than  that  of  en- 
deavoring to  regain  the  safe  ground  that  we  had  left.  But  we  had 
hardly  put  about,  when  we  heard  the  sound  of  breakers  almost  under 
our  bows.  "Stop  her,  and  back!"  was  passed  to  the  engineer;  and  it 
was  well  that  a  word  could  do  the  needful,  for  a  sailing  vessel  would 
have  been  knocked  to  pieces  in  less  time  than  we  took  to  return  stern 
foremost  into  fifteen  fathoms.  There  we  remained  at  anchor  till  five 
o'clock,  when  the  dispersion  of  the  mist  showed  us,  that  the  current 
must  have  carried  the  steamer  two  miles  to  the  westward  of  her 
reckoning.  Now  that  we  saw  a  clear  route  to  carry  us  away  from  our 
imminent  danger,  we  lost  no  time  in  getting  up  the  anchor,  though,  from 
the  defective  state  of  the  windlass,  twenty-two  minutes,  an  age  in  our 
estimation,  were  spent  on  thirty  fathoms  of  chain.  We  proceeded  to 
a  secure  anchorage  under  the  northern  end  of  Vancouver's  Island,  near 
Bull  Harbor,  embracing  the  opportunity  of  recruiting  our  stocks  of  wood 
and  water.    On  going  ashore,  we  saw  two  large  sea  lions,  which,  how- 


^  .'Hr 


120 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


1^.' 


y. 


h'  y 


ever,  were  too  far  oft'  to  be  shot ;  we  also  found  a  great  variety  of 
zoophytes,  numberless  marine  vegetables,  and  inexhaustible  stores  of 
the  mussel  and  other  shell  fish. 

Next  morning,  as  the  weather  had  cleared  and  was  promising  well, 
we  entered  on  our  dangerous  traverse  at  an  early  hour ;  and,  though 
the  haze  soon  again  came  in  our  way,  yet,  as  we  saw  the  Pearl  and 
Virgin  rocks  to  seaward,  we  held  our  course,  reaching,  about  half- 
past  ten,  the  smooth  water  of  Fitzhugh's  Sound.  During  our  run 
we  saw  a  large  shark,  lying  with  merely  one  fin  above  the  water  to 
mark  its  situation.  When  thus  basking  in  the  sun,  the  monster  is  fre- 
quently killed  by  the  Indians.  Some  time  ago,  one  of  my  fellow 
travelers  across  the  Atlantic,  Mr.  Manson,  seeing  a  sharlf  at  his  ease 
opposite  to  Fort  McLaughlin,  pushed  off  in  a  canoe ;  and  then,  stand- 
ing on  the  gunwale,  he  struck  his  harpoon  into  the  animal.  Thus 
transfixed,  the  brute  swam  off  with  a  whole  fleet  of  canoes  in  tow,  and 
was  secured  only  after  a  dance  of  two  or  three  hours.  The  carcase 
measured  twenty-four  feet  in  length ;  and  the  liver  yielded  thirty-six 
gallons  of  oil. 

After  passing  Calvert's  Island,  our  channel  was  formed  by  islands 
to  seaward,  and  on  the  other  side  partly  by  islands  and  partly  by  pro- 
montories of  the  main  land.  Between  these  promontories  there  were 
generally  deep  inlets  known  as  canals,  one  of  them  being  deservedly 
sacred  in  the  eyes  of  every  Briton,  as  that  arm  of  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
to  which  Sir  Alexander  McKenzie,  with  matchless  prudence  and  forti- 
tude, forced  his  way  across  a  continent  never  before  trodden  by  civil- 
ized man.  This  spot,  by  the  by,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  track,  by 
which  it  was  reached,  have  been  claimed  by  some  Americans  as  the 
property  of  their  republic.  The  force  of  imagination  can  no  farther  go. 
In  scudding  along,  we  were  hailed  by  a  strongly  manned  canoe  with 
the  usual  salutation  of  Ma-ta-hell,  Ma-ta-hell,  Ma-ta-hell;  but,  as  we 
were  anxious  to  get  to  Fort  McLaughlin  before  sunset,  we  had  no  time 
for  parley.  About  six  o'clock  we  came  to  anchor  at  the  post  just  men- 
tioned, distant  a  few  miles  from  Millbank  Sound.    . 

This  very  neat  establishment  was  planned  in  1837,  by  Mr.  Finlay- 
son,  of  Red  River,  who  left  the  place  in  an  unfinished  state  to  Mr. 
Manson,  who,  in  his  turn,  had  certainly  made  the  most  of  the  capabilities 
of  the  situation.  The  site  must  originally  have  been  one  of  the  most 
rugged  spots  imaginable, — a  mere  rock,  in  fact,  as  uneven  as  the  adjacent 
waters  in  a  tempest,  while  its  soil,  buried  as  it  was,  in  its  crevices, 
served  only  to  encumber  the  surface  with  a  heavy  growth  of  timber. 
Besides  blasting  and  leveling,  Mr.  Manson,  without  the  aid  of  horse 
or  ox,  had  introduced  several  thousand  loads  of  gravel,  while,  by  his 
judicious  contrivances  in  the  way  of  fortification,  he  had  rendered  the 
place  capable  of  holding  out,  with  a  garrison  of  twenty  men,  against 
all  the  natives  of  the  coast.  Mr.  Manson's  successor,  Mr.  Charles 
Ross,  had  made  considerable  additions  to  the  garden,  which  was  now 
of  about  three  acres  in  extent,  with  a  soil  principally  formed  of  sea- 
weed, and  produced  cabbages,  potatoes,  turnips,  carrots  and  other  vege- 
tables. 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


121 


In  the  neighborhood  of  the  fort  was  a  village  of  about  five  hundred 
BallaboUas,  who  spoke  a  dialect  of  the  Qualeolth  language.  At  first 
these  savages  were  exceedingly  turbulent ;  and  one  of  our  people  of  the 
name  of  Fran(;ois  Richard  having  disappeared,  the  chief  was  seized  as 
a  hostage  for  the  restitution  of  the  white  man.  In  a  skirmish,  which 
the  retaliatory  step  occasioned,  one  of  the  garrison  was  taken  prisoner 
and  two  were  wounded,  while  of  the  Indians  several  were  wounded 
and  two  killed.  After  much  negotiation,  the  chief,  who  was  detained 
by  the  whites,  was  exchanged  for  the  man  who  had  been  captured  by 
the  natives.  The  fate  of  Richard,  however,  remained  a  mystery,  till 
some  women  gradually  blabbed  the  secret,  that  he  had  been  murdered 
by  a  certain  individual.  The  murderer  having  been  pointed  out  to 
me,  as  he  walked  openly  and  boldly  about  the  fort,  I  took  measures 
for  sending  the  fellow  to  a  distance,  as  an  example  to  his  friends. 

The  BallaboUas  were  all  in  mourning,  the  custom  in  such  cases 
being  to  lay  aside  all  ornaments  and  to  blacken  the  face.  The  present 
cause  of  national  distress  was  said  to  be  as  follows.  Between  the 
Hydas  of  Queen  Charlotte's  Island  and  the  BallaboUas  a  deadly  feud 
had  long  subsisted.  About  six  weeks  before  our  arrival,  the  latter,  to 
the  number  of  about  three  hundred,  had  attacked  a  village  of  the  for- 
mer, butchering  all  the  inhabitants  but  one  man  and  one  woman. 
These  two  the  victorious  chief  was  carrying  away  as  living  trophies 
of  his  triumph;  but,  alas  for  the  instability  of  all  human  things,  while 
standing  in  a  boastful  manner  on  the  gunwale  of  his  canoe  and  vowing 
all  sorts  of  vengeance  against  his  victims,  he  was  shot  down  by  a  des- 
perate effort  of  his  male  prisoner.  The  BallaboUas,  their  joy  being 
now  turned  into  grief,  cut  the  throats  of  the  prisoners,  threw  the  spoils 
overboard,  and  returned  home  rather  as  fugitives  than  as  conquerors. 
They  buried  their  leader  in  the  garden  of  the  fort, — the  carcase  of  the 
old  warrior  being  well  worth  its  room,  as  a  better  safeguard  against 
pilfering  than  pickets  and  watchmen.  According  to  the  custom  of  the 
BallaboUas,  the  widows  of  the  deceased  were  transferred  to  his  bro- 
ther's harem, — a  more  palatable  arrangement  for  the  poor  women  than 
the  practice,  as  already  mentioned  with  respect  to  another  tribe,  of 
carrying  about  their  late  lord's  ashes  during  three  long  years  of  widow- 
hood and  sorrow. 

Talking  of  wives,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Ross  of  this  fort,  a  Saulteau  half- 
breed  from  Lac  la  Pluie,  lately  displayed  great  courage.  Some  In- 
dians, while  trading,  in  her  husband's  absence,  with  her  son  in  the 
shop  of  the  establishment,  drew  their  knives  upon  the  boy.  On  hear- 
ing this,  the  lady,  pike  in  hand,  chased  the  cowardly  rascals  from  post 
to  pillar,  till  she  had  driven  them  out  of  the  fort.  "If  such  are  the 
white  women,"  said  the  discomfited  savages,  "what  must  the  white 
men  be  ?" 

In  the  garden  I  found  one  of  the  larger  canoes  of  the  BallaboUas.  It 
was  sixty  feet  long,  four  and  a  half  deep  and  six  and  a  half  broad,  with 
elevated  prow  and  stern.  This  vessel  would  carry  a  hundred  men, 
fifty  engaged  in  paddling  and  fifty  stowed  away ;  and  yet,  notwithstand- 


122 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


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ing  its  enormous  rapacity,  it  was  formed,  with  the  exception  of  the 
raised  portions  of  the  extremities,  out  of  a  single  log. 

At  Fort  McLaughlin  we  first  saw  that  disgusting  ornament  of  the  fair 
sex,  the  lip-piece.  A  bit  of  wood  or  ivory  of  an  oval  form,  varying  in 
size  from  the  dimensions  of  a  small  button  to  three  inches  long  anil  an 
inch  and  a  half  wide,  is  introduced  into  a  hole  in  the  lower  lip  so  as  to 
draw  it  back  and  thereby  expose  the  whole  of  the  lower  gum.  This 
hideous  fashion,  however,  is  now  wearing  out,  having  been  found  to  be 
disagreeable  to  the  whites,  to  whose  opinions  and  feelings  the  native 
ladies  pay  the  highest  possible  respect. 

The  chiefs  possess  great  power,  compelling  their  followers  to  do 
anything,  however  treacherous,  and  to  suffer  anything,  however  cruel, 
without  any  other  reason  than  that  such  is  their  savage  pleasure.  The 
chief  of  the  BallaboUas,  when  he  was  lately  very  ill,  ordered  one  of  his 
people  to  be  shot;  and  he  forthwith  received  both  health  and  strength 
through  the  operation  of  this  powerful  medicine.  They  sometimes,  too, 
call  religion  to  their  aid,  consecrating  their  most  horrible  atrocities  by 
pretending  to  be  mad.  In  this  state,  they  go  into  the  woods  to  eat 
grass  like  Nebuchadnezzar,  or  prowl  about  gnawing  at  a  dead  man's 
ribs.  Then,  as  the  fit  of  inspiration  grows  stronger,  they  rush  among 
their  people,  snapping  and  swallowing  mouthfuls  from  the  arms  or  legs 
of  such  as  come  in  their  way.  The  poor  victims  never  resist  this  sharp 
practice,  excepting  by  taking  to  their  heels  as  fast  as  they  can.  One  of 
these  noble  cannibals  was  lately  playing  off  his  inspiration  at  the  gate  of 
the  fort,  where  a  poor  fellow,  out  of  whose  arm  he  had  filched  a  com- 
fortable lunch,  was  impious  enough  to  roar  out  lustily;  and  Mr.  Ross' 
dog,  suspecting  foul  play,  seized  the  chief's  leg  and  held  it  tight,  in 
spite  of  his  screams,  till  driven  away  by  the  well-known  voice  of  his 
master.  Nero,  instead  of  being  killed  according  to  Mr.  Ross'  anticipa- 
tions, was  thenceforward  venerated  by  the  BallaboUas,  as  having  been 
influenced  by  the  same  inspiration  as  their  chief. 

About  ten  in  the  morning,  we  left  Foit  McLaughlin,  passing  through 
Millbank  Sound,  Grenville  Canal,  Chatham  Sound  .and  Pearl  Harbor. 
About  four  in  the  afternoon,  we  reached  Fort  Simpson,  under  tho 
charge  of  Mr.  Work.  This  establishment  was  originally  formed  at  the 
mouth  of  Nass  River,  but  had  been  removed  to  a  peninsula,  washed 
on  three  sides  by  Chatham  Sound,  Port  Essington  and  Work's  Canal. 
Fort  Simpson  is  the  resort  of  a  vast  number  of  Indians,  amounting  in 
all  to  about  fourteen  thousand,  of  various  tribes.  There  are  the  Chim- 
seeans,  who  occupy  the  country  from  Douglas'  Canal  to  Nass  River, 
of  whom  about  eight  hundred  are  settled  near  the  establishment,  as 
home-guards,  under  the  protection  of  our  guns.  Then  there  are  the 
Sebassamen,  from  Bank's  Island,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Queen  Char- 
lotte's Island.  In  addition  to  these,  who  live  to  the  south  of  the  inter- 
national boundary,  many  Russian  Indians,  such  as  the  inhabitants  of 
Kygarnie,  Tomgass  and  the  Isles  des  Clamelsettes,  likewise  frequent 
the  fort.  Many  of  these  natives  pay  mei'ely  passing  visits  on  their  way 
to  Nass  Straits  to  fish  for  the  ullachan,  whose  oil  has  been  already 
mentioned,  not  only  as  a  luxury  for  the  great,  but  also  as  a  necessary  of 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


123 


life  to  all  classes.  As  this  oil,  by  the  by,  was  free  from  smell,  it  mijjlit 
l)P  applied  to  many  purposes  in  the  civilized  world;  and  I  accordinjrly 
(irdered  a  few  jars  of  it  to  be  sent  to  liOndon,  by  way  of  sample.  All 
these  visitors  of  Fort  Simpson  are  turbulent  and  fierre.  Their  broils, 
which  are  invariably  attended  with  bloodshed,  jrenerally  arise  from  the 
most  trivial  causes,  such,  for  instance,  as  gambling  quarrels,  or  the  neg- 
lect of  points  of  etiquette. 

Here  the  lip-piece  was  more  generally  in  use  than  at  any  other  part 
of  the  coast:  but  it  was  clearly  going  out  of  vogue,  for  it  was  far  more 
common  among  the  ancient  dames  than  among  the  young  women.  In 
other  respects,  the  people  were  peculiarly  comely,  strong  and  well 
crown.  Tiiey  are  remarkably  clever  and  ingenious.  They  carve 
steamers,  animals,  &c.,  very  neatly  in  stone,  wood  and  ivory,  imitating, 
in  short,  everything  that  they  see  either  in  reality  or  in  drawings;  and 
1  saw  in  particular  a  head  for  a  small  vessel,  that  they  were  building, 
so  well  executed  that  I  took  it  for  the  work  of  a  white  artificer.  One 
man,  known  as  the  Arrowsmith  of  the  Northwest  Coast,  had  gone  far 
beyond  his  compeers,  having  prepared  very  accurate  charts  of  most 
parts  of  the  adjacent  shores. 

Next  morning  I  visited  the  native  village  and  found  the  lodges,  both 
inside  and  outside,  superior  to  any  others  that  I  had  seen  on  the  coast. 
I  observed  among  the  people  traces  of  the  small-pox,  eight  of  them 
having  lost  an  eye  each.  That  destructive  pestilence  had  got  thus  far 
south,  but  no  farther,  carrying  off  about  one-third  of  the  population. 
Since  then  the  wolves  have  been  very  scarce;  and  the  Indians  main- 
tain that  they  caught  the  malady  by  eating  the  dead  bodies.  This  vo- 
racity on  the  part  of  these  ravenous  beasts  was  likely  enough,  for  the 
savages  themselves,  horrible  and  incredible  to  tell,  frequently  ate  the 
corpses  of  their  relatives  that  had  died  of  the  disease,  even  after  they 
were  putrid;  and,  in  some  instances,  after  they  had  been  buried.  Sy- 
philis, I  was  sorry  to  observe,  was  very  prevalent,  entailing  scrofula 
and  similar  distempers  on  the  rising  generation. 

As  Fort  Simpson  lay  within  the  range  of  the  competition  of  the  Russians 
of  Sitka,  who  used  spirits  in  their  trade,  we  had  not  been  able  here  to  abo- 
lish the  sale  of  liquor;  and,  such  was  the  influence  of  the  simple  fact,  that 
several  of  our  crew,  though  not  a  drop  was  either  given  or  sold  to  them, 
yet  continued  to  become  tolerably  drunk  by  "  tapping  the  admiral." 

Leaving  Fort  Simpson  about  one  in  the  afternoon  of  the  eighteenth, 
we  came  to  anchor  for  the  night  at  the  southern  entrance  of  the  Canal 
de  Keveilla.  BoUi  mainland  and  islands  became  more  and  more  rugged 
as  we  advanced,  rising  abruptly  from  the  very  shores,  in  the  form  of 
lofty  mountains,  with  the  ocean  at  their  feet  and  the  snow  on  their 
summits.  In  perfect  keeping  with  the  coast,  the  inland  region  consists 
of  some  of  the  wildest  scenery  in  nature,  of  Alpine  masses,  in  fact, 
thrown  together  in  tumultuous  confusion.  So  uneven,  in  short,  is  the 
whole  country,  that,  within  any  reasonable  distance  of  a  stream  or  a 
lake,  a  level  site  for  a  fort  can  hardly  be  found.  Moreover,  this  land  of 
rocks  is  as  difficult  of  access,  excepting  on  the  immediate  margin  of  the 
sea,  as  it  is  impracticable  in  itself.     Most  of  the  streams  to  the  norths 


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»..; 


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124 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


ward  of  Frazcr's  River  are  mere  torrents,  which,  being  fed  in  summer 
by  the  melting  of  the  snows,  and  in  winter  by  the  watering  deluges  of 
this  dismal  climate,  plunge  headlong  in  deep  gullies  between  the  con- 
tiguous bases  of  precipitous  heights  of  every  form  and  magnitude. 
Within  the  limits  just  mentioned,  the  Babine,  the  Nass  and  the  Stikine 
are  the  only  rivers  that  may  be  ascended  to  any  distance,  and  even  they 
with  considerable  difficulty  and  danger. 

Since  we  left  Nisqually,  Mr.  Rowand  had  been  suffering  very 
severely  from  intermittent  fever  and  sea-sickness.  As  he  had  been 
much  worse  last  night,  we  wished  to  leave  him  at  Fort  Simpson;  but 
he  insisted  on  continuing  the  voyage  along  with  us. 

Next  day  we  passed  through  the  Canal  de  Reveilla  and  Clarence 
Straits,  respectively  about  thirty  and  fifty-four  miles  long.  On  the 
morning  thereafter,  having  halted  all  night  on  account  of  the  narrow- 
ness of  the  channel,  we  passed  through  Stikine  Straits  into  the  little 
harbor  of  Fort  Stikine,  where,  about  eight  o'clock,  we  were  welcomed 
on  shore  by  Mr.  M'Laughlin,  Jun.  This  establishment,  originally 
founded  by  the  Russian  American  Company,  had  been  recently  trans- 
ferred to  us  on  a  lease  of  ten  years,  together  with  the  right  of  hunting 
and  trading  in  the  continental  territories  of  the  association  in  question 
as  far  up  as  Cross  Sound.  Russia,  as  the  reader  is,  of  course,  aware, 
possesses  on  the  mainland,  between  lat.  54°  40'  and  lat.  60°,  only  a 
strip  never  exceeding  thirty  miles  in  depth ;  and  this  strip,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  such  an  arrangement  as  has  just  been  mentioned,  renders  the 
interior  comparatively  useless  to  England. 

The  establishment,  of  which  the  site  had  not  been  well  selected,  wi 
situated  on  a  peninsula  hardly  large  enough  for  the  necessary  buildings, 
while  the  tide,  by  overflowing  the  isthmus  at  high  water,  rendered  any 
artificial  extension  of  the  premises  almost  impracticable;  and  the  slime, 
that  was  periodically  deposited  by  the  receding  sea,  was  aided  by  the 
putridity  and  filth  of  the  native  villages  in  the  neighborhood  in  oppress- 
ing the  atmosphere  with  a  most  nauseous  perfume.  The  harbor, 
moreover,  was  so  narrow,  that  a  vessel  of  a  hundred  tons,  instead  of 
swinging  at  anchor,  was  under  the  necessity  of  mooring  stem  and 
stern ;  and  the  supply  of  fresh  water  was  brought  by  a  wooden  aque- 
duct, which  the  savages  might  at  any  time  destroy,  from  a  stream 
about  two  hundred  yards  distant. 

The  Stikine  or  Felly's  River  empties  itself  into  the  ocean  by  two 
channels,  respectively  four  and  ten  miles  distant  from  the  fort.  One 
of  them  is  navigable  for  canoes,  while  the  other,  though  only  in  the 
season  of  high  water,  can  be  ascended  by  the  steamer  about  thirty 
miles.    . 

The  establishment  is  frequented  by  the  Secatquouays,  who  occupy 
the  mainland  about  the  mouths  of  the  river  and  also  the  neighboring 
islands ;  and,  in  addition  to  these  home  guards,  it  is  visited  by  the 
natives  of  three  more  distant  villages,  Hanego,  Kooyon  and  Kayk. 
The  Secatquouays  may  be  estimated  at  six  hundred  men  or  three 
thousand  souls ;  and  four  or  five  thousand  people  in  all  are  dependent 
<on  Fort  Stikine  for  supplies.     Most  of  these  Indians  make  trading 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


125 


excursions  into  the  interior  in  order  to  obtain  furs.  Their  grand  mart 
is  a  village  sixty  miles  distant  from  Deasc's  Lake  and  a  hundred  and 
fifty  from  the  sea;  and  thither  they  resort  three  or  four  times  a  year. 
The  inhabitants  of  this  emporium,  known  as  the  Niharnies,  were  under 
the  command  of  a  female  chief,  who,  in  the  winter  of  1838-9,  had 
behaved  with  great  humanity  to  Mr.  Campbell,  one  of  the  company's 
officers.  That  gentleman  and  his  people,  having  been  driven  by  the 
savages  from  a  new  post,  after  being  reduced  to  eat  their  skin-cords 
and  parchment  at  the  rate  of  a  meal  a  day,  were  received  by  this  good 
woman  in  such  a  way  as  fully  to  maintain  Ledyard's  character  of  the 
fair  sex  for  kindness  to  distressed  travelers.  As  Mr.  Campbell's  esta- 
blishment was  on  Dease's  Lake,  the  middlemen  of  the  coast,  whose 
monopoly  it  endangered,  were  most  probably  either  the  authors  or  the 
instigators  of  the  outrage,  which  called  the  female  chiefs  sympathies 
into  play;  and  even  the  female  chief  herself,  who  made  occasional 
trips  to  the  sea  in  order  to  trade  on  her  own  account,  was  almost  as 
much  an  object  of  jealousy  to  the  Secatquouays  as  Mr.  Campbell 
himself  could  have  been. 

One  full  third  of  the  large  population  of  this  coast  are  slaves  of  the 
most  helpless  and  abject  description.  Though  some  of  the  poor 
creatures  are  prisoners  taken  in  war,  yet  most  of  theni  have  been  born 
in  their  present  condition.  These  wretches,  besides  being  constantly 
the  victims  of  cruelty,  are  often  the  instruments  of  malice  or  revenge. 
If  ordered  by  his  master  to  destroy  red  or  white  man,  the  slave  must 
do  so,  however  dangerous  may  be  the  service,  for,  if  he  either  refuse 
or  fail,  his  own  miserable  life  must  pay  the  forfeit. 

The  principal  chief  of  the  Indians,  that  lived  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  fort,  was  an  old  fellow  of  the  name  of  Shakes,  who,  having  been 
spoiled  by  the  Russians  with  too  much  indulgence,  was  rather  difficult 
to  be  managed ;  and  he  was,  in  fact,  at  the  bottom  of  every  plot  that 
was  hatched  against  the  whites,  being  assisted  in  this  matter, — so  much 
for  the  effects  of  education, — by  a  son  who  had  been  taught  to  read  and 
write  at  Sitka.  Unfortunately,  the  mode  in  which  the  establishment 
was  supplied  with  water,  placed  us  so  much  at  the  mercy  of  the  In- 
dians as  almost  to  provoke  any  troublesome  individual  to  quarrel  with 
us,  for  a  few  blows  of  an  axe  would  immediately  render  our  wooden 
aqueduct  useless  and  leave  our  people  to  die  of  thirst  or  to  fight  their 
way  to  the  stream  and  back  again.  Luckily,  though  Shakes  was  the 
principal  chief,  yet  he  had  comparatively  little  influence,  while  the 
second  man  in  the  tribe,  who  was  very  friendly  towards  us,  possessed 
a  strong  party  in  the  village.  The  mutual  jealousies  of  Quatekay  and 
his  lord  paramount,  which  sometimes  amounted  to  open  hostilities, 
formed  something  of  a  safeguard  to  the  fort.  Shakes  was  from  home, 
but  Quatekay  paid  his  respects  immediately  on  our  arrival;  and,  in 
consideration  of  his  general  conduct,  I  presented  him  with  an  entire 
suit  of  clothes.  The  absent  chief  was  said  to  be  very  cruel  to  his 
slaves,  whom  he  frequently  sacrificed  in  pure  wantonness  in  order  to 
show  how  great  a  man  he  was.  On  the  recent  occasion  of  a  house- 
warming,  he  exhibited,  as  part  of  the  festivities,  the  butchery  of  five 


:^1 


&'  -«i 


•  M 


M 


126 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


ii^'.M 


slaves;  and  at  another  time,  liavinir  struck  a  white  man  in  a  fit  of 
drunkcnn(!ss  and  received  a  pair  of  black  eyes  for  his  pains,  he  ordered 
a  shive  to  be  shot  by  way  at  once  of  satisfying  his  own  wounded  honor 
and  of  apologizing  to  the  person  whom  he  had  assaulted.  -His  rival, 
on  the  contrary,  was  possessed  of  such  kindness  of  heart,  that,  on 
grand  holidays,  he  was  more  ready  to  emancipate  his  slaves  than  to 
destroy  them.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  many  bondmen  used  to  run  away 
from  Quatekay,  while  none  attempted  to  escape  from  Shakes, — an 
anomaly  which,  however,  was  easily  explained,  inasmuch  as  the  one 
would  pardon  the  recaptured  fugitives  and  the  other  would  torture  and 
murder  them. 

One  Indian,  of  Uie  name  of  Ilanego  Joe,  who  had  been  taken  to 
the  United  States  in  childhood,  spoke  a  little  English,  lie  was  said 
to  be  very  useful  as  a  pilot  on  tlie  coast;  but,  though  we  did  not  require 
his  services  in  that  capacity,  yet  we  employed  him  as  interpreter. 

As  Mr.  Rowand  continued  to  get  worse,  we  left  him  here  to  recruit 
his  health,  being  the  more  anxious  to  give  him  the  benefits  of  rest  and 
shelter,  as  the  notoriously  vile  weather  of  the  winter  of  the  northwest 
coast  commenced  to-day  with  its  deluges  of  rain.  Getting  under  way 
about  three  in  the  afternoon,  we  anchored  for  the  night  at  the  entrance 
of  Wrangell's  Straits. 

Next  morning  we  passed  through  Wrangell's  Straits  and  Prince 
Frederick's  Sound,  respectively  twenty-two  and  fifty-seven  miles  long, 
and  halted  for  the  night  at  the  entrance  of  Stephen's  Passage.  The 
valleys  were  lined  with  glaciers  down  to  the  water's  edge;  and  the 
pieces  that  had  broken  off  during  the  season,  filled  the  canals  and 
straits  with  fields  and  masses  of  ice,  through  which  the  vessel  could 
scarcely  force  her  way. 

Starting  again  at  five  in  the  morning,  with  a  foul  wind  and  a  thick 
fog,  we  ran  through .  Stephen's  Passage ;  and,  when  the  mist  cleared 
sufficiently  for  the  purpose,  the  land  on  either  side  displayed  to  us 
mountains  rising  abrupdy  from  the  sea,  and  bearing  a  glacier  in  their 
every  ravine.  Earlier  in  the  season  these  glaciers  would  have  been 
concealed  by  the  snow ;  but  now  they  showed  a  surface  of  green  ice. 

At  two  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  Taco,  an  establishment  con- 
ducted by  Dr.  Kennedy,  with  an  assistant  and  twenty-two  men.  Here 
the  little  harbor  is  almost  land-locked  by  mountains,  being  partially 
exposed  only  to  the  southeast.  One  of  the  hills  near  the  fort  termi- 
nates in  the  form  of  a  canoe,  which  serves  as  a  barometer.  A  shroud 
of  fog  indicates  rain ;  but  the  clear  vision  of  the  canoe  itself  is  a  sign 
of  fair  weather. 

The  fort,  though  it  was  only  a  year  old,  was  yet  very  complete  with 
good  houses,  lofty  pickets,  and  strong  bastions.  The  establishment 
was  maintained  chiefly  on  the  flesh  of  the  chevreuil,  which  is  very  fat 
and  has  an  excellent  flavor.  Some  of  these  deer  weigh  as  much  as  a 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  each ;  and  they  are  so  numerous,  that  Taco 
has  this  year  sent  to  market  twelve  hundred  of  their  skins,  being  the 
handsome  average  of  a  deer  a  week  for  every  inmate  of  the  place. 
But  extravagance  in  the  eating  of  venison  is  here  a  very  lucrative  busi- 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


127 


no98,  for  the  hide,  after  paying  frrijrht  and  charges,  yields  in  London  a 
profit  on  the  prime  cost  of  the  whole  animal. 

Seven  trihes,  three  of  them  living  on  ishmds  am  )ur  on  the  main- 
land, visit  Taco.  They  muster  ahout  four  tiiousand  souls;  aiul  they 
are  subdivisions  of  the  Thlinkitts,  speaking  dialects  of  the  language 
of  that  nation.  These  Indians  were  delighted  to  have  us  settled 
among  them;  and  on  this  ground  they  viewed  with  much  jealousy 
the  visit  of  more  distant  savages,  to  whom  they  were  desirous  of  acting 
as  middlemen.  As  our  interest  and  feeling  in  the  matter  were  altogether 
different,  this  jealousy  of  theirs  had  sometimes  occasioned  misunder- 
standings between  them  and  our  people.  On  one  occasion  Dr.  Ken- 
nedy's assistant,  having  chased  out  of  the  fort  a  savage  who  had  struck 
him,  was  immediately  made  prisoner,  while  the  doctor  himself,  who 
ran  to  his  aid,  shared  a  similar  fate.  Several  shots  were  fired  from  the 
bastions,  though  without  doing,  and  probably  without  intending  to  do, 
any  mischief;  and  this  was  fortunate;  for,  though  Taco  with  a  run- 
ning stream  within  its  walls  was  less  at  the  mo'rcy  of  the  natives  than 
Stikine,  yet  its  people,  in  the  event  of  any  loss  of  life  on  the  part  of 
the  savages,  might  have  suffered  severely  from  the  workings  of  trea- 
cherous revenge.  At  length  the  affair  was  amicably  settled  by  ransom- 
ing the  two  captives  with  four  blankets.  Still,  notwithstanding  these 
little  outbreaks,  Kakeskie,  chief  of  the  homeguards,  had  been  a  good 
friend  to  the  trade;  and  accordingly,  though  he  was  absent,  yet  I 
ordered  that  a  present  should  be  made  to  him  in  my  name  on  his 
return. 

The  big  horn  sheep  and  the  mountain  goat  are  very  numerous  in 
this  neighborhood.  The  latter  has  an  outer  coat  of  hair  not  unlike  that  of 
the  domestic  variety  of  the  species,  and  an  inner  coat  of  wool  beautifully 
white,  soft  and  silky.  Instead  of  wool  again,  the  big  horn  has  a  thick 
covering  of  hair  pretty  much  resembling  that  of  the  red  deer;  but  with 
the  exception  of  this  peculiarity,  and  with  the  exception,  also,  of  the  size 
of  the  horns,  it  is  obviously  the  same  animal  as  the  domestic  sheep. 

After  being  detained  at  Taco  from  Wednesday  afternoon  to  Saturday 
morning  by  an  uninterrupted  storm  of  high  wind  and  heavy  rain,  we 
started  at  day  break  with  about  fifteen  miles  more  of  Stephen's  Pas- 
sage before  us.  Having  accomplished  this  distance,  we  crossed  the 
entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Taco,  so  called  from  its  receiving  the  river  of 
the  same  name.  This  stream,  according  to  Mr.  Douglas,  who  had 
ascended  it  for  about  thirty-five  miles,  pursued  a  serpentine  course 
between  stupendous  mountains,  which,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
points  of  alluvial  soil,  rose  abruptly  from  the  water's  edge  with  an 
uninviting  surface  of  snow  and  ice.  In  spite  of  the  rapidity  of  the 
current,  the  savages  of  the  coast  proceed  about  a  hundred  miles  in 
canoes,  and  thence  they  trudge  away  on  foot  for  the  same  distance,  to 
an  inland  mart,  where  they  drive  a  profitable  business,  as  middlemen, 
with  the  neighboring  tribes.  Besides  facilitating  this  traffic,  one  of  the 
best  guarantees  of  peace,  the  establishment  of  our  fort  had  done  much 
to  extinguish  a  branch  of  commerce  of  a  very  different  tendency. 
Though  some  of  the  skins  previously  found  their  way  from  this  neigh- 


1 


» 


■m 


128 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SITKA. 


WMM 


borhood  to  Sitka  and  Stikine,  yet  most  of  them  used  to  be  devoted  to 
file  purchasing  of  slaves   from  the  Indians  of  Kygarnic  and  Hood'8 

We  next  passed  the  Douglas  Island  of  Vancouver  by  the  western 
passage,  which  was  from  two  to  four  miles  in  width,  while  the  eastern 
passage,  besides  being  still  narrower,  was  generally  obstructed  by  ice. 
Rounding  the  head  of  Admiralty  Island,  we  descended  Chatham  Straits, 
along  the  back  of  the  Sitka  Archipelago,  and  thus  passed,  of  course, 
the  inner  entrance  of  Cross  Sound,  the  limit  of  the  countless  islands 
which  commence  at  the  Straits  of  Fuca.  Opposite  to  the  upper  end  of 
Admiralty  Island  is  Lynn's  Canal,  the  highest  of  the  numerous  inlets 
on  this  part  of  the  coast.  It  receives  a  river,  which  the  Indians  ascend 
about  fifty  miles  to  a  valley  running  towards  Mount  Fairweather,  and 
containing  a  large  lake,  which  pours  its  waters  into  the  open  ocean  at 
Admiralty  Bay.  The  natives  of  this  valley  are  called  the  Copper  In- 
dians from  the  abundance  of  virgin  copper  in  the  neighborhood. 

On  Douglas  and  Admiralty  Islanda  we  saw  two  villages  of  Anakes, 
under  the  command  of  rival  chiefs.  These  branches  of  the  same 
family  had  lately  quarreled  about  some  trifle  or  oiher,  and,  after  de- 
stroying ten  or  twelve  on  either  side,  had  resolved  to  live  again  in 
friendship,  as  they  might  have  lived  from  the  beginning  without  break- 
ing each  other's  heads.  liCt  the  reader  change  the  names,  and  he  will 
have  a  pretty  correct  idea  of  the  British  and  the  Americans  going  to 
war  about  Oregon. 

Though  the  v^eather  was  very  fine  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  day, 
yet  it  again  returned  to  its  fogs  towarls  evening,  so  that,  even  with  the 
assistance  of  Hanego  Joe,  we  were  obliged  to  anchor  at  the  inner 
entrance  of  Peril  Straits,  where  the  tide  rose  and  fell  as  much  as  two- 
and-twenty  feet.  The  fog  having  dispersed  next  morning  about  six, 
we  proceeded  up  Peril  Straits,  slackening  our  pace  to  half  speed  on 
reaching  the  narrower  part  of  the  passage,  distinguished  as  Little  Peril 
Straits ;  and,  soon  after  three  in  the  afternoon,  we  came  in  sight  of  the 
Russian  American  Company's  establishment  of  New  Archangel.  We 
saw  in  the  harbor  five  sailing  vessels,  ranging  between  two  hundred 
and  three  hundred  and  fifty  tons,  besides  a  large  barque  in  the  offing 
in  tow  of  a-«teamer,  which  proved  to  be  the  Alexander  from  Ochotsk, 
bringing  advices  from  Petersburg  down  to  the  end  of  April.  Before 
we  anchored,  Captain  Lindenberg  came  oflT  to  us,  conveying  Governor 
Etholine's  compliments  and  welcome.  Salutes  being  exchanged,  Mr. 
Douglas  and  myself  soon  afterwards  landed,  and  were  accompanied  to 
his  Excellency's  residence,  situated  on  the  top  of  a  rock,  by  Captain 
Lindenberg  and  the  captain  of  the  fort. 


» 


♦ 


129 


CHAPTER  V. 

FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 

Governor  Etholine's  residence  consisted  of  a  suite  of  apartments 
communicatinji?,  according  to  the  Russian  fashion,  with  each  other,  all 
the  public  rooms  being  handsomely  decorated  and  richly  furnished.  It 
commanded  a  view  of  the  whole  establishment,  which  was,  in  fact,  a 
little  village  ;  while  about  half  way  down  the  rock  two  batteries  on 
terraces  frowned  respectively  over  the  land  and  the  water.  Behind 
the  bay,  which  forms  the  harbor,  rise  stupendous  piles  of  conical 
mountains  with  summits  of  everlasting  snow.  To  seaward.  Mount 
Edgecombe,  also  in  the  form  of  a  cone,  rears  its  truncated  peak,  still  re- 
membered as  the  source  of  smoke  and  flame,  of  lava  and  ashes,  but  now 
known,  so  curious  are  the  energies  of  nature,  to  be  the  repository  of 
the  accumulated  snows  of  an  age. 

We  returned  to  the  steamer  for  the  night.  Next  morning,  Governor 
Etholine,  in  full  uniform,  came  on  board  in  his  gig,  manned  by  six 
oars  and  a  coxswain,  and  was,  of  course,  received  with  a  salute.  We 
accompanied  him  on  shore,  our  vessel  and  the  fort  simultaneously  ex- 
changing, as  it  were,  their  noisy  welcomes  with  each  other ;  and  we 
had  now  the  honor  of  being  introduced  to  Madame  Etholine,  a  native 
of  Helsingfors,  in  Finland,  so  that  this  pretty  and  lady-like  woman  had 
come  to  this,  her  secluded  home,  from  the  farthest  extremity  of  the 
empire. 

We  sat  down  to  a  good  dinner  in  the  French  style,  the  party,  in  ad- 
dition to  our  host  and  hostess  and  ourselves,  comprising  twelve  of  the 
company's  officers.  We  afterwards  visited  the  schools,  in  which  there 
were  twenty  boys  and  as  many  girls,  principally  half-breeds ;  such  of 
the  children  as  were  orphans,  were  supported  by  the  company,  and  the 
others  by  their  parents.  The  scholars  appeared  to  be  clean  and  healthy. 
The  boys,  on  attaining  the  proper  age,  would  be  drafted  into  the  ser- 
vice, more  particularly  into  the  nautical  branch  of  the  same  ;  and  the 
girls  would,  in  due  time,  become  their  wives  or  the  wives  of  others. 

Nor  did  religion  seem  to  be  neglected  at  Sitka  any  more  than  educa- 
tion. The  Greek  Church  had  its  bishop  with  fifteen  priests,  deacons 
and  followers  ;  and  the  Lutherans  had  their  clergyman.  Here,  as  in 
other  parts  of  the  empire,  these  ecclesiastics  were  all  maintained  by 
the  Imperial  Government  without  any  expense,  or  at  least  without  any- 
direct  expense,  to  the  Russian  American  Company. 

The  Lutherans  were  numerous  beyond  their  just  proportion,  with 
reference  to  the  population  of  the  empire  at  large.     Most  of  the  sea- 

PART   I. — 9 


■■'*i 


*. 


I 


130 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


M 


men  and  f onic  of  tlin  lahnrcrs  worr  from  Finland ;  and,  hrsidrM  Ma- 
damn  ICtliolino,  two  other  ladies,  tlu;  wife  of  iiieutcnant  Hortrani  and 
her  sinter,  were  natives  of  that  same  province. 

In  addition  to  Sitiia,  which  is  the  principal  depot  of  the  Russian 
American  Company,  there  is  a  smaller  estahlishment  of  the  sanu;  kind 
Ht  Alaska,  which  snp|)lies  one  post  in  Bristol  Hay,  and  three;  posts  in 
('ook's  Iidet,  all  the  four  bc.'ing  contK^cted  with  subordinate  stations  in 
the  interior;  and  there  exists  another  depot  in  Norton  Sound,  which 
has  also  its  own  inland  (lepend(Micics.  Beyond  the  limits  of  Russian 
America,  properly  so  called,  the  company  has  either  permanent  forts 
or  HyiniT  parties  in  tlu?  Aleutian  and  Kurile  Islands,  over  and  above  a 
chain  of  aj^encies  exten(lin("[  from  Ochotsk  to  i'etcrsburj;,  for  the  purpose 
of  transporting  goods  and  enoajritiir  servants. 

'J'he  operations  of  the  company  were  becoming  more  extensive  than 
they  had  previously  been.  Its  exclusive  license  had  been  extended 
for  a  fardier  term  of  twenty  years;  the  direction  was  about  to  be  re- 
modeled ;  and  generally  an  improved  order  of  things  was  in  progress. 

At  the  dale  of  my  visit,  the  returns  of  the  trade  were  pretty  nearly 
as  follows : 

10,000  Fur  Seals, 
1,000  Nea  Otters, 
12,000  Beaver,  ' 

2,500  Land  Otters, 

Foxes,  Martens,  &c.  &c.  &c. 

20,000  Sea  Horse  Teeth. 

Some  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago,  there  was  a  most  wasteful  de- 
struction of  the  fur  seal,  when  young  and  old,  male  and  female,  were 
indiscriminately  knocked  on  the  head.  This  imprudence,  as  any  one 
might  have  expected,  proved  detrimental  in  two  ways.  The  race  was 
almost  extirpated ;  and  the  market  was  glutted  to  such  a  degree,  at  the 
rate  for  some  time  of  two  hundred  thousand  skins  a  year,  that  the 
prices  did  not  even  pay  the  expenses  of  carriage.  The  Russians,  how- 
ever, have  now  adopted  nearly  the  same  plan  which  The  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  pursues  in  recruiting  any  of  its  exhausted  districts,  killing 
only  a  limited  number  of  such  males  as  have  attained  their  full  growth, 
a  plan  peculiarly  applicable  to  the  fur  seal^  inasmuch  as  its  habits 
render  the  system  of  husbanding  the  stock  as  easy  and  certain  as  that 
of  destroying  it. 

In  the  month  of  May,  with  something  like  the  regularity  of  an 
almanac,  the  fur  seals  make  their  appearance  at  the  Island  of  St.  Paul, 
one  of  the  Aleutian  group.  Each  old  male  brings  a  herd  of  females 
under  his  protection,  varying  in  number  according  to  his  size  and 
strength ;  the  weaker  brethren  are  obliged  to  content  themselves  with 
half  a  dozen  wives,  while  some  of  the  sturdier  and  fiercer  fellows  pre- 
side over  harems  that  are  two  hundred  strong.  From  the  date  of  their 
arrival  in  May  to  that  of  their  departure  in  October,  the  whole  of  them 
are  principally  ashore  on  the  beach.  The  females  go  down  to  the  sea 
once  or  twice  a  day,  while  the  male,  morning,  noon  and  night,  watches 
his  charge  with  the  utmost  jealousy,  postponing  even  the  pleasures  of 


i#. 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


131 


catintr  ami  driukinn,  and  Hlcrpinj^,  to  the  duty  of  kcrpiiig  liis  t'iivoritrs 
loirrtluir.  If  any  youiiu  gallant  vrnliin'  l)y  Htcallh  to  upproafh  any 
senior  cliicrN  Ixvv  of  hrautics,  In-  trciicrally  atones  for  liis  injprujlcnro 
with  his  lift',  bi'intf  torn  to  piccrs  by  the  oUl  feMow ;  and  such  t)f  thn 
fair  ones,  as  may  have  given  the  intruder  any  encouragement,  are  pretty 
sure  to  catch  it  in  the  shape  of  some  secondary  pimishment.  'I'ho 
hull  «  are  in  the  straw  diout  a  fortnij^hl  after  they  arrive  at  St.  I'aid's  ; 
about  two  or  three  weeks  afterwards,  they  lay  tlie  sinirle  foundation, 
beinu  all  that  is  necessary  of  next  season's  proceedings;  and  the  re- 
maind«'r  of  their  sojourn  they  devote  exclusively  to  the  rearing  of  their 
younij.  At  last  the  whole  baml  departs,  no  one  knows  whither.  The 
inod(!  of  ca|)iure  is  this:  At  the  proper  time,  the  whole  are  driven,  like 
a  dock  of  sheep,  to  the  eslal)lishmeut,  which  is  about  a  mile  distant 
from  the  sea;  and  there  the  males  of  four  years,  with  the  exception  of 
1  few  that  arc;  left  to  keep  up  the  breerl,  are  separated  from  the  rest  and 
killed.  In  the  days  tif  promiscuous  massacre,  such  of  the  niothers  as 
liad  lost  their  pups,  would  ever  and  anon  return  to  the  establishment, 
absolutely  harrowing!:  up  the  sympathies  of  the  wives  and  daufrjiters  of 
the  hunters,  accustomed  as  thciy  were  to  such  scenes,  with  their  doleful 
lamentations. 

The  fur  seal  attains  the  nije  of  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  but  not  more. 
The  females  do  not  l)rin<?  forth  younf^,  till  they  are  five  years  old.  The 
hunters  have  frecpiently  marked  their  cars  each  season ;  and  many  of 
the  animals  have  been  notched  in  this  way  ten  times,  but  very  few  of 
them  oftener. 

Under  the  present  system,  the  fur  seals  are  increasing  rapidly  in 
number.  Previously  to  its  introduction,  the  annual  hunts  had  dwindled 
down  to  three  or  four  thousand.  They  have  now  gradually  got  up  to 
thrice  that  amount;  and  they  are  likely  soon  to  equal  the  full  demand, 
not  exceeding  thirty  thousand  skins,  of  the  Russian  market. 

Latterly  the  sea  otters  have  again  begun  to  be  more  numerous  on  the 
northwest  coast  between  lat.  60°  and  05°,  on  the  Aleutian  and  Kurile 
Islands,  and  on  the  shores  of  Kamschatka.  To  the  south  of  the  paral- 
lel of  sixty  degrees,  they  have  become  pretty  nearly  extinct.  In  Cali- 
fornia in  particular,  where  they  were  once  extremely  numerous,  they 
were  destroyed  with  unusual  facility,  inasmuch  as  they  were  generally 
found  in  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  and  other  inlets,  whereas  to  the 
northward  they  delighted  in  the  most  exposed  situations  so  as  to  render 
the  pursuit  of  them  a  service  of  danger.  It  was  the  lamented  Cook, 
or  rather  his  crews  after  his  death,  that  introduced  the  sea  otter  into 
the  civilized  world.  Though,  from  1780  to  1795,  the  British  shared 
in  the  fur  trade  which  heir  countrymen  had  thus  opened,  yet,  from  the 
latter  date  to  1828,  the  Russians  and  the  Americans  between  them 
monopolized  nearly  the  whole  of  it.  Since  1828,  however.  The  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  came  with  energy  on  the  coast;  and  now,  while 
the  Russians  confine  themselves  to  their  own  territory,  not  a  single 
American  is  engaged  in  the  branch  of  commerce  in  question. 

Of  land  otters,  in  addition  to  the  produce  of  its  own  wildernesses, 
the  Russian   American  Company  purchases  a  considerable  quantity 


^^ 


132 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


\l  ^     !l 


i'    u!i 


\m 


If    ■ 


ii 


from  us,  besides  that  it  receives  two  thousand  skins  a  year  as  the  rent 
of  the  strip  of  continent  leased  to  us  between  the  international  boundary 
and  Cross  Sound. 

The  sea  horse  teeth  weigh,  on  an  average,  one  pound  each.  As  the 
animal  produces  only  two,  ten  thousand  head  must  be  destroyed  to 
produce  the  full  tale  of  twenty  thousand ;  and  the  whole  of  the  slaughter, 
so  far  as  the  company  is  concerned,  must  go  to  the  account  of  the 
ivory,  for  the  carcases  themselves  are  commercially  of  very  little  value. 

The  company's  hunters,  who  are  chiefly  Aleutians,  are  peaceful  even 
to  cowardice,  being  in  great  dread  of  the  Indians  of  the  coast,  who  are 
numerous,  treacherous  and  fierce.  In  fact,  previously  to  the  formation 
of  the  present  establishment  of  New  Archangel,  the  savages  had,  on 
one  and  the  same  day,  destroyed  two  forts  in  this  neighborhood,  and 
butchered  the  unfortunate  garrisons  of  twenty-five  men  each.  At  that 
time  the  company's  principal  depot  was  at  Kodiak,  whence  eight  hun- 
dred of  the  pusillanimous  Aleutians,  together  with  a  few  Russians, 
were  sent  to  punish  these  outrages ;  but  the  expedition,  as  any  one 
might  have  expected,  proved  abortive,  and  returned  without  spilling 
human  blood.  Soon  afterwards,  Count  Baranoff*,  who  was  then  at  the 
head  of  the  company's  affairs  in  this  quarter,  proceeded  with  three 
vessels  and  a  large  body  of  people  to  form  the  depot  of  Sitka.  Pro- 
tected by  a  breastwork,  the  natives  repulsed  the  Russians  as  often  as 
they  attempted  to  carry  the  fortification  by  storm ;  but,  in  spite  of  all 
their  skill  and  bravery,  they  sustained  much  loss  of  life  under  the  heavy 
fire  of  the  ships,  consequendy  evacuating  their  position  by  night,  and 
accepting  an  honorable  peace. 

Immediately  under  the  guns  of  the  fort,  there  is  a  village  of  Sitka- 
guouays  or  people  of  Sitka,  who  are  a  subdivision  of  the  great  tribe  of 
the  Thlinkitts.  These  Sitkaguouays  are  the  most  wretched  Indians  in 
appearance  that  I  have  ever  seen,  being  bedaubed  with  filth  and  paint, 
and  covered  with  the  scars  of  syphilis ;  and,  to  make  matters  worse, 
at  least  with  respect  to  the  fair  sex,  the  loathsome  lip-piece  is  here  in 
almost  universal  use. 

In  trading  with  the  Indians,  the  Russians,  as  I  have  already  had  oc- 
casion to  mention,  use  spirituous  liquors,  our  neighboring  posts  being 
obliged,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  employ  the  same  pernicious  medium 
of  traffic.  Knowing  the  mischiefs  that  ensued  at  our  own  establish- 
ments, and  having  reason  to  believe,  that  more  fatal  results  occurred  at 
Sitka,  I  suggested  to  Governor  Etholine,  who  promptly  acceded  to  the 
proposal,  that  on  or  before  the  last  day  of  the  year  1843,  both  compa- 
nies should  entirely  abandon  the  practice  of  trading  with  the  savages 
in  spirituous  liquors.  An  earlier  limit  would  have  been  fixed,  had  not 
Governor  Etholine  and  myself  thought  that  the  establishments  would 
meanwhile  require  to  be  strengthened,  in  order  to  provide  against  the 
possibility  of  any  consequent  outrages  among  the  involuntary  "  tee-to- 
tallers"  of  the  coast.  Such  was  our  arrangement ;  but,  during  my  second 
visit,  which  took  place  in  the  ensuing  spring,  a  scene  presented  itself 
which  led,  as  hereinafter  described,  to  an  immediate  and  unconditional 
stoppage  of  rum  and  all  its  kindred. 


the  rent 
)Oundary 

As  the 
troyed  to 
laughter, 
It  of  the 
tie  value, 
eful  even 
who  are 
brmation 
i  had,  on 
Lood,  and 

At  that 
ight  hun- 
Russians, 
any  one 
t  spilling 
en  at  the 
ith  three 
La.  Pro- 
3  often  as 
ite  of  all 
the  heavy 
light,  and 

of  Sitka- 

t  tribe  of 

Indians  in 

nd  paint, 

s  worse, 

here  in 

had  oc- 
|sts  being 
medium 
istablish- 
!urred  at 
id  to  the 
com  pa- 
savages 
had  not 
IS  would 
iinst  the 
1"  tee-to- 
second 
3d  itself 
liditional 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


133 


The  good  folks  of  New  Archangel  appear  to  live  well.  The  sur- 
roundin"-  country  abounds  in  the  chevreuil,  the  finest  meat  that  I  ever 
ate,  with  the  single  exception  of  moose,  while  halibut,  cod,  herrings, 
flounders,  and  many  other  sorts  of  fish  are  always  to  be  had  for  the 
takiiiir,  in  unlimited  quantities.  In  a  little  stream,  which  is  within  a 
mile  of  the  fort,  salmon  are  so  plentiful  at  the  proper  season,  that,  when 
ascending  the  river,  they  have  been  known  literally  to  embarrass  the 
movements  of  a  canoe.  About  a  hundred  thousand  of  the  last-men- 
tioned fish,  equivalent  to  fifteen  hundred  barrels,  are  annually  salted 
for  the  use  of  the  establishment;  they  are  so  inferior,  however,  in 
richness  and  flavor  to  such  as  are  caught  farther  to  the  southward,  that 
they  are  not  adapted  for  exportation. 

I  visited  the  Alexander  with  some  degree  of  interest,  as  being  the 
vessel  in  which  I  was  to  sail  to  Ochotsk  next  summer,  and  found  that 
her  accommodations  for  officers,  crew  and  passengers  were  superior  to 
those  of  any  merchantman  that  I  had  ever  seen.  On  this  voyage  I 
was  to  have  the  honor,  though  in  this  I  was  afterwards  disappointed, 
of  being  accompanied  by  a  Russian  princess  of  talents  and  accomplish- 
ments, the  wife  of  M.  RotschefT,  the  gentleman  in  charge  of  Bodega 
in  California.  When  I  came  to  see  and  feel  the  roads  of  Siberia, 
whether  in  the  saddle  or  on  wheels,  I  could  not  but  marvel  that  deli- 
cately bred  females  could  endure  so  much  of  pain  and  fatigue. 

While  at  Sitka,  I  took  a  bath,  which  might  be  a  very  good  thing  to 
those  that  like  it.  On  entering  the  building,  I  was  much  oppressed  by 
the  steam  and  heat,  while  an  ill-looking,  long-legged,  stark-naked  fellow 
was  waiting  to  officiate  as  master  of  the  ceremonies.  Having  undressed 
in  an  ante-chamber,  so  far  as  decency  would  permit,  I  made  my  way 
into  the  bath-room,  which  was  heated  almost  to  suffocation.  Having 
thus  got  me  into  his  power,  the  gaunt  attendant  threw  some  water  on 
the  iron  furnace,  while,  to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  the  clouds  of  steam 
that  were  thus  raised,  I  squatted  myself  down  on  the  floor,  perspiring 
profusely  at  every  pore.  I  next  seated  myself  on  a  bench,  while 
bucket  after  bucket  of  hot  water  was  thrown  on  my  head;  and  then, 
making  me  stretch  myself  out,  my  tormentor  soaped  me  all  over  from 
head  to  foot,  rubbing  and  lathering  me  with  a  handful  of  pine  tops. 
Once  more  taking  his  bucket,  the  horrid  operator  kept  drenching  me, 
the  successive  pailfuls  descending  gradually  from  nearly  a  boiling  heat 
to  the  temperature  of  fifty  degrees.  The  whole  process  occupied  about 
an  hour.  I  then  returned  to  the  ante-chamber,  where,  after  being  dried 
with  hot  towels,  I  was  very  glad  to  put  on  my  clothes.  It  was  impos- 
sible, however,  to  make  my  escape  immediately,  for  I  was  so  relaxed 
as  to  be  obliged  to  recline  on  a  sofa  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour ;  and  then 
I  withdrew,  inwardly  resolved  never  again  to  undergo  such  another 
castigation. 

During  our  stay  at  Sitka,  we  slept  on  board,  but  spent  the  day 
ashore.  At  dinner  Governor  Etholine  generally  assembled  nearly  all 
his  officers,  to  the  number  of  about  sixteen.  Amongst  them  I  met  a 
half-breed  native  of  the  country,  who  had  been  a  leader  of  an  expedition 
equipped  some  years  ago  by  the  Russian  American  Company  for  the 


134 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


f-,   i-ilHii 


B^    i^ 


I: 


discovery  of  what  would  be  here  styled  the  northeast  passage.  The  parly 
consisted  of  two  divisions,  the  one  advancing  by  sea  and  the  other  by 
land.  The  Russians  reached  Point  Barrow,  shortly  after  Mr.  Thomas 
Simpson  had  reached  the  same  spot  from  the  opposite  direction,  and 
learned  that  my  lamented  relative  had  unconsciously  escaped  in  time 
from  the  natives,  who  were  assembling  for  the  purpose  of  destroying 
him.  The  Russians  themselves  had  also  made  a  precipitate  retreat, 
partly  through  the  fear  of  the  hostility  of  the  savages,  and  partly 
through  the  dread  of  the  small-pox  which  had  just  begun  to  rage 
among  them. 

Nor  has  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  as  all  the  world  knows,  been 
backward  in  the  cause  of  geography  any  more  than  the  Russian  Ameri- 
can Association.  It  was  in  its  service  that  Lieutenant  Hearne  com- 
menced the  career  of  northern  discovery,  by  penetrating  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Coppermine,  through  untrodden  wildernesses,  with  a  courage 
approaching  to  heroism  ;  it  was  in  its  service  that  Messrs.  Dease  and 
Simpson,  by  advancing  in  one  season  from  the  McKenzie  to  Point 
Barrow,  and  in  another  from  the  Coppermine  to  Bosthia  Felix, 
achieved  more  than  all  their  modern  predecessors  put  together ;  and  in 
its  service  also,  before  these  pages  see  the  light,  a  young  man  of  talent 
and  energy.  Dr.  John  Rae,  will  be  exploring  the  hitherto  unknown 
coast,  from  the  Straits  of  the  Fury  and  Hecla  to  the  eastern  limit  of 
the  surveys  of  my  lamented  relative  and  his  colleague. 

During  our  four  days  at  Sitka,  with  the  exception  of  a  part  of  a  day, 
there  was  one  continued  fall  of  rain  ;  and  in  fact,  since  we  reached 
Taco,  we  had  had  almost  constant  wet, — a  remarkable  contrast  to 
the  generally  fine  weather  which  we  had  enjoyed  from  Montreal 
upwards. 

Having  taken  leave  of  our  kind  friends  on  the  previous  evening,  we 
weighed  anchor  about  five  in  the  morning  of  the  thirteenth  of  Sep- 
tember, but  were  obliged  to  bring  up  for  the  night  about  half  past 
three  in  the  afternoon  in  Lindenberg's  Harbor. 

In  the  morning,  when  we  got  under  way,  the  weather  was  cold  and 
squally,  while  a  little  snow,  that  fell  in  the  night,  had  partially 
whitened  the  green  ice  that  filled  the  ravines  of  the  mountains ;  and  the 
channels  were  traversed  by  many  restless  masses  which  had  broken 
off  from  the  glaciers.  In  short,  nothing  could  exceed  the  dreariness  of 
this  inhospitable  coast.  To  make  matters  still  worse  for  some  of  us, 
a  tumbling  sea  deranged  the  stomachs  of  our  landsmen.  Having 
passed  through  Chatham  Straits,  we  anchored  for  the  night  at  Fomt 
Rowand,  in  Prince  Frederick's  Sound. 

Next  day,  after  grounding  slightly  on  a  mud  bank  in  Wrangell's 
Straits,  we  reached  Stikine  at  three  in  the  afternoon,  where  we  were 
delighted  to  find  our  fellow  traveler,  Mr.  Rowand,  pretty  nearly 
recovered  from  his  serious  illness.  Most  of  the  Indians  had  gone  to 
the  interior  ;  of  the  chiefs,  Shakes  was  absent  on  a  hunting  excursion, 
and  Quatkay  was  in  search  of  six  runaway  slaves. 

Fourteen  or  fifteen  of  the  men  of  the  establishment  asked  permis- 
sion to  take"  native  wives  ;  and  leave  to  accept  the  worthless  bargains 


I'V'n 


'■>l 


FRf  M  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


135 


was  granted  to  all  such  as  had  the  means  of  supporting  a  family. 
These  matrimonial  connexions  are  a  heavy  tax  on  a  post  in  conse- 
quence of  the  increased  demand  for  provisions,  but  form,  at  the  same 
time,  a  useful  link  between  the  traders  and  the  savages. 

We  here  experienced  a  singular  instance  of  the  pilfering  disposition 
of  the  natives.  Some  of  them  had  been  employed  to  carry  wood  and 
water  on  board ;  and  one  fellow,  doubtless  thinking  that  a  thing  for 
which  lie  had  been  paid  must  be  worth  stealing,  paddled  off  after 
dusk  with  a  load  of  fuel. 

Before  starting  in  the  morning,  we  nearly  lost  a  man,  through  the 
apparent  indifference  of  others.  A  Sandwich  Islander  fell  overboard, 
but,  being  deemed  amphibious,  attracted  hardly  any  notice.  The  poor 
fellow,  however,  proved  not  to  be  in  swimming  trim.  Besides  that, 
the  temperature  of  the  water  was  very  different  from  that  to  which  he 
had  been  accustomed;  he  was  encumbered  with  boots,  great  coat,  &c.; 
and  in  consequence  he  was  saved  only  when  he  was  at  his  last  gasp. 

Having  again  taken  Mr.  Rowand  on  board,  we  reached  Fort  Simp- 
son at  seven  in  the  morning  of  the  second  day  thereafter.  Before 
landing  we  passed  three  canoes  under  sail,  one  of  them  containing 
fully  twenty  people ;  and  in  another  we  recognized  Quatkay  of 
Stikine,  M'ho  had  been  searching,  as  already  mentioned,  for  his  runa- 
way slaves.  Though  the  little  squadron  luffed,  yet  we  had  no  time 
for  giving  or  receiving  news.  On  entering  the  establishment,  we 
learned  that  a  fight  among  the  savages  had  occurred  during  our  ab- 
sence. A  Chimseean  had  purchased  some  potatoes  from  a  Queen 
Charlotte  Islander,  who,  on  second  thought,  refused  to  fulfil  his  con- 
tract, being  probably  of  opinion  that  the  article  would  rise  in  the 
market.  This  breach  of  agreement  provoked  a  blow  from  the  disap- 
pointed purchaser,  who  immediately  fell  under  the  knives  of  the  faith- 
less seller  and  his  countrymen.  The  vulgar  transaction  thus  became 
a  point  of  honor  to  two  nations  ;  and,  after  the  belligerent  powers  had 
counted  four  killed  and  many  more  wounded,  a  peace  was  negotiated 
by  Mr.  Work,  leaving,  according  to  the  civilized  custom  in  the  gene- 
rality of  such  cases,  the  grand  question  of  potatoes  bargained  and  sold 
precisely  as  it  stood.  Besides  quarreling  with  each  other,  these  wild 
men  occasionally  display  towards  us  their  fearfully  low  estimate  of 
human  life.  One  of  them,  having  recently  attempted  to  steal  some- 
thing from  the  blacksmith's  shop,  was  then  and  there  chastised  by  the 
son  of  Vulcan ;  and,  though  the  chief,  who  had  thus  been  affronted  in 
the  person  of  his  vassal,  did  pot  dare  to  attack  the  fort,  yet  he  pro- 
posed that  Mr.  Work  should  kill  the  blacksmith,  while  he  himself,  as 
if  to  make  up  for  the  difference  between  the  offence  and  the  punish- 
ment, would  sacrifice  a  slave  to  our  man's  manes. 

Starting  at  half  past  five  next  morning,  we  anchored  for  the  night  in 
a  cove  in  Grcnviile  Canal.  This  delay  was  entirely  owing  to  the 
miserably  thick  weather,  for,  with  a  clear  atmosphere,  we  could  have 
run  in  tlie  dark,  inasmuch  as  the  channel  presented  deep  water  and 
bold  shores.  In  the  vicinity  of  our  anchorage  was  a  village  of  Sebas- 
saraen,  a  numerous  tribe  which  was  said  to  consist,  in  a  great  measure, 


',  ci 


li'i  '  i 


Bi  u 


liiilUiltlill 


I    ! 


i  till 


mm 


illNi 


136 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


of  runaway  slaves,  whom  the  chief,  like  another  Romulus,  always 
received  with  open  arms  ;  and,  if  he  should  continue  this  policy,  he 
would  be  not  unlikely  to  render  his  village  the  Rome  of  the  adjacent 
coasts. 

In  passing  next  day,  through  Grenville  Canal,  we  saw  some  beautiful 
waterfalls,  which  had  been  greatly  increased  by  the  late  heavy  rams, 
tumbling  down  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  where  they  found  so  little 
soil  that  they  carried  their  foam  to  the  sea  just  as  pure  as  they  had 
received  it  from  the  clouds.  We  anchored  within  sight  of  Millbank 
Sound. 

About  eight  in  the  morning  we  reached  Fort  McLaughlin,  where  we 
remained  during  the  rest  of  the  day.  The  murderer  of  Francois 
Richard  was  still  walking  about  as  audaciously  as  ever.  Like  every 
other  criminal  of  the  same  class,  that  I  had  seen  among  Indians,  this 
fellow,  Tsoquayou  by  name,  was  so  smooth,  placid  and  mild  in  his 
manner  as  almost  to  belie  his  guilt.  He  was,  as  already  mentioned, 
soon  to  be  removed  for  ever  from  his  own  people,  as  a  commutation 
of  the  capital  punishment  which  he  so  richly  deserved. 

We  were  glad  here  to  bid  farewell  to  the  odious  lip-piece,  which 
would  render  the  most  lovely  face  on  earth  an  object  of  disgust;  in  one 
respect,  too,  this  ornament  is  as  inconvenient  to  the  wearers  as  it  is 
offensive  to  the  spectators.  When  the  ladies  fair  come  to  blows,  as 
they  always  do  when  drunk,  and  sometimes  when  sober,  each  pounces 
on  her  antagonist's  lower  lip  as  at  once  being  the  most  vulnerable  region 
and  furnishing  the  best  hold ;  and  at  the  close  of  a  fray,  the  whole  col- 
lege of  surgeons  are  sure  to  be  busily  engaged  in  doctoring  lips  and 
replacing  lip-pieces. 

Leaving  Fort  McLaughlin  next  morning  we  were  obliged,  by  four  in 
the  afternoon,  to  take  refuge  for  the  night  in  Safety  Cove  on  Calvert's 
island  by  reason  of  our  being  unable  to  reach  any  other  known  shelter 
with  daylight.  After  anchoring,  I  amused  myself,  as  was  my  custom, 
by  fishing,  my  ordinary  prey  being  halibut,  rockcod,  flounders,  &c.  &c. 
In  this  neighborhood,  I  noticed  what  was  to  me  a  very  remarkable 
phenomenon,  a  sea-weed  growing  to  the  surface  from  a  depth  of  thirty 
or  forty  fathoms. 

Next  day,  after  being  once  driven  back  to  Calvert's  Island,  we  suc- 
ceeded, on  a  second  attempt,  in  crossing  the  grand  traverse,  already 
mentioned  as  the  only  exposed  part  of  the  coast,  to  Shushady  Harbor 
in  Vancouver's  Island.  As  the  swell  of  the  ocean  was  here  met  by  a 
high  wind  from  the  shore,  no  fewer  than  ten  of  our  crew  and  passengers 
were  laid  up  with  sea  sickness.  During  the  squalls,  the  paddles  made 
seventeen  revolutions  in  a  minute;  but,  during  the  lulls,  they  accom- 
plished twenty-two.  The  proportions  of  actual  speed,  however,  were 
very  different,  two  or  three  miles  an  hour  in  the  one  case  and  six  or 
seven  in  the  other. 

The  northern  end  of  Vancouver's  Island  would  be  an  excellent  posi- 
tion for  the  collecting  and  curing  of  salmon,  which  being  incredibly 
numerous  in  these  waters,  might  easily  be  rendered  one  of  the  most 
important  articles  of  trade  in  this  country.    The  neighboring  Newettees, 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


137 


a  brave  and  friendly  tribe,  would  be  valuable  auxiliaries  not  only  in 
aiding  the  essential  operations  of  the  establishment,  but  also  in  furnish- 
ing supplies  of  venison.  As  a  proof  of  their  industry,  they  brought 
to  us  in  the  evening  some  wood  that  they  had  themselves  cut  for  us 
during  our  absence.  By  the  by,  it  was  the  principal  chief  of  this  tribe, 
that  made  the  long  speech  about  his  axe  against  the  ship  with  the 
big  guns.  He  himself  has  taken  the  fashionable  name  of  liOoking 
Glass;  his  second  in  command  is  appropriately  distinguished  as  Killum, 
and  the  third,  an  old  fellow  of  sturdy  form  and  facetious  countenance, 
glories  in  being  Shell  Fish.  In  one  respect,  the  last  mentioned  grandee 
resembles  the  wandering  Jew,  having,  as  I  was  told,  undergone  no 
change  in  appearance  during  the  last  twenty  years. 

In  spite  of  the  deluge  of  rain  that  fell  during  the  night  and  morning, 
our  wooding  and  watering  were  completed,  the  ladies  lending  their 
assistance,  while  the  gentlemen  were  engaged  in  trading.  A  little  after 
sunset,  we  anchored  in  front  of  a  village  of  Quakeolths.  We  were 
soon  visited  by  twelve  or  fifteen  canoes,  in  one  of  which  we  noticed 
the  indiscriminate  admirer  of  the  fair  sex,  who  had  been  our  fellow 
passenger  for  a  little  distance  on  our  upward  voyage.  The  favor  which 
was  then  granted  to  him,  had  since  then  involved  him  in  a  deal  of  trouble. 
After  getting  rid  of  the  amorous  old  fellow,  we  had  passed  a  village 
of  Camoucs  without  stopping,  and  these  people  giving  our  Quakeolth 
friend  the  c.edit  of  having  suggested  this  slight,  took  their  revenge  by 
murdering  three  of  his  slaves.  As  the  insulted  potentate  could  not  let 
matters  rest  here,  he  had  now  a  large  party  of  his  thralls  prowling 
about  for  an  opportunity  of  retaliation,  assuring  us  that  nothing  less 
than  the  assasination  of  two  slaves  for  one  would  satisfy  him,  unless 
indeed  the  aggressors  should  come  forward  with  a  handsome  offer  of 
sea  otters  in  the  way  of  expiation. 

At  the  request  of  the  chief,  we  consented  to  remain  till  next  day, 
for  the  purpose  o»  trading.  Before  the  fleet  left  us,  the  female  mari- 
ners, whether  from  inquisitiveness  or  acquisitiveness,  or  any  other 
motive,  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  come  on  board,  and  were  by  no 
means  pleased  with  Ma-ta-hell's  unqualified  rejection  of  their  pro- 
posals. 

Before  daybreak  the  vessel  was  surrounded  by  about  fifty  canoes, 
whose  fair  inmates  were  as  affable  as  if  they  had  not  been  affronted  the 
night  before.  After  a  great  deal  of  noise  and  negotiation,  we  procured 
a  small  quantity  of  inferior  furs,  blankets  being,  as  usual,  the  grand 
equivalent.  The  Quakeohhs,  as  well  as  the  Newettees,  had  long  been 
anxious  that  we  should  form  a  permanent  establishment  among  them. 
But  the  mysterious  steamer,  against  which  neither  calms  nor  contrary 
winds  were  any  security,  possessed,  in  our  estimation,  this  advantage 
over  stationary  forts,  that,  besides  being  as  convenient  for  the  purposes 
of  trade,  she  was  the  terror,  whether  present  or  absent,  of  every  tribe 
on  the  coast. 

Starting  at  two  in  the  afternoon,  we  were  soon  obliged,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  distance  of  any  other  harbor,  to  anchor  for  the  night  in 
a  small  bay,  into  which  a  pretty  stream  emptitd  itself.     The  wooding 


-i%*. 


•^M 


138 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


!  '      ■! 


and  watering:,  as  usual,  commenced,  while,  by  way  of  varying  the 
evening's  amusements,  we  ourselves  made  an  unsuccessful  attack  on 
ihe  ducks  and  plovers. 

Next  morning  we  passed  two  or  three  canoes  without  stopping, 
merely  throwing  them  out  some  pieces  of  tobacco  attached  to  billets  of 
wood.  About  three  in  the  afternoon  we  entered  the  whirlpools  of 
Johnston's  Straits,  the  water  being  tolerably  smooth,  and  had  got  down 
nearly  abreast  of  Point  Mudge,  when  we  became  enveloped  in  a  fog, 
which  in  density  surpassed  anything  of  the  kind  that  I  ever  saw  out 
of  London.  Under  these  circumstances,  to  advance  along  a  channel 
of  only  two  miles  in  width  was  impossible ;  and  accordingly,  slacken- 
ing the  speed  of  the  engine,  we  endeavored  to  grope  our  way  out  of 
the  strength  of  the  current  to  an  anchorage  on  the  shore  of  Vancoi'ver's 
Island.  After  a  few  casts  of  the  lead  without  finding  bottom,  we  soon 
got  into  twelve,  eleven,  ten  and  eight  fathoms;  and,  thinking  that  wo 
were  now  quite  near  enough,  we  backed  out  again  and  dropped  the 
small  bower  in  eighteen  fathoms.  We  then  dragged  over  a  rocky 
bottom,  paying  out  gradually  seventy-five  fathoms,  while  the  tide  was 
running  up  from  twelve  to  fourteen  knots  an  hour;  and  at  last  we 
dropped  the  best  bower,  which  jerked  over  the  ground  to  such  a  degree 
as  to  endanger  the  windlass.  About  half  past  six  the  best  bower  held 
with  its  chain  as  stiflT  as  a  bar,  whereas  the  small  bower,  of  which  the 
chain  was  slack,  was  supposed  to  be  broken  or  parted.  We  now 
plucked  up  courage  to  take  tea,  supposing  ourselves  secure  for  the 
night;  but  about  nine  the  vessel  again  began  to  drag  for  an  hour  or  so, 
till  the  tide  slackened.  Immediately  on  stopping,  we  attempted  to 
heave  in  the  small  bower  without,  however,  being  able  to  raise  a  single 
link.  About  eleven  at  night  we  repeated  the  effort;  and,  after  fifty 
minutes  of  hard  labor,  we  got  hold  of  our  small  bower  all  dislocated 
and  shattered. 

Next  day,  about  noon,  we  dragged  again  over  sand,  running  out  into 
the  gulf  with  the  ebb  tide.  Soon  afterwards  our  sand  was  succeeded 
by  rock,  when  we  felt  a  jerk,  which  made  us  all  suppose  that  the  ves- 
sel had  struck.  The  cause  of  the  shock  was  soon  suspected.  Down 
to  this  time  the  anchor,  as  it  scraped  and  thumped  against  the  bottom, 
had  been  very  distinctly  heard  from  the  poop,  as  if  it  was  astern  in- 
stead of  being  five  hundred  feet  ahead;  but  now  we  discerned  nothing 
but  the  clanking  of  the  chain,  as  it  rattled  along  the  inequalities  of  the 
ground.  In  a  word,  we  had  every  reason  to  believe,  that  we  had  lost 
our  best  bower.  About  three  in  the  afternoon,  in  consequence  of  our 
having  drifted  into  deep  water,  the  chain  was  no  longer  heard  any  more 
than  the  anchor.  About  four  we  caught  a  glimpse  of  land,  supposed 
to  be  Point  Mudge,  while  we  were  reeling  wildly  out  into  the  gulf,  the 
mere  sport  of  the  whirlpools.  About  six  in  the  evening,  the  wind, 
shifting  from  northeast  to  southeast,  dispersed  the  fog;  and,  after  our 
pooft  fellows  had  been  toiling  at  the  windlass  for  nearly  an  hour  and  a 
hall;  they  verified  our  fears  by  bringing  up  the  chain  without  the 
anchor,  leaving  us  in  i  '^  enviable  condition  at  this  boisterous  season. 
Getting  up  the  steam,  we  hoped  to  reach  the  anchorage  between  Sang- 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


139 


filer's  and  Foveda  Islands,  with  the  view  of  procurinjr  a  new  stock  for 
our  small  bower ;  but  our  southeaster  soon  began  to  blow  so  hard  as 
to  make  us  bear  away  for  Beware  Harbor  at  the  north  end  of  Fevcda ; 
and  there  we  rendered  ourselves  as  snug  as  possible  for  the  night  by 
dropping  our  small  bower  with  some  temporary  repairs  and  our  stream 
and  kedge  lashed  together. 

We  had  passed  a  most  anxious  time  of  it,  driving  helplessly,  as  we 
were,  in  the  midst  of  impenetrable  darkness  with  a  current  almost 
equaling  the  speed  of  a  racer,  with  a  bottom  where  no  tackle  could 
find  holding  ground,  and  with  a  coast  where  a  touch  would  have 
knocked  the  stoutest  ship  to  pieces.  Nor  was  man  likely  to  be  more 
liospitable  than  nature.  Even  if  we  had  survived  the  perils  of  ship- 
wreck, we  should  have  had  to  enter  on  a  fearful  struggle  for  our  lives 
with  savages,  whose  cruelty  had  never  yet  acknowledged  any  check 
but  that  of  power  and  force. 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  strength  of  the  current,  no  bottom  at  times 
could  be  found  with  two  deep-sea  lead  linos  fastened  together,  even 
when  the  actual  depth  did  not  exceed  thirty  or  forty  fathoms. 

The  bay,  in  which  we  were  anchored,  was  said  to  be  famous  for  the 
abundance  of  its  herring  spawn.  The  native  mode  of  collecting  it  is 
to  lay  branches  of  pine  on  the  beach  at  low  water,  where,  after  the 
next  flood  has  retired,  they  are  found  to  be  covered  with  the  substance 
in  question  to  the  thickness  of  an  inch.  When  dry,  the  spawn  is 
rubbed  ofl'  with  the  hand  into  large  boxes  for  ruture  use.  Previously 
to  being  eaten,  it  is  washed  in  fresh  water  in  order  to  remove  the  taste 
of  the  pine ;  and  it  is  then  eaten,  in  the  form  of  cakes,  with  flesh,  fish 
or  fowl. 

Next  day  a  chief  and  ten  of  his  people  were  caught  in  the  act  of 
thieving  from  the  wood-cutters  and  were  forthwith  thrashed  by  the 
sufferers.  However  expert  the  Indians  may  be  at  the  knife  or  the  spear 
or  the  gun,  they  are  invariably  taken  aback  by  a  white  fist  on  their  noses, 
or,  as  it  is  technically  termed,  by  a  muzzier.  Even  the  Blackfoot,  one 
of  the  most  ferocious  specimens  of  the  race,  is  so  much  astonished  at 
that  homely  and  simple  style  of  fighting,  that,  when  struck,  he  places 
his  hands  on  the  part  affected  instead  of  pitching  them  into  his 
assailant's  carcase. 

On  the  second  day  thereafter,  being  Sunday  the  seventeenth  of 
October,  we  had  a  beautiful  run  with  smooth  water  and  fine  weather. 
We  passed  close  along  Whidbey's  Island,  being  about  forty  miles  long. 
It  is  well  fitted  for  settlement  and  cultivation.  The  soil  is  good;  the 
timber  is  excellent;  and  there  are  several  open  plains,  which  have  been 
prepared  by  natives  for  the  plough.  We  anchored  for  the  evening 
about  five  miles  to  the  south  of  this  island;  and,  by  making  a  very 
early  move,  we  breakfasted  ashore  at  Nisqually  about  five  in  the 
morning. 

Thus  had  I  twice  traversed  the  most  extraordinary  course  of  inland 
navigation  in  the  world.  The  first,  that  opened  its  mysteries  in  more 
modern  times,  was  Captain  Berkeley,  an  Englishman  sailing  under  the 
Portuguese  flag.     There  is  reason,  however,  for  believing,  that,  in  a 


J- 


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'.''..■  't> 


h--'l 


V  ■'■ 


140 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


11: 


I 


comparatively  remote  age,  Berkeley  had  been  anticipated  by  Spanish 
navigators.  Juan  de  Fuca  discovered  the  strait,  which  bears  his  name; 
and  Admiral  F'onte  penetrated  up  some  of  the  more  northerly  inlets. 
Though  both  these  explorers  mingled  a  vast  deal  of  fable  with  the 
truth,  pretending  to  have  made  their  way  right  through  to  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  yet  they  clearly  ascertained  the  general  character  of  the  coast  to 
the  extent  just  stated. 

According  to  the  whole  tenor  of  my  journal,  this  labyrinth  of  waters 
is  peculiarly  adapted  for  the  powers  of  steam.  In  the  case  of  a  sailing 
vessel,  our  delays  and  dangers  would  have  been  tripled  and  quad- 
rupled,— a  circumstance  which  raised  my  estimate  of  Vancouver's  skill 
and  perseverance  at  every  step  of  my  progress.  But,  independently 
of  physical  advantages,  steam,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  may  be  said 
to  exert  an  almost  superstitious  influence  over  the  savages;  besides 
acting  without  intermission  on  their  fears,  it  has,  in  a  great  measure, 
subdued  their  very  love  of  robbery  and  violence.  In  a  word,  it  has 
inspired  the  red  man  with  a  new  opinion, — new  not  in  degree  but  in 
kind, — of  the  superiority  of  his  white  brother. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  emigrants  from  Red  River,  their  guide,  a 
Cree  of  the  name  of  Bras  Croche,  took  a  short  trip  in  the  Beaver. 
When  asked  what  he  tJiought  of  her,  "  Don't  ask  me,"  was  his  reply; 
"I  cannot  speak;  my  friends  will  say  that  I  tell  lies  when  I  let  them 
know  what  I  have  seen;  Indians  are  fools  and  know  nothing;  I  can 
see  that  the  iron  machinery  makes  the  ship  to  go,  but  I  cannot  see  what 
makes  the  iron  machinery  itself  to  go."  Bras  Croche,  though  very 
intelligent,  and,  like  all  the  Crees,  partially  civilized,  was  nevertheless 
so  full  of  doubt  and  wonder,  that  he  would  not  leave  the  vessel,  till  he 
got  a  certificate  to  the  effect,  that  he  had  been  on  board  of  a  ship  which 
needed  neither  sails  nor  paddles.  Though  not  one  of  his  countrymen 
would  understand  a  word  of  what  was  written,  yet  the  most  skeptical 
among  them  would  not  dare  to  question  the  truth  of  a  story  which  had 
a  document  in  its  favor.  A  savage  stands  nearly  as  much  in  awe  of 
paper,  pen  and  ink  as  of  steam  itself;  and,  if  he  once  puts  his  cross  to 
any  writing,  he  has  rarely  been  known  to  violate  the  engagement  which 
such  writing  is  supposed  to  embody  or  to  sanction.  To  him  the  very 
look  of  black  and  white  is  a  powerful  ''medicine." 

Before  leaving  Nisqually,  let  me  still  farther  illustrate  the  character 
of  the  tribes  of  the  northwest  coast  by  a  summary  sketch  of  the 
condition  of  their  slaves.  These  thralls  are  just  as  much  the  property 
of  their  masters  as  so  many  dogs,  with  this  difference  against  them,  that 
a  man  of  cruelty  and  ferocity  enjoys  a  more  exquisite  pleasure  in 
tasking  or  starving,  or  torturing  or  killing  a  fellow  creature  than  in  treat- 
ing any  one  of  the  lower  animals  in  a  similar  way.  Even  in  the  most 
inclement  weather,  a  mat  or  a  piece  of  deer  skin  is  the  slave's  only 
clothing,  whether  by  day  or  by  night,  whether  under  cover  or  in  the 
open  air.  To  eat  without  permission,  in  the  very  midst  of  an  abund- 
ance which  his  toil  has  procured,  is  as  much  as  his  miserable  life  is 
worth ;  and  the  only  permission,  which  is  ever  vouchsafed  to  him,  is 
to  pick  up  the  offal  thrown  out  by  his  unfeeling  and  imperious  lord. 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


141 


Whether  in  open  war  or  in  secret  assassination,  this  cold  and  hungry 
wretch  invariably  occupies  the  post  of  danger. 

But  all  this  in  nothing,  when  compared  with  the  purely  wanton 
atrocities  to  which  these  most  helpless  and  pitiable  children  of  the 
human  race  are  subjected.  They  are  beaten,  lacerated  and  maimed, — 
the  mutilating  of  lingers  or  toes,  the  splitting  of  noses  and  the  scooping 
out  of  eyes  being  ordinary  occurrences.  They  are  butchered, — without 
the  excuse  or  the  excitement  of  a  gladiatorial  combat, — to  make 
holidays ;  and,  as  if  to  carry  persecution  beyond  the  point  at  which 
the  wicked  are  said  to  cease  from  troubling,  their  corpses  are  often  cast 
into  the  sea  to  be  washed  out  and  in  by  the  tide.  To  show  how  dia- 
bolically ingenious  the  masters  are  in  the  work  of  murder,  six  slaves, 
on  the  occasion  of  a  late  merry-making  at  Sitka,  were  placed  in  a  row 
with  their  throats  over  a  sharp  ridge  of  rock,  while  a  pole,  loaded 
with  a  chuckling  demon  at  either  end,  ground  away  at  the  hacks  of 
their  necks  till  life  was  extinct.  What  a  proof  of  the  degrading  influ- 
ence of  oppression,  that  men  should  submit  in  life  to  treatment,  from 
which  the  black  bondmen  of  Cuba  or  Brazil  would  be  glad  to  escape 
by  suicide. 

To  return  to  my  narrative,  we  almost  immediately  departed  from 
Nisqually  in  the  steamer  for  the  Chutes  River,  about  five  miles  farther 
up  Puget  Sound,  having  dispatched  a  band  of  horses  to  meet  us  there. 
At  the  Chutes,  which  gives  name  to  the  stream,  the  fall  is  about  twenty 
feet,  where  grist  and  saw  mills  might  be  erected  with  great  advantage. 

Next  day  we  reached  the  Cowlitz  Farm,  where,  on  the  following 
morning,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Demers  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  break- 
fasted with  us.  He  had  just  returned  from  visiting  the  country,  situ- 
ated between  Nisqually  and  Eraser's  River.  At  Fort  Langley  he  had 
seen  upwards  of  three  thousand  inhabitants  of  Vancouver's  Island, 
who  had  been  fishing  during  the  summer  in  the  stream  just  mentioned. 
Everywhere  the  natives  received  him  with  the  greatest  respect.  They 
had,  however,  been  very  much  puzzled  with  regard  to  the  sex  of  their 
visitor.  From  his  dress  they  took  him  for  a  woman,  but  from  his 
beard  for  a  man ;  but,  feeling  that  such  inconsistencies  could  not  both 
be  true,  they  pursued  a  middle  course  by  referring  him  to  a  distinct 
species. 

About  noon  we  embarked  in  a  batteau  on  the  Cowlitz,  and  encamped 
about  eight  in  the  evening  at  its  mouth,  where  we  met  Mr.  Steel,  the 
principal  shepherd  of  the  Puget  Sound  Company,  driving  a  flock  of 
rams  to  Nisqually. 

By  two  in  the  morning  we  were  again  on  the  water,  and,  with  the 
first  dawn,  descried  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  Barque  Columbia, 
which  was  returning,  like  ourselves,  from  the  northwest  coast,  beating 
her  way  up  the  stream.  Having  overtaken  her  near  the  lower  branch 
of  the  Willamette,  we  boarded  her  in  time  for  breakfast,  to  the  satis- 
faction of  all  parties  ;  and,  as  a  specimen  of  the  delays  and  diflSculties 
of  this  intricate  river,  we  learned  that,  in  addition  to  her  usual  share  of 
detention  at  its  mouth,  she  had  already  been  a  fortnight  within  the  bar. 
After  doing  ample  justice  to  the  ship's  good  things,  we  again  shot 


J 


I':    I  ( 


5'i ,     '  Hj 


142 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


ahead  as  far  .is  tlie  Cattlcpootle  River ;  and,  liaviiifr  tlicrc  gladly  ex- 
changed the  batteau  for  horses,  we  enjoyed  an  exhilarating  ride  aeross 
a  succession  of  luxuriant  prairies,  which,  however,  are  belter  adapted 
for  pasturage  than  tillage,  being  periodically  flooded  by  the  high  waters 
of  the  month  of  July.  Ten  or  twelve  miles  of  this  beautiful  country 
brought  us  by  four  in  the  afternoon  to  Fort  Vancouver,  where  we  found 
that  the  intermittent  fever,  which  had  been  raging  at  our  departure, 
had  lost  much  of  its  virulence  during  our  northern  trip. 

Hardly  had  the  Columbia  reached  Vancouver,  when  the  Cowlitz, 
which  had  made  a  voyage  to  the  Sandwhich  Islands  and  California, 
was  reported  to  be  ofl"  the  bar  ;  and  soon  afterward,  ler  papers  came 
up  by  boat  from  Fort  George,  along  with  a  passenger  of  the  name  of 
de  Mopas,  who  represented  himself,  for  he  had  no  credentials,  as  an 
attache  of  the  French  Embassy  in  Mexico.  Though  this  gentleman 
professed  to  be  collecting  information  for  the  purpose  of  making  a 
book,  yet,  with  the  exception  of  accompanying  us  to  the  Willamette, 
lie  scarcely  went  ten  miles  from  the  comfortable  quarters  of  Fort  Van- 
couver, while,  in  conversation,  he  was  more  ready  to  dilate  on  his 
own  equestrian  feats,  than  to  hear  what  others  might  be  able  to  tell 
him  about  the  country  or  the  people. 

Fort  Vancouver,  the  company's  grand  depot,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  is  situated  about  ninety  miles  from  the  sea,  the 
Columbia  in  front  of  it  being  about  one  mile  in  width.  Within  an 
oblong  enclosure  of  upwards  of  six  hundred  feet  by  two  hundred, 
which  is  surrounded  by  pickets,  there  are  contained  several  houses, 
stores,  magazines,  granaries,  workshops,  &c.,  while  the  dwellings  of 
the  servants,  the  stables,  the  hospital,  &;c.,  form  a  litde  village  on  the 
outside  of  the  walls. 

The  people  of  the  establishment,  jesides  officers  and  native  laborers, 
vary  in  number,  according  to  the  season  of  the  year,  from  one  hundred 
and  thirty  to  upwards  of  two  hundred.  They  consist  of  Canai'ians, 
Sandwich  Islanders,  Europeans  aid  half  breeds;  and  they  contain 
among  them  agriculturists,  voyageurs,  blacksmiths,  tinsmiths,  car- 
penters, masons,  tailors,  shoemakers,  &;c.  &c.  &c.  Their  weekly 
rations  are  usually  twenty-one  pounds  of  salted  salmon,  and  one  bushel 
of  potatoes  for  each  man ;  and  in  addition  to  fish,  there  are  also  venison 
and  wild  fowl,  with  occasionally  a  little  beef  and  pork. 

Most  of  the  men  are  married  to  aboriginal  or  half-breed  women ; 
amd  the  swarms  of  children  in  the  little  village  already  mentioned,  pre- 
sent a  strongly  suggestive  contrast  with  the  scantiness  of  the  rising 
generation,  in  almost  every  native  village  on  the  Lower  Columbia. 

Amid  so  large  a  population,  the  surgeon  of  the  establishment  finds 
ample  employment ;  to  the  hospital  already  mentioned,  the  most  seri- 
ous' cases  are  removed,  seldom  exceeding  eight  or  ten  in  number,  and 
generally  consisting  of  fevers,  fractures  and  neglected  syphilis. 

There  is  an  elementary  school  for  the  children  of  both  sexes. 
Though  at  present  there  is  no  clergymen  at  Vancouver,  yet  divine 
service  is  regularly  performed  every  Sunday,  in  English  to  the  Pro- 
testants, and  in  French  to  the  Catholics.     The  same  chapel,  a  build- 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


143 


'*", 


ing,  by  the  by,  unworthy  ol'  the  cstahlislimont,  sorvod  both  purposes 
at  the  time  of  our  visit;  but  scptirate  places  of  worship  W(;n!  about 
to  be  erected  for  the  two  d<Miomiiiatioiis. 

The  farm  of  Fort  Vancouver  eoiituins  upwards  of  twelve  hundred 
acres  undcsr  cultivation,  which  have;  this  year  produced  four  thousand 
bushjils  of  wheat,  three  thousand  five  hundred  of  barley,  oats  and 
pease,  and  a  very  larj^e  quantity  of  potatoes  and  other  vegetables.  The 
wheat,  which  has  yielded  ten  returns,  is  of  very  tiiu?  (piality,  weiofhinf^ 
from  sixty-five  to  sixty-ei{;ht  pounds  and  a  half  a  bushel.  There  are, 
moreover,  fifteen  hundred  sheep,  and  between  four  and  five  hundred 
head  of  catde. 

During  my  sojourn  at  Vancouver,  I  made  a  short  excursion  to  the 
rapidly  rising  settlement  on  tbe  Willamette.  Tiiis  nucleus  of  civiliza- 
tion is,  perhaps,  more  completely  isolated  than  even  the  colony  of  Red 
'liver.  From  the  inhabited  parts  of  the  United  States  it  is  separated 
by  deserts  of  rock  and  sand  on  either  side  of  tlu  dividing  range  of 
mountains, — deserts  with  whose  horrors  every  reader  of  Washington 
Irving's  "Astoria"  is  familiar;  or,  if  the  maritime  route  be  preferred, 
the  voyage  from  New  York  to  the  Columbia  occupying  about  two 
hundred  degrees  of  latitude,  and,  by  the  actual  coiirse,  about  a  hundred 
and  fifty  of  longitude,  while  die  navigation  of  the  river  itself  up  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Willamette,  including  the  detention  before  crossing  the 
bar,  amounts,  on  an  average,  to  far  more  than  the  run  of  a  sailing 
packet  across  the  Atlantic.  Again,  to  look  in  the  direction  of  Cali- 
fornia,— a  direction,  by  the  by,  in  which  the  Willamette  SetUement  is 
more  likely  to  send  forth  adventurers  than  to  receive  them, — the  coun- 
try, if  less  barren  than  that  to  the  eastward,  is  far  more  rugged.  With 
respect,  moreover,  to  the  savage  tribes,  the  former  track  is  more  dan- 
gerous than  the  latter,  though  certainly  less  dangerous  than  once  it 
was.  It  was,  in  fact,  on  the  southern  route,  that  the  massacre  of  the 
twenty-one  Americans  on  the  Umqua,  already  mentioned  in  a  general 
way,  took  place.  A  trapper. of  the  name  of  Smith,  a  remarkably 
shrewd  and  intelligent  man,  had  encamped  on  the  left  bank  of  the  last 
mentioned  river  with  twenty  followers,  and  had  ascended  the  stream 
in  a  canoe  with  two  companions  of  his  own  party  and  a  native  of  the 
neighborhood,  to  find  a  convenient  place  for  crossing.  On  his  return 
his  Indian  was  hailed  by  another  from  the  shore,  who  spoke  to  him  in 
his  own  language,  which  was  unknown  alike  to  Smith  and  to  his  peo- 
ple. A  sufficiently  intelligible  interpretation,  however,  soon  followed, 
for  Smith's  savage  upset  the  canoe  by  a  jerk,  thereby  pitching  the  guns 
of  the  white  men,  as  well  as  the  white  men  themselves,  into  the  cur- 
rent. Under  a  heavy  fire,  Smith  and  one  of  his  men  found  their  way 
to  the  bank,  the  other  man  having  fallen  a  victim  either  to  the  enemy's 
shot  or  to  the  depths  of  the  Umqua.  On  reaching  the  bank  of  the 
river  opposite  to  his  camp,  the  trapper  found  his  men  murdered,  and 
all  his  property  rifled.  Smith,  after  encountering  many  dangers  and 
enduring  many  hardships,  reached  one  of  our  forts ;  and,  at  great  in- 
convenience to  our  own  business,  we  compelled  the  savages,  by  a  de- 
monstration of  force,  to  surrender  to  him  their  booty. 


:^ 


.;  n 


144 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


To  rcliirn  to  the  scttlomcnt  on  the  Willamette,  the  river  in  que8tion 
may  be  ascended  hy  any  Mueh  ve8scl  an  ran  navigate  the  ('olumhia,  tu 
its  falls,  which  are  about  Hixtecn  miles  from  its  month,  while  farther 
up,  it  is  not  subject  to  any  obstacle  or  interru|)tion  capable  of  impeding 
inland  craft.  'I'hc  neighl)orhood  of  the  falls,  as  being  the  only  portage 
between  the  sea  and  the  fertile  valley  above,  has  since  then  beconiu 
the  site  of  what  is  called  Oregon  City. 

The  settlement,  to  refer  exclusively  to  the  time  of  my  visit,  extendi 
from  the  falls  for  a  considerable  distance  up  l)oth  banks  of  the  stream, 
containing  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  farms,  varying  in  size  from  a 
hundred  to  five  hundred  acres  each.  The  produce  of  tiiis  season  han 
been  about  thirty-five  thousand  bushels  of  excellent  wheat,  with  due 
proportions  of  oats,  barley,  pease,  potatoes,  &c.  The  cattle  are  tlirce 
thousand,  the  horses  two  thousand  tivc  hundred,  and  the  hogs  an  in* 
definite  multitude. 

This  settlement  was  formed  about  ten  years  ago,  under  the  auspices 
of  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  as  a  retreat  for  its  retiring  servants. 
Of  these,  who  are  principally  Canadians,  there  are  now  sixty  with 
their  half-breed  families;  there  are,  moreover,  sixty-five  new  settlers 
from  the  United  States,  most  of  them  with  wives  and  children.  The 
whole  population,  therefore,  amounts  to  about  five  hundred  souls,  be- 
sides about  a  thousand  natives  of  all  ages,  who  have  been  domesticated 
as  agricultural  servants.  In  connection  with  this  settlement,  or  rather 
in  the  anticipation  of  establishing  it,  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  took 
possession  of  the  ground  near  the  falls  as  far  back  as  1828. 

Even  now,  when  the  American  citizens  have  outnumbered  the 
British  subjects,  the  Willamette  Settlement  is,  in  a  great  measure,  de- 
pendent on  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Of  the  wheat  we  have  this 
season  bought  four  thousand  bushels  ;  and  from  us  almost  every  settler 
receives  his  supplies  of  imported  goods  at  prices  not  much  higher  than 
those  paid  by  our  own  servants. 

We  rode  over  a  great  part  of  the  settlement,  visiting  many  of  the 
colonists,  by  whom  we  were  very  kindly  received.  They  all  appear  to 
be  comfortably  lodged,  with  abundance  of  provisions ;  and,  if  not  rich, 
they  are  at  least  independent.  This  colony,  if  colony  it  can  be  called 
in  the  absence  of  any  political  relation  with  a  mother  country,  will 
doubtless  rapidly  rise  in  importance,  and  soon  be  enabled  to  supply  a 
large  quantity  of  wheat,  hides  and  tallow  for  exportation  to  a  foreign 
market. 

Between  the  valley  of  the  Willamette  and  the  sea  lie  the  Felatine 
Plains,  an  extensive  district  of  rich  pasture,  while  again,  towards  the 
interior,  to  the  eastward  of  the  agricultural  settlement,  a  land  of  hill 
and  dale  presents  one  of  the  finest  tracts  for  grazing  within  the  same 
parallels  in  the  world.  Throughout  the  whole  country  cattle  may  find 
food  for  themselves  all  the  year  round,  the  expense  and  labor  of 
housing  the  animals  and  of  furnishing  them  with  food  being  thus 
saved.  What  an  advantage  over  the  frosts  and  snows  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains !  But  perhaps  the  most  agreeable  feature  in 
the  case  is  the  prospect,  which  it  holds  out  with  respect  to  the  civili- 


FROM  SITKA  TO  VANCOUVER. 


115 


zation  of  the  Iiulians.  SavajfCH,  ucouHtomeil,  an  thoy  necessarily  arc, 
to  piMBuits  in  which  the  reward  imnicdiately  follows  the  toil,  may  bo 
said  to  have  an  iidwrent  distaste  for  the  slow  returns  of  agriculture; 
and  even  pastoral  lift!  is  more  than  they  can  hear,  provided  it  involvt? 
the  necessity,  as  in  The  Hudson's  Hay  Company's  territories,  of  hard 
labor  in  the  hottest  season,  and  of  incessant  care  in  the  coldest.  Hut 
on  the  west  side  of  the  mountains,  the  aborigines  may  have  all  the 
pleasures  of  property,  without  which  there  can  be  no  civilization,  and 
liardly  any  of  its  caret 

In  this  matter  the.  is  the  greater  room  for  hope,  inasmuch  as 
savajfes,  having  but  fe>v  internal  influences  to  guide  them,  art;  pecu- 
liarly the  creatures  of  external  circumstances — so  far  at  least  as  their 
constitutional  indolence  does  not  stand  in  the  way.  Thus  the  character 
of  the  gregarious  horsemen  of  the  plains  is  different  from  that  of  the 
solitary  prowler  of  the  woods;  and  that  again  is  different  from  the 
character  of  those  who  exclusively  or  principally  draw  their  living  from 
the  waters.  So  unerring  is  this  principle,  that,  from  external  circum- 
stances alone,  an  intelligent  man  may  generally  ascertain,  within  cer- 
tain limits,  the  habits  and  dispositions  of  a  tribe.  But  experience,  by 
changing  circumstances  and  character  together,  has  placed  the  point 
beyond  dispute.  The  Sarcees,  now  inhabiting  the  banks  of  Bow  River, 
were  originally  Chipewayans  from  Athabasca;  and  they  resemble  rather 
the  Blackfeet  than  their  own  original  stock.  Again,  the  Crees,  on  mi- 
grating from  the  bush  into  the  plains,  exchanged  the  characteristics  of 
their  race  for  those  of  the  tribes  among  which  their  southerly  advance 
had  placed  them.  Lastly,  the  Chipewayans,  as  a  body,  having  occupied 
much  of  the  ground  which  the  Crees  had  abandoned,  form,  as  it  were, 
an  intermediate  link  between  what  they  themselves  have  lately  been, 
and  what  their  descendants,  the  Sarcees,  now  are. 


■.,  -^^' 


4 


>    tn 


id 


PART  I. 10 


-4 


146 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


n|(.:' 


"¥     I      I 


:?  I"'i 


i^     I, 


> 


:ft* 


*4 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


;.    * 


Towards  the  close  of  November,  the  two  barques  dropped  down  the 
river,  first  the  Cohimbia,  bound  for  England,  and  then  the  Cowlitz, 
destined  to  convey  me  to  California,  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  Sitka. 
In  the  latter  were  Mr.  Hale,  of  the  American  Exploring  Squadron, 
Mr.  de  Mofras,  and  Mrs.  Rae  and  family,  all  passengers  for  California, 
while  my  own  immediate  party  remained  behind  at  Vancouver,  to 
make  the  most  of  our  time  while  the  vessel  should  be  creeping  along  to 
the  lowest  point  for  safe  embarkation. 

Accordingly,  on  the  last  day  of  the  month,  we  left  the  fort  about 
three  In  the  afternoon  with  a  boat  and  ten  men.  As  the  rain  was  pour- 
ing in  torrents,  we  made  very  little  progress,  so  that  it  was  dark  before 
we  were  abreast  of  the  upper  branch  of  the  Willamette,  opposite  to 
which  we  encamped  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Columbia,  paying  pretty 
well  for  very  indifferent  accommodation.  This  portion  of  the  river 
presents  nothing  but  swampy  tracts  in  every  direction,  the  ancient,  and, 
most  probably,  the  perpetual  freehold  of  millions  of  wild  fowl  of  every 
name ;  and  no  sooner  had  they  ascertained  the  presence  of  squatters 
from  our  watch-fires,  than  they  set  up  a  serenade  of  several  miles  in 
diameter,  in  which  their  treble  appeared  to  become  shriller  by  practice. 
Sleep  was,  of  course,  almost  out  of  the  question,  our  only  consolation 
being,  that  each  of  us,  for  his  own  share,  kept  at  least  some  myriads  of 
the  enemy  out  of  bed;  and,  though  the  weather  had  not  by  any  means 
improved  during  the  night,  yet  we  were  glad  enough  by  four  in  the 
morning,  to  give  our  tormentors  the  slip. 

After  passing  the  Cowlitz  River  and  the  CoiTin  Rock,  we  reached 
Oak  Point  about  two  in  the  afternoon.  As  a  gale  was  now  beginning 
to  rise,  besides  that  we  were  ourselves  wet  and  chilly,  we  determined 
at  once  to  make  for  an  eligible  encampment,  which  was  known  to  be 
at  no  great  distance  below  us ;  but  so  much  were  we  impeded  by  the 
rain  and  wind,  that  we  were  overtaken  by  the  night  before  reaching 
the  desired  spot,  and  were  about  to  return  to  the  Indian  village  of  Oak 
Point,  when  a  heavy  squall,  in  which  hail  and  rain  took  the  pelting  of 
us  by  turns,  suddenly  burst  upon  us,  nearly  swamping  our  clumsy 
craft.  In  spite  of  the  pitchy  darkness,  and  of  the  probability  of  our 
being  unable  to  land,  we  had  no  other  choice  than  to  run  ashore  from 
the  storm,  and  to  let  the  boat's  head  take  its  chance  among  the  bushes. 
Fortunately  we  got  footing,  and,  after  literally  groping  our  way,  were 
delighted  to  discover  room  for  one  tent ;  and  when,  after  two  hours, 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


147 


*" 


down  the 
Cowlitz, 
ind  Sitka. 
Squadron, 
Z!alifornia, 
f.ouver,  to 
{\g  along  to 

fort  about 
I  was  pour- 
lark  before 
ipposite  to 
y'mg  pretty 
'  the  river 
icient,  and, 

1  of  every 
If  squatters 
A  miles  in 
ly  practice. 

onsolation 
yriads  of 

iny  means 

lur  in  the 


^j 


the  wet  wood  was  coaxed  into  a  tolerable  blaze,  we  contrived  to  find 
space  for  the  other  also.  We  could  now  have  slept  well,  more  par- 
ticularly after  the  sleeplessness  of  the  previous  night ;  but,  besides 
worrying  ourselves  with  the  possibility  that  the  tide  might  rise  upon 
us,  we  were  kept  awake  by  a  concert  more  horrible  than  that  of  the 
denizens  of  the  bog,  the  crash  of  trees  falling  around  us  before  the  vio- 
lence of  the  storm.  Moreover,  the  tempest,  without  abating  its  fury 
in  any  respect,  embodied  fresh  elements  of  terror  and  mischief.  For 
llie  first  time  since  we  crossed  the  mountains,  we  were  visited  by 
thunder  and  lightning,  which  on  this  coast  are  in  season  only  during 
winter ;  and,  to  crown  the  climax,  we  felt,  or  fancied,  a  slight  shock 
of  an  earthquake.  In  this  state  of  aflfairs  we  durst  not  budge  before 
daylight ;  and,  on  starting  about  six  in  the  morning,  we  were  mortified 
to  find  that  we  had  stopt  short  of  McKenzie's  encampment,  the  object 
of  our  yesterday's  search,  by  only  three  or  four  hundred  yards. 

The  river  was  absolutely  covered  with  swans,  pelicans,  geese,  cranes, 
loons,  ducks,  cormorants,  eagles,  gulls,  &c.  &c.  &c.,  the  swans,  in 
particular,  presenting  themselves  in  flights  of  a  hundred  or  even  two 
hundred  at  a  time.  These  birds  inhabit  numerous  bushy  islands, 
which  appear  to  have  been  originally  formed  by  accumulations  of 
driftwood,  and  which,  being  regularly  flooded  at  high  tide,  are  still 
almost  as  amphibious  as  most  of  their  tenants. 

We  breakfasted  on  the  site  of  what  had  once  been  a  native  village, 
one  of  those  sad  monuments  of  a  perishing  race,  which  are  of  so  fre- 
quent occurrence  on  the  Lower  Columbia,  and  thence  made  a  traverse 
to  Tongue  Point  on  tlie  left  bank  of  the  river,  amid  a  succession  of 
squalls,  accompanied  by  rain  and  hail  and  sleet.  This  traverse  occu- 
pied the  whole  remainder  of  this  miserable  day  ;  and  it  was  as  danger- 
ous as  it  was  tedious  and  disagreeable,  for  the  Columbia,  now  an  estuary 
of  five  times  its  own  proper  width,  exhibited  sea  enough  to  do  full 
credit  to  the  rudest  gusts  of  the  fitful  storm.  Tongue  Point,  where  we 
encamped,  being  very  few  miles  above  Fort  George,  tlie  intended  place 
of  our  embarkation,  we  found  that  we  had  timed  our  departure  from 
Vancouver  to  admiration,  for,  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  we  saw 
ihe  Cowlitz  beating  down  against  the  same  southwester  that  was  dis- 
tressing and  retarding  ourselves. 

Next  morning,  being  the  third  of  December,  we  reached  Fort  George, 
formerly  Astoria,  about  nine  o'clock,  wet,  cold  and  comfortless,  as,  in 
fact,  we  had  been,  with  little  or  no  intermission,  during  the  three  days 
and  nights  of  our  downward  passage.  If  we  had  enjoyed  at  Vancouver 
a  week  longer  than  our  friends  wiio  had  started  in  the  Cowlitz,  we  had 
paid  quite  enough  for  our  whistle.  The  Columbia  had  already  arrived 
at  Astoria;  :md,  as  the  Cowlitz  joined  her  in  the  course  of  the  after- 
noon, we  immediately  embarked,  and,  on  comparing  notes  with  her 
passengers,  found  that,  on  the  whole,  the  balance,  as  we  had  antici- 
pated, was  in  their  favor. 

To  myself  my  embarkation  on  board  of  the  Cowlitz  formed  the 
principal  epoch  of  my  journey.  Hitherto  I  had,  with  few  exceptions, 
traversed  scenes,  which,  to  say  nothing  of  their  comparative  barrenness 


148 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


Ill 


.1: 

li.    n 


of  interest,  were  either  in  themselves  familiar  to  me  or  differed  only  in 
degree  from  such  as  were  so.  But  from  Astoria  my  every  step  would 
impart  the  zest  of  novelty  to  objects  essentially  attractive  and  import- 
ant. In  California  I  had  before  me  a  fragment  of  the  grandest  of  colo- 
nial empires ;  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  I  was  to  contemplate  the  noblest 
of  all  triumphs,  the  slow  but  sure  victory  of  the  highest  civilization 
over  the  lowest  barbarism  ;  and  to  Russia  I  looked  forward  with  the 
peculiar  feelings  of  an  Englishman,  as  the  only  possible  rival  of  his 
country  in  the  extent  and  variety  of  moral  and  political  influence. 

Next  morning  we  ran  across  to  Baker's  Bay  with  a  fair  wind,  and 
were  there  obliged  to  drop  anchor,  for,  though  the  breeze  might  have 
served  us,  yet  the  sea  was  breaking  too  heavily  on  the  bar.  During 
fourteen  days,  one  southeaster  followed  another,  each  bringing  its 
deluges  of  rain  at  mid-winter,  while,  to  mark  the  difference  of  climate 
between  the  two  sides  of  the  continent,  the  good  folks  of  Montreal, 
though  occupying  a  lower  parallel  than  ourselves,  were  sleighing  it 
merrily  through  the  clearest  and  driest  of  atmospheres.  But,  towards 
the  close  of  the  fortnight,  the  weather  occasioned  something  much  worse 
than  mere  detention.  On  the  sixteenth  of  the  month — the  month,  be 
it  observed,  of  December — our  mainmasts  were  simultaneously  struck 
by  lightning,  that  of  the  Cowlitz  escaping  with  a  slight  scorching,  but 
that  of  the  Columbia  being  so  severely  shattered,  as  perhaps  to  require 
replacing  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  before  she  could  safely  proceed  to 
England. 

About  the  eighteenth  of  the  month,  the  wind  veered  to  the  northward, 
with  frost  and  clear  weather ;  but  it  was  not  before  the  twenty-first,  that 
the  bar  became  sufficiently  tranquil.  There  being  now  a  favorable 
breeze  from  the  northeast,  as  well  as  smooth  water,  we  prepared  to 
escape  from  the  prison,  which  had  held  us  in  durance  vile  for  seven- 
teen days ;  and,  accordingly,  about  two  in  the  afternoon,  both  vessels 
got  under  way.  We  were  all,  even  the  most  experienced  among  us, 
anxiously  excited  at  the  prospect  of  encountering  a  spot  already  pre- 
eminent, among  congenial  terrors  of  much  older  fame,  for  destruction 
of  property  and  loss  of  life — its  unenviable  trophies  consisting  of  three 
ships  wrecked,  and  several  others  damaged,  to  say  nothing  of  boats 
swamped  with  all  their  crews.  Even  under  the  conditions  of  fair  wind 
and  smooth  water,  we  had  reason  for  not  feeling  quite  secure.  On  a 
depth  of  four  or  five  fathoms  the  river  and  the  ocean,  even  in  their 
mildest  moods,  could  hardly  meet  without  raising  a  swell  the  more 
dangerous  on  account  of  its  shallowness ;  and  the  slightest  caprice  of 
the  breeze,  while  we  were  entangled  amid  the  intricate  and  narrow 
channels,  might  have  left  us  to  be  driven  by  an  impetuous  tide  on  sands, 
where  the  stoutest  ship,  in  the  finest  weather,  would  be  knocked  to 
pieces  in  very  few  hours.  We  contrived,  however,  to  turn  our  consort 
to  good  account.  The  Columbia,  having  been  anchored  nearer  to  the 
bar,  took  the  lead ;  and  the  Cowlitz,  of  course,  was  careful  to  make 
something  of  a  pilot  out  of  her  wake,  professional  pilots  being  clearly 
out  of  the  question.  On  gaining  the  safe  side  of  the  passage,  the  Co- 
lumbia hoisted  her  colors  and  fired  a  salute  for  Old  England — a  signal 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


149 


)nly  in 

would 

mport- 

)f  colo- 

noblest 

iization 

irilh  the 

I  of  his 

e. 

nd,  and 

rht  have 

During 

ging  its 
climate 
lontreal, 
ghing  it 
towards 
ch  worse 
lonth,  be 
ly  struck 
hing,  but 
o  require 
roceed  to 

[)rthward, 
.first,  that 
favorable 
e  pared  to 
■or  seven- 
ih  vessels 


of  safety,  which,  in  a  few  minutes,  we  had  the  happiness  of  returning. 
Here  the  vessels  separated  for  their  immediate  destinations  of  Woahoo 
and  California ;  and,  as  our  present  breeze  was  a  perfectly  fair  wind 
for  both,  they  diverged  so  rapidly,  that,  before  the  day  failed  them,  they 
had  pretty  nearly  lost  sight  of  each  other.  As  the  Cowlitz,  though  she 
had  started  from  Vancouver  five  days  later  than  the  Columbia,  had  yet 
spent  four  weeks  in  coming  about  a  hundred  miles,  our  spanking  pro- 
gress along  the  coast  was  quite  delightful  in  spite  of  an  occasionally 
intruding  suspicion  that  such  luck  was  too  good  to  last,  southeasters 
being  as  much  the  rule  in  winter  as  northwesters  are  during  the  rest  of 
the  year. 

The  detention  of  our  two  ships  had  by  no  means  exceeded  the  ave- 
rage delay,  more  particularly  considering  the  season.  During  the  win- 
ter, vessels  often  lie  in  Baker's  Bay  from  three  to  seven  weeks  for  the 
indispensable  conjunction  of  fair  wind  and  smooth  water.  The  diffi- 
culties, too,  of  ingress,  as  compared  with  those  of  egress,  are  necessa- 
rily aggravated  by  the  circumstance,  that  a  vessel  cannot  so  snugly 
watch  her  opportunity  in  the  open  ocean  as  in  Baker's  Bay ;  and  the 
danger  of  her  position  would  be  still  greater,  were  she  not  exempted 
from  the  hazards  of  a  lee  shore  by  the  openness  of  the  adjacent  coasts 
nd  the  directions  of  the  prevailing  gales. 

Jvi ;  these  obstructions,  in  proportion  as  they  lessen  the  value  of  this 
'i' '  i>  enhance  at  the  same  time  the  merit  of  the  man  who  first  sur- 
mounted them, — a  merit  which  cannot  be  denied  to  the  judgment,  and 
perseverance,  and  courage  of  Captain  Gray,  of  Boston.  Whether  or 
not  Captain  Gray's  achievement  is  entitled  to  rank  as  a  discovery,  the 
question  is  one  which  a  bare  sense  of  justice,  without  regard  to  poli- 
tical consequences,  requires  to  be  decided  by  facts  alone.  First,  in 
1775,  Heceta,  a  Spaniard,  discovered  the  opening  between  Cape  Dis- 
appointment on  the  north  and  Point  Adams  on  the  south, — a  disco- 
very the  more  worthy  of  notice,  inasmuch  as  such  opening  can  hardly  be 
observed,  excepting  when  approached  from  the  westward  ;  and,  being 
induced  partly  by  the  appearance  of  the  land  and  partly  by  native  tra- 
ditions as  to  a  great  river  of  the  west,  he  filled  the  gap  by  a  guess  with 
his  Rio  de  San  Roque.  Secondly,  in  1788,  Meares,  an  Englishman, 
sailing  under  Portuguese  colors,  approached  the  opening  in  question 
into  seven  fathoms  of  water,  but  pronounced  the  Rio  de  San  Roque  to 
be  a  fable,  being  neither  able  to  enter  it  nor  to  discern  any  symptoms 
of  its  existence.  Thirdly,  in  1791,  Gray,  though  after  an  effort  of  nine 
days,  he  failed  to  eflTect  an  entrance,  was  yet  convinced  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  great  river  by  the  color  and  current  of  the  water.  Fourtlily, 
in  April  1792,  Vancouver,  while  he  fell  short  of  Gray's  conviction, 
then,  however,  unknown  to  him,  correctly  decided,  that  the  river,  if  it 
existed,  was  a  very  intricate  one,  and  not  a  safe  navigable  harbor  for 
vessels  of  the  burden  of  his  ship.  Fifthly,  in  May  1792,  Gray,  return- 
ing expressly  to  complete  his  discovery  of  the  previous  year,  entered 
the  river,  finding  the  channel  very  narrow  and  not  navigable  more  than 
fifteen  miles  upwards,  even  for  his  Columbia  of  220  tons.  According 
to  this  summary  statement  of  incontrovertible  facts,  the  inquiry  resolves 


■,.  ■  M 


! 


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itself  into  three  points,  the  discovery  of  the  opening  by  Heeeta,  the 
discovery  of  the  river  by  Gray  on  his  first  visit,  and  the  discovery  of 
a  practicable  entrance  by  the  same  individual  revisiting  the  spot  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  confirming  and  maturing  his  previous  belief.  Of 
the  three  points  the  most  important  two, — the  two  also  which  are  least 
indebted  to  accident,— are  in  Gray's  favor,  while  the  value  of  Heceta's 
elementary  and  fortuitous  step  in  the  process  is  still  farther  diminished 
by  the  very  inconsiderable  light  which  it  afforded  to  Meares. 

An  Englishman  is  the  less  tempted  to  do  injustice  to  Gray,  inas- 
muc}i  as  his  success,  however  creditable  to  himself  as  a  bold  and  skill- 
ful mariner,  cannot  be  made  to  support  the  territorial  claim  of  his  nation. 
He  discovered  one  point  in  a  country,  which,  as  a  whole,  other  na- 
tions had  already  discovered,  so  that  the  pretensions  of  America  had  been 
already  forestalled  by  Spain  and  England.  Supposing  a  Frenchman  to 
have  been  the  first  to  enter  the  harbor  of  Honolulu,  would  he  have  se- 
cured to  France  the  whole  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  even  on  the  ground, 
admitted  on  all  hands  to  be  correct,  that  the  port  in  question  was  more 
valuable  than  all  the  rest  of  the  group  ?  To  take  a  still  more  apposite 
instance,  supposing  a  Russian  to  have  been  the  first  to  enter  the  har- 
bor of  S?n  Francisco,  would  he  have  secured  to  Russia  the  whole  of 
California,  even  on  the  ground,  admitted  on  all  hands  to  be  correct, 
that  the  port  in  question  was  more  valuable  than  all  that  had  previously 
been  discovered  on  either  side  by  England  or  Spain  ?  But  Gray's  suc- 
cess was  as  defective  in  form  as  it  was  impotent  in  substance.  Disco- 
very confers  merely  a  preferable  right  of  taking  possession  within  a 
reasonable  time,  requiring,  even  for  this  limited  purpose,  to  be  accom- 
panied by  a  claim,  as  expressive  of  an  intention  to  maintain  and  en 
force  such  right.  Now,  neither  Gray  nor  his  government  ever  medi- 
tated any  such  claim  till  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  twenty  years,  the 
journey  of  Lewis  and  Clarke  in  1805  across  the  continent  neither  hav- 
ing reference  to  any  previous  discovery,  nor  being  itself  meant  to  be  the 
foundation  of  any  territorial  pretension,  nor  could  the  coast  of  the 
Pacific,  so  long  as  it  was  separated  from  the  republic  by  the  foreign 
colony  of  Louisiana,  have  been  possessed  or  claimed  on  any  ground 
whatever  without  doing  violence  to  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States.  But  the  claim,  even  if  validly  made,  would  have  been  forfeited 
by  subsequent  proceedings.  Though  Astoria  and  some  other  posts 
were  planted,  not,  however,  by  the  government,  but  by  individuals,  yet 
they  were  all  voluntarily  abandoned  during  the  war,  so  as  to  lend  a 
positive  sanction  to  the  negative  argument  founded  on  lapse  of  time, 
— a  sanction  rendered  only  the  more  conclusive  by  the  second  volun- 
tary abandonment  of  Astoria  when  restored  under  the  treaty  of  peace. 
Nor  has  the  Willamette  Settlement,  in  which  Americans  have  now  be- 
gun to  plant  themselves,  about  fifty  years  after  the  date  of  Gray's  dis- 
covery, improved  in  this  respect  the  position  of  the  United  States,  for 
that  colony  was  originally  formed  by  British  subjects  acting  under 
British  authority, — its  nationality  being  as  little  affected  as  that  of 
Canada,  in  the  eye  of  public  law,  by  American  immigration.  In  truth, 
the  argument  of  discovery  was  never  broached,  till  the  acquisition  of 


In    V' ''i'\-\ 


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151 


Louisiana,  which  took  place  in  1803,  had  brought  the  republic  to  the 
height  of  land  between  the  Missouri  and  the  Columbia, — an  acquisition 
which  gradually  nursed  into  life  the  marauder's  plea  of  contiguity :  in 
other  words,  when  the  Americans  found  the  northwest  coast  within 
their  reach,  then,  but  not  till  then,  did  they  try  to  find  pretexts  for 
grasping  it.  But  the  end  was  as  impracticable  as  the  means  were  un- 
justifiable. The  United  States  will  never  possess  more  than  a  nominal 
jurisdiction,  nor  long  possess  even  that,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains ;  and  supposing  the  country  to  be  divided  to-morrow  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  the  most  unscrupulous  patriot  in  the  Union,  I 
challenge  conquest  to  bring  my  prediction  and  its  own  power  to  the 
test  by  imposing  the  Atlantic  tariff  on  the  ports  of  the  Pacific. 

But  the  Americans  profess  to  have  fortified  their  own  rights  of  dis- 
covery by  those  of  Spain,  having  obtained,  in  1819,  a  cession  of  all 
the  claims  of  that  power  to  that  portion  of  the  coast  which  lies  to  the 
north  of  the  parallel  of  forty-two  degrees.  Now,  as  against  England, 
America  could  hold  such  claims  only  on  the  same  footing  as  that  on 
which  Spain  herself  held  them,  namely,  under  the  stipulations  of  the 
treaty  of  1790  between  the  two  monarchies.  According  to  the  third 
article  of  that  international  compact,  neither  of  the  contracting  parties 
was  to  disturb  the  other  in  the  formation  of  settlements ;  and  according 
to  its  fifth  article,  the  inherent  sovereignty  of  such  settlements  was  re- 
stricted only  by  the  reciprocal  right  of  access  for  the  purposes  of  trade. 
As  this  treaty  has  not  been  affected  by  the  temporary  convention  be- 
tween England  and  the  United  States,  for  the  latter  substantially 
re-echoes  the  provisions  of  the  former,  it  necessarily  renders  British 
sovereignty  co-extensive  with  British  possession  as  existing  at  any 
point  of  time,  whether  present  or  future,  a  conclusion  which,  consider- 
ing the  number  of  British  posts  and  the  range  of  their  operations,  cuts 
the  knot  with  all  its  intricacies  at  a  single  blow.  Clearly,  therefore, 
America  would  rather  weaken  than  strengthen  her  claim  by  tacking 
to  it  the  rights  of  Spain.  But,  in  point  of  fact,  Spain  was  not  competent 
to  substitute  a  stranger  for  herself  with  respect  to  England.  The  inter- 
national relations,  as  just  now  quoted,  were,  so  to  speak,  purely  per- 
sonal; nor  could  anything  be  more  certain  than  that,  in  1790,  neither 
Spain  would  have  accepted  America  for  England  nor  England  have 
accepted  America  for  Spain.  But  the  relations  in  question,  even  if 
not  in  their  own  nature  personal,  were  practically  rendered  incapable 
of  being  transferred  to  any  third  party  by  the  correlative  provisions, 
for  the  treaty  of  1790  professed  to  ascertain  and  define  the  relative  posi- 
tion of  the  two  powers  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and 
also  along  the  eastern  coast  of  South  America.  The  northwest  coast, 
therefore,  was  merely  a  part  of  a  whole ;  and  the  alleged  transfer  of 
1819,  even  if  admissible  on  other  grounds,  would  have  operated  as  a 
fraud  against  England,  by  forcing  on  her  a  substitute  incompetent  to 
discharge  the  obligations  of  the  principal.  As  against  England,  how- 
ever, the  treaty  of  1819  did  not  contemplate  the  substitution  of  America 
for  Spain.  After  drawing  the  boundary  between  Mexico  and  the 
United  States  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  the  third  article  con- 


-r    ■'  :■ '  -  ii 


152 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


:!,il,|  .Ih 


I  11 


rU 


...  J 

jit:  ^U  liH: 

:    -I 


eluded  with  a  clause  of  nutual  renunciation  and  cession,  a  clause  which, 
if  not  expressed,  would  have  been  understood  as  a  necessary  corollary 
to  the  substantive  adju«>tment  of  the  line.  At  all  events,  the  cession 
to  America  could  not  have  force  against  England,  unless  the  renuncia- 
tion on  the  part  of  Spaii.  had  force  also  in  her  favor;  but  so  far  was 
this  from  being  the  ca  <e,  that  Spain  was  still  entitled  to  trade  with  the 
English  settlements,  aid  also,  so  far  as  England  was  concerned,  to 
form  settlements  of  her  v'>wn,  on  any  unoccupied  portions  of  the  north- 
west coast,  so  that,  in  pledging  herself  to  America,  as  she  virtually  did, 
not  to  form  any  such  settlements,  she  made  a  cession,  if  not  in  favor  of 
the  United  States,  at  least  in  favor  of  Great  Britain  under  the  guarantee 
of  the  republic. 

To  conclude  with  one  word,  this  assumption  of  Spanish  rights,  how- 
ever it  may  promote  American  interests,  does  little  to  establish  Ameri- 
can candor  in  the  premises,  for,  though  it  dated  its  origin  only  from 
1819,  yet  America  had,  as  far  back  as  1814,  demanded,  in  reliance,  for- 
sooth, on  her  own  proper  claims,  fully  as  much  as  she  would  even 
now  be  glad  to  accept,  the  whole  country  to  the  south  of  the  parallel 
of  forty-nine  degrees. 

In  this  digression,  which  has  no  pretensions  to  the  character  of  a 
complete  discussion,  I  have  confined  myself  to  the  most  prominent 
points  of  the  American  side  of  the  question  and  to  the  most  palpable 
defects  of  the  same.  On  behalf  of  England  direct  arguments  are 
superfluous,  for,  until  some  other  power  puts  a  good  title  on  paper, 
actual  possession  must  be  held  to  be  of  itself  conclusive  in  her  favor. 

But  to  return  to  my  narrative,  which  left  us  scudding  down  the  coast 
before  a  fair  wind,  we  again  encountered,  during  the  night,  our  old 
enemy  the  southeaster  with  its  usual  accompaniments  of  heavy  sea 
and  wet  weather ;  but,  having  now  plenty  of  elbow  room,  we  made  the 
best  of  our  bad  fortune,  and  left  the  land  behind  us,  keeping  as  much  to 
the  south  of  southwest  as  possible.  For  three  days  this  state  of  things 
remained  unchanged ;  our  only  relief  from  the  monotony  of  misery 
being  that  we  were  now  and  then  able  to  amuse  ourselves  with  the  un- 
wieldy gambols  of  a  few  sperm  whales. 

Fortunately  on  the  twenty-tifth,  the  gale  moderated  sufficiently  to  let 
us  enjoy,  in  comparative  comfort,  the  national  fare  of  roast  beef  and 
plum  pudding,  washed  down,  of  course,  with  the  ship's  choicest  bottles 
to  the  health  and  happiness  of  absent  friends.  On  this  day,  sacred  to 
the  domestic  ties,  from  how  many  spots  of  the  land  and  water,  do 
Englishmen  indulge  in  one  and  the  same  train  of  homeward  aspirations  ? 
and  from  how  many  crowded  hearths  does  England  in  return  send  forth 
yearnings  of  affectionate  regret  to  all  the  corners  of  the  earth?  "What 
other  empire  ever  did  so  much,  on  this  or  any  other  day,  to  bind  the 
world  into  one  with  the  mutually  responsive  emotions  of  its  children? 

Next  morning,  the  southeaster,  as  if  it  had  suspended  business  merely 
to  keep  Christmas,  returned  to  its  vomit.  On  the  twenty-seventh,  how- 
ever, the  sea  became  calm,  the  sun  was  bright,  and  the  wind  changed 
to  the  northwest,  so  that  we  were  enabled  to  make  for  the  land  with 
studding-sails  and  sky-scrapers  all  set.     Several  whales  favored  us  wiih 


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153 


their  visits ;  and,  as  there  was  now  some  pleasure  in  sauntering  on 
deck,  we  made  the  most  of  their  vagaries  to  beguile  our  idle  hours. 
Though  we  had  been  driven  out  to  sea  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  so  as  to  pass  unseen  fully  six  or  seven  degrees  of  coast,  yet  we 
had  not  missed  any  other  object  of  interest  than  C.npe  Mendocino,  the 
extremity  of  a  snowy  range, — a  spur  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, — which 
forms  the  height  of  land  between  the  Columbia  on  the  one  side  and  the 
Colorado  and  the  Sacramento  on  the  other.  But  it  is  not  merely  by 
dividing  the  waters  that  this  promontory  and  the  chain,  which  it  termi- 
nates, constitute  a  natural  boundary  between  the  north  and  the  south. 
In  soil,  the  separated  regions  differ  a°  "••-•-^ly  as  the  Shetland  Islands 
and  the  Isle  of  Wight,  while,  in  clii.  i.,  they  present  as  striking  a 
contrast  as  the  mountains  of  Scotland  and  the  valleys  of  Spain. 

With  daylight,  on  the  twenty-eighth,  we  again  came  in  sight  of  the 
coast  between  Cape  Mendocino  and  Bodega  Bay,  our  vessel  being  sur- 
rounded by  land-birds,  that  fluttered  and  played  about  us  as  if  to  wel- 
come our  arrival.  Whatever  may  be  the  extent  of  New  Albion,  as 
the  theatre  of  Drake's  discoveries,  the  neighboring  coast  certainly  forms 
part  of  it ;  but  as  this  name  has  practically  become  unimportant,  in  a 
political  sense,  since  the  date  of  the  treaty  already  mentioned  between 
England  and  Spain,  it  appears  to  have  been  gradually  superseded  by 
the  Spanish  term  California  as  far  to  the  northward  as  the  parallel  of 
forty-two  degrees.  This  latter  term,  which  was  originally  appropriated 
to  the  peninsula,  situated  on  the  gulf  of  the  same  name,  and  supposed, 
down  to  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  to  be  an  island,  was 
gradually  extended  by  the  Spaniards  to  the  whole  of  the  northwest 
coast,  being  supplanted,  however,  in  its  turn  by  other  names  as  far  to 
the  south  as  the  forty-second  parallel  aforesaid.  The  peninsular  and 
continental  divisions  of  California  are  respectively  known  as  Old  and 
New  or  Lower  and  Upper, — the  former  distinction  being  somewhat 
out  of  place  where  all  is  new,  and  the  latter  being  significant  only  in 
the  mechanical  sense  of  the  mapmaker,  without  the  usual  reference  to 
the  course  of  any  common  stream. 

In  the  course  of  the  morning  we  passed  Bodega  and  Ross,  respect- 
ively the  harbor  and  the  fort  of  the  Russian  American  Company.  That 
association,  which  assumed  its  present  form  towards  the  close  of  the 
last  century  under  the  patronage  of  the  Emperor  Paul,  could  not  find 
any  native  supply  of  breadstuffs  nearer  than  the  central  steppes  of 
Asia,  to  be  transported  thence  over  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  degrees 
of  longitude  and  thirty  of  latitude,  by  barges  from  the  head  of  the  Lena 
to  Yakutsk,  on  horses  from  Yakutsk  to  Ochotsk,  and  in  ships  from 
Ochotsk  to  Sitka.  So  expensive  and  tedious  a  route  operating  almost 
as  a  prohibition,  the  company's  establishments  were,  of  course,  very 
inadequately  supplied  with  that  which  to  a  Russian  is  peculiarly  the 
staff  of  life,  so  that  a  design  was  naturally  formed  of  planting  an  agri- 
cultural settlement  on  the  adjacent  coast  of  America.  With  this  view, 
in  March,  1806, — the  very  month,  by  tiie  by,  in  which  Lewis  and 
Clarke  left  their  winter's  encampment  of  Clatsop  Point  to  retrace  their 
steps  across  the  continent, — Von  Resanofl",  who  was  then  the  cora- 


. » '9 


i  i 


u 


4v'    , 


154 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


pany's  principJ  representative,  attempted  to  enter  the  Columbia,  but 
was  bailled  in  the  attempt  by  the  same  circumstances  which  had  so 
long  retarded  the  discovery  of  the  river.  Eiglit  years  afterwards,  how- 
ever, the  extensive  and  beautiful  valley  of  Santa  Rosa,  which  opens 
into  Bodega  Bay,  was  actually  occupied, — Spain  being  too  busy  else- 
where with  more  serious  evils  to  repel  the  intrusion.  As  compared 
with  the  Columbia,  California,  besides  its  greater  fertility  and  its  easier 
access,  possessed  the  additional  recommendation  of  literally  teeming 
with  sea-otters,  thus  securing  to  the  company  an  incidental  advantage, 
more  important,  perhaps,  in  a  pecuniary  sense,  than  the  primary  object 
of  pursuit.  Since  1814,  the  Russians  have  sent  to  market  from  Cali- 
fornia the  enormous  number  of  eighty  thousand  sea-otters  besides  a 
large  supply  of  fur-seals,  having  thereby  so  far  diminished  the  breeds 
as  to  throw  nearly  all  the  expense  of  their  establishments  on  the  agri- 
cultural branch  of  the  business, — an  expense  far  exceeding  the  mere 
cost  of  production  with  a  reasonable  freight.  The  Californian  settle- 
ment required  ships  exclusively  for  itself;  and,  though  the  Russians 
had  so  far  conciliated  the  local  authorities  as  to  be  permitted  to  hunt 
both  on  the  coast  and  in  the  interior,  they  were  yet  obliged,  by  the 
undisguised  jealousy  and  dislike  of  their  presence,  constantly  to  main- 
tain a  military  attitude,  with  strong  fortifications  and  considerable  gar- 
risons. Under  these  circumstances  the  Russians  lately  entered  into 
an  arrangement  with  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  for  obtaining  the 
requisite  supply  of  grain  and  other  provisions  at  a  moderate  price ; 
and  they  have  accordingly,  within  these  few  weeks,  transferred  their 
stock  to  a  Swiss  adventurer  of  the  name  of  Sutter,  and  are  now  engaged 
in  withdrawing  all  their  people  from  the  country. 

That  the  Russians  eyer  actually  intended  to  claim  the  sovereignty 
of  this  part  of  the  coast,  I  do  not  believe.  The  term  Ross  was  cer- 
tainly suspicious,  as  being  the  constant  appellation  of  the  ever  vary- 
ing phases  of  Russia  from  the  days  of  Rurie,  the  very  name  under 
which,  nearly  ten  centuries  ago,  the  red-bearded  dwellers  on  the 
Borysthenes,  who  have  since  spread  themselves  with  resistless  per- 
tinacity over  more  than  two  hundred  degrees  of  longitude,  carried 
terror  and  desolation  in  their  crazy  boats  to  the  gates  of  Constanti- 
nople, a  city  destined  alike  to  be  their  earliest  quarry  and  their  latest 
prey.  So  expansive  a  monosyllable  could  hardly  be  a  welcome 
neighbor  to  powers  so  feeble  and  jealous  as  Spain  and  Mexico. 

In  justice,  however,  to  Russia,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that, 
under  the  recognized  principles  of  colonization,  she  is  fully  entiUed  to 
all  that  she  holds  in  America.  As  early  as  1741,  Beering  and  Tschi- 
rikoff  had  visited  the  continent  respectively  in  59*^  and  56°,  about  a 
degree  above  Sitka  and  about  a  degree  below  it,  the  former,  moreover, 
seeing  many  islands,  and  perhaps  the  peninsula  of  Alaska,  on  his 
■  ciurn ;  and,  by  the  year  1763,  private  adventurers  had  explored. the 
whole  width  of  the  ocean,  discovering  the  intermediate  chain  of  islands 
from  the  scene  of  Beering's  shipwreck  in  the  vicinity  of  Kamschalka 
to  Alaska,  then  erroneously  supposed  to  be  an  island,  and  thence  still 
farther  eastward  to  Kodiak,— no  other  nation  having  previously  pene- 


;■*' 


■1.  ■ 


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155 


trated,  or  even  pretended  to  have  penetrated,  farther  north  than  the 
piinillel  of  fifty-three  dej^rees.  Hut  the  Russian  discoveries  were  dis- 
tins^uished  by  this  favorable  pecuharity,  that  they  were,  in  a  jrreat 
measure,  achieved  independently  of  the  more  southerly  discoveries  of 
Spain,  being  the  result  of  rumors  of  a  neighboring  continent,  which,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  the  Russian  conquerors  had  found  to  be 
rife  in  Kamschatka.  Moreover,  in  the  case  of  the  Russians,  discovery 
and  possession  had  advanced  hand  in  hand.  'I'hc  settlement  of 
Kodiak  was  formed  four  years  before  Meares  erected  his  solitary 
shed  in  Nootka  Sound ;  and  Sitka  was  established  fully  ten  or  twelve 
years  earlier  than  Astoria.  According  to  this  plain  summary  of  unde- 
niable facts,  Russia  had  clearly  a  better  claim,  at  least  down  to  the 
parallel  of  fifty-six,  than  any  other  power  could  possibly  acquire;  and 
this  is,  in  truth,  all  that  has  been  conceded  to  her,  for  the  parallel  of 
fifty-four  degrees  and  forty  minutes,  which  has  been  fixed  by  treaty 
as  the  international  boundary  on  the  coast,  is  necessary  in  order  to 
include  the  whole  of  a  certain  island  which  the  parallel  of  fifty-six 
intersects.  In  offering  this  defence  of  what  a  mistaken  patriotism  on 
the  part  of  English  writers  is  too  apt  to  stigmatize  as  aggression  and 
intrusion,  I  have  in  view  no  other  object  than  to  do  what  I  believe 
to  be  right,  for,  considering  that  Russia  and  England  meet  each  other 
and  the  world  at  large  on  far  more  points  than  any  other  two  nations 
have  ever  done  or  are  likely  ever  to  do,  I  cannot  but  feel  that  policy 
and  philanthropy  alike  demand  on  either  side  the  habitual  exercise  of 
candor  and  moderation.  Their  continued  harmony  would  be  the 
surest  guarantee  of  the  general  tranquillity  and  amelioration  of  man- 
kind, while  a  really  national  contest  between  them,  such  as  would 
prompt  each  to  put  forth  all  her  strength  and  to  exert  all  her  influence, 
would  involve,  mediately  or  immediately,  almost  every  other  power  in 
Europe  and  Asia,  Protestant  or  Catholic,  Christian  or  Infidel,  Moham- 
medan or  Pagan.  In  a  word,  England  and  Russia,  whether  as  friends 
or  as  foes,  cannot  fail  to  control  the  destiny  of  the  human  race,  for 
good  or  for  evil,  to  an  extent  which  comparatively  confines  every 
other  nation  within  the  scanty  limits  of  its  own  proper  locality. 

In  the  afternoon  we  passed  Drake's  Bay,  supposed  by  some  to  be 
the  spot  where  the  gallant  discoverer  of  New  Albion  lay  at  anchor,  in 
1579,  for  a  considerable  time.  What  an  instructive  contrast  between 
the  past  and  the  present.  Hardly  had  Drake  returned  from  the  buca- 
neering  expedition,  which  the  restrictive  policy  and  exclusive  preten- 
sions of  the  Spanish  crown  exalted  into  a  retribution,  if  not  into  a 
virtue,  when  Philip  the  Second,  by  adding  the  Portuguese  monarchy 
to  his  paternal  dominions,  became  sole  arbiter  of  the  commerce  of  the 
Old  World  from  the  Bay  of  Biscay  to  the  Chinese  Seas,  and  undisputed 
lord  of  the  New  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Strait  of  Magellan,  not 
only  holding  in  fact,  but  also  claiming  of  right,  the  intermediate  oceans 
as  wholly  his  own.  How  completely  has  our  little  party  turned  His 
Majesty's  flanks,  and  broken  his  line  of  battle  to  boot,  invading  his 
most  private  close  by  such  routes  as  he  least  suspected,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  aggravation  of  our  being  all  descended  from  one  or  other  of  the 


:.  ^'^ 


m 


156 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


1^. 


;ii,  \r 


i 


'liffli 


two  races  that  Philip  hated  most.  Some  of  us  have  crossed  a  hreadth 
of  continent,  to  which  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  is  but  a  leap  ;  others  have 
Railed  from  the  Atlantic  into  the  Pacific  by  a  passage,  to  which  Majr. 
f^ellan's  Strait  is  but  a  ditch ;  and  one  of  us  has  penetrated  through 
Mexico  in  a  capacity,  which  recognizes  Spain's  richest  colony  as  an 
independent  republic.  What  a  pregnant  theme  for  a  dialogue  of  the 
dead  with  the  proud  old  don  as  one  of  the  interlocutors! 

The  southern  point  of  Drake's  Bay  is  formed  by  a  projecting  head- 
land, called  Punto  de  los  Reyes.  About  ten  miles  from  this  point, 
somewhat  to  the  southward,  are  two  groups  of  rocks  known  as  the 
Fullerones,  which,  during  thick  weather,  are  dangerous  to  vessels  ap- 
proaching San  Francisco.  On  these  rocks  the  Russians  formerly  took 
a  large  number  of  fur-seals. 

After  doubling  this  point,  the  wind  dropped,  leaving  us  becalmed 
about  ten  miles  from  the  harbor.  We  now  began  sensibly  to  feel  the 
influence  of  a  more  genial  climate ;  and,  as  the  night  was  clear  as  well 
as  warm,  we  could  enjoy  a  scene  which  forcibly  struck  the  imagination 
as  an  emblem  of  the  lazy  grandeur  of  the  Spanish  character.  The 
sails  flapped  listlessly  against  the  masts ;  the  vessel  heaved  reluctantly 
on  the  sluggish  waters ;  and  the  long  swell  slowly  rolled  the  weight  of 
this  giant  ocean  towards  the  whitened  strand. 

During  the  whole  of  the  twenty-ninth,  we  lay  in  this  state  of  inac- 
tivity about  five  miles  from  the  shore,  which  presented  a  level  sward 
of  about  a  mile  in  depth,  backed  by  a  high  ridge  of  grassy  slopes, — 
the  whole  pastured  by  numerous  herds  of  cattle  and  horses,  which, 
without  a  keeper  and  without  a  fold,  were  growing  and  fattening, 
whether  their  owners  waked  or  slept,  in  the  very  middle  of  winter  and 
in  the  coldest  nook  of  the  province.  Here,  on  the  very  threshold  of 
the  country,  was  California  in  a  nutshell,  nature  doing  everything  and 
man  doing  nothing, — a  text  on  which  our  whole  sojourn  proved  to  be 
little  but  a  running  commentary.  While  we  lay  like  a  log  in  the  sea, 
we  were  glad  to  be  surrounded  by  large  flights  of  birds, — ducks,  peli- 
cans, cormorants,  gulls,  &c. ;  and  we  experienced  quite  an  excitement 
in  boarding  a  tiny  schooner,  formerly  the  property  of  the  Russian 
American  Company,  which  was  now  stealing  along  the  coast  towards 
Bodega. 

The  port  of  San  Francisco,  one  of  the  finest  harbors  in  the  world, 
was  singularly  enough  discovered  by  an  inland  expedition,  and  that, 
too,  as  late  as  about  the  year  1770.  To  recapitulate  a  few  points, 
which,  however,  will  be  found  to  bear  closely  on  much  of  the  sequel, 
the  career  of  northerly  exploration,  which  had  been  set  on  foot  by 
Cortez  after  his  conquest  of  Mexico,  terminated,  in  1603,  with  Viz- 
caino's discovery  of  the  ports  of  San  Diego  and  Monterey.  During 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  pearl-fishery  at  the  mouth  of  the  gulf  and 
the  silver  mines  at  the  foot  of  the  peninsula, — the  very  objects  to  attract 
a  Spanish  American, — drew  a  good  deal  of  attention  to  the  country  on 
the  part  both  of  the  government  and  of  the  merchants,  each  party 
making  many  attempts  to  colonize  it,  but  uniformly  failing  through  the 
almost  utter  barrenness  of  its  rocky  surface.     At  length,  in  or  about 


■M 


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167 


1697,  the  country  was  handed  over  to  the  Jesuits,  who  hud  earned 
their  claim  to  this  distinction  by  their  spiritual  conquest  of  Paraguay ; 
but  so  many  and  various  were  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered,  that, 
notwithstanding  the  characteristic  zeal  and  patience  and  talent  of  their 
order,  the  fathers,  when  expelled  from  the  Spanish  Dominions  at  the 
end  of  seventy  years,  had  not  advanced  beyond  the  limits  of  the  lower 
province.  In  1767,  the  Jesuits  were  replaced  by  the  Franciscans,  to 
whom  the  Marquis  de  Croix,  then  Viceroy  of  Mexico,  proposed  the 
spiritual  invasion  of  Upper  California, — both  His  Excellency  and  the 
friars  having  their  peculiar  reasons  for  promoting  this  extension  of  the 
enterprise.  In  addition  perhaps  to  better  and  purer  motives,  the  friars 
had  doubtless  heard  that  the  new  land  flowed  with  milk  and  honey, 
while  the  old  might,  on  the  contrary,  be  characterized,  in  the  language 
also  of  Scripture,  as  being  cursed  M'ith  an  earth  of  iron  and  a  heaven 
of  brass;  and  they,  moreover,  longed  to  eclipse  the  renown  of  their 
hated  predecessors,  for  the  two  orders  had  always  been  as  bitterly 
opposed  to  each  other  ns  the  decencies  of  a  united  church  permitted 
them  to  be.  On  the  other  hand.  His  Excellency  knew  that  France 
and  England,  in  the  persons  of  Bougainville  and  Cook,  were  already 
taking  a  national  interest  in  the  isles  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  that 
even  Russia, — a  power  which,  when  California  was  discovered,  had 
not  yet  emerged  from  Europe, — was  silently  continuing  a  progressive 
march  of  two  centuries  along  the  western  shores  of  the  new  continent ; 
and  in  order  to  keep  such  intruders  at  as  great  a  distance  as  possible 
from  the  vitals  of  Spanish  America  by  a  stronger  right  than  an  obsolete 
pretension,  the  viceroy  really  felt  in  the  new  expedition  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans a  degree  of  interest,  such  as  his  predecessors  had  never  even 
professed  in  the  original  inroad  of  the  Jesuits.  Accordingly  missions 
were  forthwith  planned  for  San  Diego  and  Monterey,  the  only  two 
ports  then  known  to  exist  in  the  upper  province;  but,  as  the  wind,  on 
this  coast,  blows  from  the  northwest  during  three-fourths  of  the  year, 
and  as  the  Spaniards  had  not  yet  learned  to  evade  the  difficulty  by 
gaining  an  offing,  the  three  vessels,  that  sailed  from  the  gulf  for  San 
Diego,  were  eminently  unfortunate,— one  being  lost,  and  the  others 
spending  respectively  three  and  four  months  at  sea.  Under  these 
circumstances,  the  remainder  of  the  contemplated  distance  was  under- 
taken by  land;  and,  though  the  explorers  did  not  succeed  in  finding 
Monterey,  or  rather  in  recognizing  it  when  found,  they  yet  made  a  far 
more  valuable  discovery  in  the  miniature  Mediterranean  that  lay  to  the 
north.  To  the  reverend  sharers  in  the  expedition  the  discovery  in 
question  must  have  been  as  interesting  as  it  was  important.  Before 
the  vessels  sailed  from  Loreto,  the  leading  fathers  had  formally  subdi- 
vided their  new  field  of  labor,  so  far  as  it  was  known  to  them,  among 
such  saints  of  the  calendar  as  were  in  the  highest  odor  with  the  Fran- 
ciscans ; '  and  when  the  chief  of  the  conclave  was  reminded  that  St. 
Francis  himself  had  been  overlooked,  he  was  ready  with  an  answer  to 
the  effect,  that  their  patron  must  first  earn  the  compliment  by  showing 
them  a  good  port.  Having  thus  put  the  saint  to  his  mettle,  the  way- 
worn priests  were  in  duty  bound  to  acknowledge  his  guidance  on  hall- 


■:.v.i:     m 


''^f: 


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FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


WlllliiH 


inff  tho  maj^nificpnt  inlet;  and  thoy  wore,  in  all  probnhility,  more  highly 
dclifrhtod  with  their  fuundcr's  triumph  than  with  the  intrinsic  qualitios 
of  his  harbor. 

On  the  mornin^^  of  the  thirtieth,  a  lie^ht  hroezc  enal)Ied  us  a^^nin  to 
get  under  way  and  to  work  into  the  port.  After  crossinj^  a  bar,  on 
which,  however,  there  is  a  suillcient  (le|)th  of  water,  we  entered  a  strait 
of  about  two  miles  in  wi<lth — ^just  narrow  enough  for  the  purposes  of 
military  defence — observing?,  on  the  southern  side  of  the  mouth,  a  fort 
well  situated  for  conimandin|r  the  passajr**,  but  itself  commanded  by  a 
hill  behind.  Tiiis  fort  is  now  dismantled  and  dilapidated;  nor  are  its 
remains  likely  to  last  lonj?,  for  the  soft  rock,  on  the  very  verge  of 
which  they  already  hang,  is  fast  crumbling  into  the  undermining  tide 
beneaJi.  A  short  distance  beyond  the  fort,  and  on  the  same  side  of 
the  strait,  is  situated  a  square  of  huts,  distinguished  by  the  lofty  title  of 
the  Presidio  of  San  Francisco,  and  tenanted,  for  garrisoned  it  is  not, 
by  a  commandant  and  as  many  soldiers  as  might,  if  all  told,  muster 
the  rank  and  file  of  a  corporal's  party  ;  and,  though  here  the  softness 
of  the  rock  does  nothing  to  aid  the  national  alacrity  in  decaying,  yet  the 
adobes  or  unbaked  bricks, of  which  Captain  Prado's  strong  hold  is  com- 
posed, have  already  succeeded  in  rendering  this  establishment  as  much 
uf  a  ruii.  as  the  other. 

In  addition  to  this  presidio  there  are  three  others  in  the  upper  pro- 
vince, situated  respectively  at  Monterey,  Santu  Barbara,  and  San  Diego. 
But  their  principal  occupation  is  gone.  From  the  very  commencement 
of  the  system,  the  pious  fathers  had  deemed  it  rash  and  inexpedient  to 
encounter  the  heathen  with  spiritual  arms  only ;  and  as  neither  the 
Jesuits  nor  the  Franciscans  could  themselves  lawfully  carry  carnal 
weapons,  both  the  orders  remedied  this  defect  in  their  constitutions  by 
enlisting  soldiers  in  their  service — a  kind  of  fellow-laliorers  unknown 
to  St.  Paul's  missionary  experience.  Now  it  was  as  the  head-quarters 
of  these  boo'ed  and  spurred  apostles  of  the  faith  that  the  presidios  were 
primarily  introduced,  thougii  each  of  them  incidentally  became  the  seat 
of  governme!it  for  its  own  subdivision  of  the  province.  On  the  first 
settlement  of  either  section  of  the  country,  these  troopers  had  no  sine- 
cure of  it.  In  the  lower  province,  the  natives  had  suffered  much  from 
the  cupidity  of  adventurers,  who  had  forced  them  to  dive  for  pearls, 
and,  perhaps,  also,  to  toil  in  the  mines ;  and,  in  both  provinces,  they 
were  roused  into  hostility  partly  by  the  jealousy  of  their  conjurors,  and 
partly  by  the  hopes  of  plunder.  Many  were  the  battles  and  sieges  that 
resulted  from  such  a  state  of  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  natives ;  and 
it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  borrow  at  full  length  from  Father  Palou, 
the  biographer  of  the  founder  of  the  missions  in  the  upper  province,  a 
graphic  sketch  of  an  attack  made  on  the  infant  establishment  of  San 
Diego.  After  stating  that  the  devil  had  stirred  up  the  savages  to  resist- 
ance, and  marshaled  them  in  two  bands  to  the  number  of  a  thousand, 
the  reverend  historian  thus  proceeds  : 

"  They  arrived  at  the  bed  of  the  riveron  the  night  of  the  fourth  of 
November,  whence  the  two  divisions  took  their  respective  routes,  the 
one  for  the  presidio,  and  the  other  for  the  mission.    The  party  destined 


FROM  VANCOUVKR  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  KTC. 


159 


for  the  liittrr  nrrivrd  at  tlw  liiitx  of  tluMMinvcrtH  without  hj'injjoliscrvcd  ; 
putting  Hoint!  Indiatis  nn  ewnnU  to  prevent  the  ininateH  from  ^oiiii;  out 
orj^ivinj;  any  alarm,  and  threatening  them  with  death  if  they  attempted 
to  do  8o.  Some  then  proeeeth-d  to  the  «-hnr<'h  and  «aeristy,  f(M-  tho 
purpo*<e  of  rohhiiijij  the  ornamentH,  vesiincnts,  and  whatever  <'lse  they 
might  find;  wliiU;  others  laid  Indd  of  liylits,  and  endeavored  to  set  tho 
ipiarlers  of  tlu;  soldiers  on  tire.  These,  who  consisted  oidy  of  a  eor- 
poral  and  three  ukmi,  were  soon  awakenetl  l)y  the  horrid  yells  of  the 
Indians, and  iminrdialely  armed  themselves;  ihi!  Indians  liavinjf  ain'ady 
begun  to  (lisehargc;  their  arrows.  'I'he  Father  Vincente  joined  the 
sohliers,  together  with  two  hoys.  Tlu;  Failn-r  Luis,  who  slept  in  a 
separate  apartment,  on  hearing  thr^  noist;  went  towards  the  Indians,  and 
on  approaching  them,  made  use  of  the  usual  salulaiio.',  /.ore  (lod,  im) 
children — when  observing  it  was  the  rntluT,  they  laid  I. old  of  him  as  a 
wolf  would  lay  hold  of  a  land),  and  car;  led  lim  to  tin;  skdi;  of  the  rividet. 
There  they  tore  oO'  his  holy  habit,  commen.-ed  giving  hnn  blows  with 
their  clui)s, and  discharged  iiimimerai)h'  arro«v'*  at  'i;m.  Not  contented 
with  taking  away  his  life  with  so  much  (\iry,thev  beat  and  cutf  piec(!s 
his  face,  head,  and  the  whoh*  of  his  body,  so  tiiat  Iron,  head  to  fool 
nothing  remained  whole  except  his  consecrated  ha'  '.^.  which  were 
found  entire  in  the  place  whore  he  was  murdered. 

"  Meanwhile  others  of  the  Indians  procei  u  "  to  tho  plae(  -vhorG 
two  carpenters  and  the  blacksmith  were  s'eep;  g,  and  who  were 
awakened  by  the  noise.  The  blacksmith  r;  i  out  with  his  sword  in 
hand,  but  was  immediately  shot  dead  with  an  arrow  ;  one  of  the  car- 
penters followed  with  a  loaded  musket  and  shot  sonu;  of  the  Indians, 
who  were  so  much  intimidated,  that  he  was  allowed  to  join  the 
soldiers:  the  other  carpenter,  who  was  ill,  v  is  killed  in  bed  l)y  an 
arrow.  The  chief  body  of  the  Indians  now  engaged  the  soldiers,  who 
made  such  good  use  of  their  firearms,  by  killing  some  and  wounding 
others,  that  the  Indians  began  to  waver,  but  they  at  last  set  tire  to  the 
quarters  of  the  Spaniards,  which  were  only  of  wood,  and  who,  in 
order  to  avoid  being  roasted  alive,  valiantly  sallied  forth  and  took  pos- 
session of  another  small  hut  which  b^d  served  for  a  kitchen,  and  which 
was  constructed  of  dried  bricks.  •'  .e  walls,  however,  were  litde 
more  than  a  yard  in  height,  and  only  covered  with  I)ranche8  of  trees 
and  leaves  to  keep  out  the  sun.  They  defended  themselves  by  keep- 
ing up  a  continual  fire  upon  -he  multitude,  who,  however,  annoyed 
them  much  with  their  arrows  ind  wooden  spears,  more  particularly  at 
one  side  of  the  hut  which  was  without  a  wall.  Seeing  the  damage 
that  by  this  means  they  were  sufl'ering,  the  soldiers  resolved  to  take 
out  of  the  house,  !hat  was  on  fire,  some  bales  to  fill  up  the  open  part 
of  the  kitchen.  In  doing  this,  two  of  them  were  wounded  and  dis- 
abled from  givhig  any  more  assistance,  but  they  succeeded  in  fetching 
the  bales  and  filling  up  the  breach  with  them.  There  then  only 
remained  the  corporal,  one  soldier,  the  carpenter  and  Father  Vincente. 
The  corporal,  who  was  of  great  valor  and  a  good  marksman,  ordered 
that  the  others  should  load  and  prime  the  muskets,  he  oidy  firing  them 
off;  by  which  method  he  killed  or  wounded  as  many  as  approached 


160 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO,  ETC. 


i 


him.  The  Indians  now  seeing  that  their  arrows  were  of  no  avail, 
owing  to  the  defence  of  'he  walls  and  bales,  set  fire  to  the  covering  of 
the  kitchen ;  but,  as  the  materials  were  very  slight,  the  corporal  and 
his  companions  were  still  enabled  to  keep  their  position.  They  were 
greatly  afraid  lest  their  powder  should  be  set  on  fire ;  and  this  would 
have  been  the  case  if  Father  Vincent  had  not  taken  the  precaution  to 
cover  it  over  with  the  skirt  of  his  habit,  which  he  did  in  disregard  of 
the  risk  he  ran  of  being  blown  up.  The  Indians,  finding  that  this 
mode  of  attack  did  not  oblige  their  opponents  to  leave  their  fort,  com- 
menced throwing  in  burning  faggots  and  stones,  by  which  Father  Vin- 
cente  was  wounded,  but  not  very  dangerously.  The  whole  night 
passed  in  this  manner,  till  on  the  rising  of  the  sun  the  Indians  gave  up 
the  contest,  and  retired,  carrying  off  all  their  killed  and  wounded. 
The  whole  of  the  defenders  of  the  kitchen  werf  wounded,  the  corporal 
concealing  his  injuries  until  the  Indians  had  retired,  in  order  to  avoid 
discouraging  his  companions." 

Few  skirmishes  have  ever  exhibited  a  higl»er  degree  of  dogged 
intrepidity  on  both  sides,  though,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  superior 
discipline  and  the  better  cause  prevailed  on  almost  every  occasion  jf 
the  kind.  Soon,  however,  the  piping  times  of  peace  gave  the  soldiers 
leisure  to  commence  the  proper  operations  of  the  spiritual  conquest, 
such  as  the  maintaining  of  domestic  order,  the  recapturing  of  runaway 
converts,  and  the  catching  of  fresh  pupils.  For  these  services,  the 
pi-esidios  were,  in  a  great  measure,  supported  at  the  expense  of  the 
missions  ;  so  that,  when  the  missions  were  spoiled  and  dissolved  in  a 
manner  to  be  hereafter  noticed,  the  presidios,  deprived  of  the  best  part 
at  once  of  their  functions  and  of  their  resources,  naturally  fell  into  their 
present  state  of  neglect  and  decay. 

On  proceeding  along  the  strait,  one  of  the  most  attractive  scenes 
imaginable  gradually  opens  on  the  mariner's  view,— a  sheet  of  water  of 
about  thirty  miles  in  length  by  about  twelve  in  breadth,  sheltered  from 
every  wind  by  an  amphitheatre  of  green  hills,  while  an  intermediate 
belt  of  open  plain,  varying  from  two  to  six  miles  in  depth,  is  dotted 
by  the  habitations  of  civilized  men. 

On  emerging  from  the  strait,  whicii  is  about  three  miles  lopv,  we 
saw  on  our  left  in  a  deep  bay,  known  as  Whaler's  Harbor,  two  ves- 
sels, the  government  schooner  California  and  the  Russian  brig  Con- 
stantine,  now  bound  to  Sitka  with  the  last  of  the  tenants  of  Bodega 
and  Ross  on  board.  As  we  observed  the  Russians  getting  under  way, 
I  dispatched  Mr.  Hopkins  in  one  of  our  boats  in  order  to  express  my 
regret  at  being  thus  deprived  of  the  anticipated  pleasure  of  paying  my 
respects  in  person.  Mr.  Hopkins  found  about  a  hundred  souls,  men, 
women  and  children,  all  patriotically  delighted  to  exchange  the  lovely 
climate  of  California  for  the  ungenial  skies  of  Sitka,  and  that,  too,  at 
the  expense  of  making  a  long  voyage  in  an  old,  crazy,  clumsy  tub,  at 
the  stormiest  season  of  the  year ;  but  to  this  general  rule  there  had 
been  one  exception,  inasmuch  as  they  had  lost  two  days  in  waiting, 
but  alas  in  vain,  for  a  young  woman,  who  had  abjured  alike  her  coun- 
try and  her  husband  for  the  sake  of  one  of  the  dons  of  San  Francisco. 


FROM  VANCOUVER  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO. 


161 


Mr.  Hopkins  farther  learned  that,  though  it  was  Thursday  with  us, 
yet  it  was  Friday  with  our  northern  friends, — a  circumstance  which, 
besides  showing  that  the  Russians  had  not  the  superstition  of  our  tars 
as  to  days  of  sailing,  forcibly  reminded  us  that  between  them  the  two 
parties  had  passed  round  the  globe  in  opposite  directions  to  prosecute 
one  and  the  same  trade  in  furs,  which  the  indolent  inhabitants  of  the 
province  were  too  lazy  to  appropriate  at  their  very  doors.  On 
our  right,  just  opposite  to  the  ground  occupied  by  tiie  Constantino 
and  the  California,  stretched  the  pretty  little  bay  of  Yerba^Buena, 
whose  shores  are  doubtless  destined,  under  better  auspices,  to  be  the 
site  of  a  flourishing  town,  though  at  present  they  contain  only  eight  or 
nine  houses  in  addition  to  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  establish- 
ment. Here  we  dropped  anchor  in  the  neighborhood  of  four  other 
vessels,  the  American  barque  Alert  and  brig  Bolivar,  the  British 
barque  Index -and  the  Mexican  brig  Catilina,  and,  after  firing  a  salute, 
went  ashore  to  visit  Mr.  Rae,  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  repre- 
sentative in  this  quarter. 


•^f% 


'v^i 


P 


■:     ;  f    1 


PART  I.— 11 


*l 


■I 


i  1 

;,„«    i 


162 


^ 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SAN  FRANCISCO. 


The  sheet  of  water,  as  already  described,  forms  only  a  part  of  the 
inland  sea  of  San  Francisco.  Whaler's  Harbor,  at  its  own  northern 
extremity,  communicates  by  a  strait  of  about  two  miles  in  width,  with 
the  Bay  of  San  Pedro,  a  circular  basin  of  ten  miles  in  diameter  ;  and 
again  this  extensive  pool,  at  its  northeastern  end,  leads  by  means 
of  a  sectMid  strait  into  Fresliwater  Bay  of  nearly  the  same  form  and 
magnitude,  which  is  full  of  islands,  and  forms  the  receptacle  of  the 
Sacramento  and  the  San  Joachin.  Large  vessels,  it  is  said,  may  pene- 
trate into  Freshwater  Bay  ;  and  as  the  San  Joachin  and  the  Sacramento, 
which  drain  vast  tracts  of  country  respectively  to  the  southeast  and 
to  the  northeast,  are  navigable  for  inland  craft,  the  whole  harbor,  be- 
sides its  matchless  qualities  as  a  port  of  refuge  on  this  surf-beaten 
coast,  is  the  ouUet  of  a  vast  breadth  of  fair  and  fertile  land. 

In  the  face  of  all  these  advantages  and  temptations,  the  good  folks  of 
San  Francisco,  priests  as  well  as  laymen,  and  laymen  as  well  as  priests, 
have  been  contented  to  borrow,  for  their  aquatic  excursions,  the  native 
balsa, — a  kind  of  raft  or  basket  which,  when  wanted,  can  be  con- 
structed in  a  few  minutes  with  the  bulrushes  that  spring  so  luxuriantly 
on  the  margins  of  the  lakes  and  rivers.  In  this  miserable  makeshift 
they  contrive  to  cross  the  inland  waters,  and  perhaps,  in  very  choice 
weather,  to  venture  a  little  way  out  to  sea, — there  being,  I  believe,  no 
other  floating  thing  besides,  neither  boat  nor  canoe,  neither  barge  nor 
scow,  in  any  part  of  the  harbor,  or,  in  fact,  in  any  part  of  Upper 
,  California,  from  San  Diego  on  the  south  to  San  Francisco  on  the  north. 
In  consequence  of  this  state  of  things,  the  people  of  the  bay  have  been 
so  far  from  availing  themselves  of  their  internal  channels  of  communi- 
cation, that  their  numerous  expeditions  into  the  interior  have  all  been 
conducted  by  land,  seldom  leading,  of  course,  to  any  result  commensu- 
rate with  the  delay  and  expense.  But,  inconvenient  as  the  entire  want 
of  small  craft  must  be  to  the  dwellers  on  such  an  inlet  as  has  been  de- 
scribed, there  are  circumstances  which  do,  to  a  certain  extent,  account 
^  for  the  protracted  endurance  of  the  evil.  Horses  are  almost  as  plenti- 
ful as  bulrushes  ;  time  is  a  perfect  glut  with  a  community  of  loungers ; 
and,  under  the  plea  of  having  no  means  of  catching  fish,  the  faithful 
enjoy,  by  a  standing  dispensation,  the  comfortable  privilege  of  fasting 
at  meagre  times  on  their  hecatombs  of  beef. 

The  world  at  large  has  hitherto  made  nearly  as  little  use  of  the  pecu- 
liar facilities  of  San  Francisco  as  the  Californians  themselves.  Though, 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 


163 


at  one  time,  many  whaling  ships,  as  the  name  of  Whaler's  Harbor 
would  imply,  frequented  the  j[)ort,  yet,  through  the  operation  of  various 
causes,  they  h.^  »  all  gradually  betaken  themselves  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  In  ^;'>iiit  of  natural  capabilities  for  such  a  purpose,  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  are,  on  the  whole,  inferior  to  San  Francisco.  If  they  ex- 
cel it  in  position,  as  lying  more  directly  in  the  tract  between  the  sum- 
mer fishing  of  the  north  and  the  winter  fishing  of  the  south,  and  also,  as 
being  more  easy  of  access  and  departure  by  reason  of  the  steadiness 
of  the  trade  winds,  they  are,  in  turn,  surpassed  in  all  the  elements  for 
the  refreshing  and  refitting  of  vessels  by  a  place,  where  beef  may  be 
procured  for  little  or  nothing,  where  hemp  grows  spontaneously,  where 
the  pine  offers  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  resin,  and  where  suitable 
timber  for  ship-building  invites  the  axe  within  an  easy  distance.  But, 
though  nature  may  have  done  more  for  San  Francisco  than  for  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  yet  man  has  certainly  done  less  to  promote  her 
liberal  intentions.  The  Sandwich  Islands  afford  to  the  refitting  whaler 
an  ample  supply  of  competent  labor,  both  native  and  foreign,  at  reason- 
able wages,  while  San  Francisco,  turning  the  very  bounty  of  Provi- 
dence into  a  curse,  corrupts  a  naturally  indolent  population  by  the 
superabundance  of  cattle  and  horses,  by  the  readiness,  in  short,  with 
which  idleness  can  find  both  subsistence  and  recreation.  Moreover, 
even  on  the  score  of  fiscal  regulations,  the  savage  community  has  as 
decidedly  the  advantage  of  the  civilized  as  in  point  of  industrious  habits. 
In  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  whaler  can  enter  at  once  into  the  port 
which  is  best  adapted  for  his  purposes,  while  in  San  Francisco  he  is 
l)y  law  forbidden  to  remain  more  than  forty-eight  hours,  unless  he  has 
previously  presented  himself  at  Monterey,  and  paid  duty  on  the  whole 
of  his  cargo.  What  wonder,  then,  is  it,  that,  with  such  a  government 
and  such  a  people,  Whaler's  Harbor  is  merely  an  empty  name? 

Few  vessels,  therefore,  visit  the  port,  excepting  such  as  are  engaged 
in  collecting  hides  or  tallow;  the  tallow  going  chiefly  to  Peru,  and  the 
hides  exclusively  either  to  Great  Britain  or  to  the  United  States.  It 
was  in  the  latter  branch  of  the  business  that  most  of  the  vessels  which 
we  had  found  at  anchor  were  employed — the  mode  of  conducting  it 
being  worthy  of  a  more  detailed  description. 

To  each  ship  there  is  attached  a  supercargo  or  clerk,  who,  in  a 
decked  launch,  carries  an  assortment  of  goods  from  farm  to  farm,  col- 
lecting such  hides  as  he  can  at  the  time,  and  securing,  by  his  advances, 
as  many  as  possible  against  the  next  matanzas  or  slaughtering  season, 
which  generally  coincides  with  the  months  of  July  and  August.  The 
current  rate  of  a  hide  is  two  dollars  in  goods,  generally  delivered  be- 
forehand, or  a  dollar  and  a  half  in  specie,  paid,  as  it  were,  across  the 
counter;  and  the  great  difference  arises  from  the  circumstance  that  the 
goods  are  held  at  a  price  stifficient  to  cover  the  bad  debts  which  the 
system  of  credit  inevitably  produces,  the  punctual  debtor  being  thus 
obliged,  in  California  as  well  as  elsewhere,  to  pay  for  the  defaulter. 
But  even  without  this  adventitious  increase  of  their  nominal  value,  the 
goods  could  not  be  sold  for  less  than  thrice  their  prime  cost,  so  as  to 
enable  the  vessels  to  meet  a  tariff  of  duties  averaging  about  a  hundred 


iiiiLi'fl 


It'  .!'■• 


\      'I 


164 


SAN    FRANCISCO. 


^iiill 


!Mi" 


IJ;      1^ 


per  cent,  in  addition  to  very  high  tonnage-dues,  and  the  accumulating 
expenses  of  two  tedious  voyages,  with  a  i'ar  more  tedious  detention  on 
the  coast.  Thus,  under  the  existing  state  of  things,  the  farmer  receives 
for  his  hide  either  about  as  many  goods  as  may  have  been  bought  in 
London  for  half  a  crown  or  two  shillings,  or  about  as  much  hard  cash 
as  may  here  buy  the  same  at  ready-money  rates. 

'I'he  detention  on  the  coast,  to  which  I  have  alluded  as  an  element 
in  the  price  of  goods,  is  occasioned  by  various  circumstances.  In  the 
first  place,  there  are  too  many  competitors  in  the  trade.  The  provin- 
cial exports  of  hides  do  not  exceed,  at  the  utmost,  the  number  of 
60,000;  and,  though  such  a  vessel  as  our  neighbor,  the  Index,  has 
room  for  two-thirds  of  the  whole,  yet  there  are  at  present,  on  the  coast, 
fully  sixteen  ships  of  various  sizes  and  denominations,  all  struggling 
and  scrambling  either  for  hides  or  for  tallow.  Supposing  half  of  them 
to  be  engaged  in  the  latter  branch  of  business,  there  still  remain  eight 
vessels  for  such  a  number  of  hides  as  must  take  at  least  three  years  to 
fill  them;  and,  in  illustration  of  this,  I  may  mention  that  our  neighbor, 
the  Alert,  belonging  to  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  experienced  houses 
in  the  trade,  has  already  spent  eighteen  months  on  the  coast,  but  is  still 
about  a  third  short  of  her  full  tale  of  40,000.  In  the  second  place,  the 
very  nature  of  things  necessarily  involves  considerable  delay.  As  a 
vessel,  whether  large  or  small,  cannot  possibly  load  herself  at  any 
single  point,  she  must  keep  paddling  from  post  to  pillar  and  from  pillar 
to  post,  taking  the  chances  of  foul  winds  and  bad  anchorages  through 
all  the  five  ports  of  k^an  Francisco,  Monterey,  Santa  Barbara,  San  Pedro 
and  San  Diego.  Hut,  even  if  hides  were  more  plentiful,  the  climate 
would,  in  a  great  measure,  impose  a  similar  necessity.  As  the  hides 
are  all  green,  or  nearly  so,  for  the  skinning  of  the  animal  is  pretty 
much  the  extent  of  Californian  industry,  each  vessel  must  undertake 
the  process  of  curing  them  for  herself;  and,  as  the  upper  half  of  the 
coast  to  a  depth  of  about  fifteen  miles  is  peculiarly  exposed,  during  the 
summer,  which  is,  of  course,  the  best  time  for  the  purpose,  to  the  rains 
and  fogs  of  the  prevailing  northwesters,  the  hides  of  each  season,  in 
order  to  be  cured,  must  be  carried  to  the  drier  climate  of  the  southern 
ports,  more  particularly  of  San  Diego.  Moreover,  the  mere  task  of 
curing  a  cargo  causes  a  great  loss  of  time — a  task  too  laborious  to  be 
undertaken  by  the  sellers,  and  too  nice  to  be  entrusted  to  them.  In  a 
recent  able  publication*  of  a  scholar  who  had  gone  to  sea  as  a  common 
sailor,  for  the  benefit  of  a  constitution  impaired  by  study,  I  have  read, 
with  a  good  deal  of  interest,  a  graphic  account  of  the  process,  drawn 
from  his  own  experience;  and  I  make  no  apology  for  submitting  to 
the  reader  a  sketch,  which  so  advantageously  contrasts  the  EngUsh 
race  with  the  Spaniard,  even  on  his  own  ground. 

"  When  the  hide  is  taken  from  the  bullock,  holes  are  cut  round  it 
near  the  edges,  by  which  it  is  staked  out  to  dry.  In  this  manner  it 
dries  without  shrinking.     After  they  are  thus  dried  in  the  sun,  they 


•  "Two  Years  before  the  Mast,  a  Personal  Narrative  of  Life  at  Sea. 
York.    Harper  and  Brothers.    1 840. 


New 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


165 


are  received  hy  the  vessels,  and  bronjrht  down  to  the  depot.  The  ves- 
sels land  tFiem,  and  leave  them  in  larj^e  piles  near  the  houses.  Then 
begins  thf  hide-curcr's  (hity.  The  first  thinj^  is  to  put  them  in  soak. 
Tliis  is  done  by  carryinj^  them  down  at  low  tide,  and  makini^  them 
fast,  in  small  piles,  l)y  ropes,  and  letting  the  tide  come  up  an(l  cover 
them.  Every  day  we  put  in  soak  twenty-five  for  each  man,  which,  with 
us,  made  a  hundred  and  fifty.  There  they  lie  forty-eight  hours,  when 
they  are  taken  out  and  rolled  up,  in  wheelbarrows,  and  thrown  into 
vats.  Tlicse  vats  contain  brine,  made  very  strong,  being  sea-water 
with  great  quantities  of  salt  thrown  in.  This  pickles  the  hides,  and 
in  this  tliey  lie  forty -eight  hours ;  the  use  of  the  sea-water,  into  which 
they  are  first  put,  heiig  merely  to  soften  and  clean  them.  From  these 
vats  they  are  taken,  and  lie  on  a  platform  twenty-four  hours,  and  then 
are  spread  upon  the  ground,  and  carefully  stretched  and  staked  out,  so 
that  they  may  dry  smooth.  After  they  were  staked,  and  while  yet  wet 
and  soft,  we  used  to  go  upon  them  with  our  knives,  and  carefully  cut 
off  all  the  bad  parts — the  pieces  of  meat  and  fat,  whicli  would  other- 
wise corrupt  and  affect  the  whole  if  stowed  away  in  a  vessel  for  months, 
the  large  dippers,  the  ears,  and  all  other  parts  that  prevent  close  stow- 
age. This  was  the  most  difficult  part  of  our  duty,  as  it  required  much 
skill  to  take  everything  necessary  off,  and  not  to  cut  or  injure  the  hides. 
It  was  also  a  long  process,  as  six  of  us  had  to  clean  one  hundred  and 
fifty,  most  of  which  required  a  great  deal  to  be  done  to  them,  as  the 
Spaniards  are  very  careless  in  skinning  their  catde.  'J'hen,  too,  as  we 
cleaned  them  while  they  were  staked  out,  we  were  obliged  to  kneel 
down  upon  them,  which  always  gives  beginners  the  back-ache.  The 
first  day  I  was  so  slow  and  awkward,  that  I  cleaned  only  eight ;  at  the 
end  of  a  few  days  I  doubled  my  number,  and  in  a  fortnight  or  three 
weeks  could  keep  up  with  the  others,  and  clean  my  proportion,  twenty- 
five.  This  cleaning  must  be  got  through  with  before  noon,  for  by  that 
time  they  get  too  dry.  After  the  sun  has  been  upon  them  for  a  few 
hours,  they  are  carefully  gone  over  with  scrapers,  to  get  off  all  the 
grease  which  the  sun  brings  out.  This  being  done,  the  stakes  are 
pulled  up,  and  the  hides  carefully  doubled,  Avith  the  hair  side  out,  and 
left  to  dry.  About  the  middle  of  the  afte-noon  they  are  turned  upon 
the  other  side,  and  at  sundown  piled  up  and  covered  over.  The  next 
day  they  are  spread  out  and  opened  again,  and  at  night,  if  fully  dry, 
are  thrown  upon  a  long,  horizontal  pole,  five  at  a  time,  and  beat  with 
flails.  This  takes  all  the  dust  from  them.  Thus  being  salted,  scraped, 
cleaned,  dried  and  beaten,  they  are  stowed  away  in  the  house." 

But,  to  return  to  San  Francisco,  the  trade  of  the  bay,  and,  in  fact,  of 
the  whole  province,  is  entirely  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  who  are 
almost  exclusively  of  the  English  race.  Of  that  race,  however,  the 
Americans  are  considerably  more  numerous  than  the  British, — the 
former  naturally  flocking  in  greater  force  to  neutral  ground,  such  as 
this  country  and  the  Sandwich  Islands,  while  the  latter  find  a  variety 
of  advantageous  outlets  in  their  own  national  colonies.  At  present  the 
foreigners  are  to  the  Californians  in  number  as  one  to  ten,  being  about 
600  out  of  about  7,000,  while,  by  their  monopoly  of  trade  and  their 


/p- 


166 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


r     ■Hi' 


command  of  resources,  to  say  nothing  of  their  superior  energy  and 
intellinfeiice,  they  already  possess  vastly  more  than  their  numerical 
proportion  of  political  influence;  and  their  position  in  this  respect 
excites  the  less  jealousy,  inasmuch  as  most  of  them  have  been  induced, 
either  by  a  desire  of  shaking  ofT  legal  incapacities  or  by  less  interested 
motives,  to  profess  the  Catholic  religion  and  to  marry  into  provincial 
families. 

The  Californians  of  San  Francisco  number  between  2,000  and  2,500, 
about  700  belonging  to  the  village  or  pueblo  of  San  Jose  de  Guadalupe 
and  the  remainder  occupying  about  thirty  farms  of  various  sizes,  gene- 
rally subdivided  among  the  families  of  the  respective  holders. 

On  the  score  of  industry,  these  good  folks,  as  also  their  brethren  of 
the  other  ports,  are  perhaps  the  least  promising  colonists  of  a  new 
country  in  the  world,  being,  in  this  respect,  decidedly  inferior  to  what 
the  savages  themselves  had  become  under  the  training  of  the  priests : 
so  that  the  spoliation  of  the  missions,  excepting  that  it  has  opened 
the  province  to  general  enterprise,  has  directly  tended  to  nip  civiliza- 
tion in  the  bud.  In  the  missions  there  were  large  flocks  of  sheep ; 
but  now  there  are  scarcely  any  left.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
having,  last  spring,  experienced  great  difliculty  in  collecting  about  four 
thousand  for  its  northern  settlements.  In  the  missions  the  wool  used 
to  be  manufactured  into  coarse  cloth;  and  it  is,  in  fact,  because  the 
Californians  are  too  lazy  to  weave  or  spin, — too  lazy,  I  suspect,  even 
to  clip  and  wash  the  raw  material, — that  the  sheep  have  been  literally 
destroyed  to  make  more  room  for  the  horned  cattle.  In  the  missions 
soap  and  leather  used  to  be  made ;  but  in  such  vulgar  processes  the 
Californians  advance  no  farther  than  nature  herself  has  advanced  before 
them,  -.xcepting  to  put  each  animal's  tallow  in  one  place  and  its  hide 
in  another.  In  the  missions  the  dairy  formed  a  principal  object  of 
attention ;  but  now  neither  butter  nor  cheese  nor  any  preparation  of 
milk  whatever  is  to  be  found  in  the  province.  In  the  missions  there 
were  annually  produced  about  eighty  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  and 
maize,  the  former,  and  perhaps  part  of  the  latter  also,  being  converted 
into  flour;  but  the  present  possessors  of  the  soil  do  so  little  in  the  way 
of  tilling  the  ground,  that,  when  lying  at  Monterey,  we  sold  to  the 
government  some  barrels  of  flour  at  the  famine-rate  of  twenty-eight 
dollars,  or  nearly  six  pounds  sterling  a  sack, — a  price  which  could 
not  be  considered  as  merely  local,  for  t\w  stuff  was  intended  to  victual 
the  same  schooner  which,  on  our  first  arrival,  we  had  seen  at  anchor 
in  Whaler's  Harbor.  In  the  missions  beef  was  occasionally  cured  for 
exportation ;  but  so  miserably  is  the  case  now  reversed,  that,  though 
meat  enough  to  supply  the  fleets  of  England  is  annually  either  con- 
sumed by  fire  or  left  to  the  carrion-birds,  yet  the  authorities  purchased 
from  us,  along  with  the  flour  just  mentioned,  some  salted  salmon  as 
indispensable  sea-stores  for  the  one  paltry  vessel,  which  dbnstituted  the 
entire  line-of-baitle  of  the  Californian  navy.  In  the  missions  a  gr^t 
deal  of  wine  was  grown,  good  enough  to  be  sent  for  sale  to  Mexico ; 
but,  with  the  exception  of  what  we  got  at  the  Mission  of  Santa  Bai- 


ls V. 


I, 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


167 


bara,  the  native  wine,  that  we  tasted,  was  such  trash  as  nothing  but 
politeness  could  have  induced  us  to  swallow. 

Various  circumstances  have  conspired  to  render  these  dons  so  very 
peculiarly  indolent.  Independently  of  innate  diflerences  of  national 
tastes,  the  objects  of  colonization  exert  an  influence  over  the  character 
of  the  colonists.  Thus  the  energy  of  our  republican  brethren  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  contiguous  dependencies  of  the  empire  are  to  be 
traced,  in  a  great  degree,  to  the  original  and  permanent  necessity  of 
relying  on  the  steady  and  laborious  use  of  tlic  axe  and  the  plough  ;  and 
thus  also  the  rival  colonists  of  New  France, — a  name  which  compre- 
hended the  valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi, — dwindled 
and  pined  on  much  of  the  same  ground,  partly  because  the  golden 
dreams  of  the  fur-trade  carried  them  away  from  stationary  pursuits  to 
overrun  half  the  breadth  of  the  continent,  and  partly  because  tiie  gigantic 
ambition  of  their  government  regarded  them  rather  as  soldiers  than  as 
settlers,  rather  as  the  instruments  of  political  aggrandizement  than  as 
the  germ  of  a  kindred  people.  In  like  manner,  Spanish  America,  with 
its  sierras  of  silver,  became  the  asylum  and  paradise  of  idlers,  holding 
out  to  every  adventurer,  when  leaving  the  shores  of  the  old  country, 
the  prospect  of  earning  his  bread  without  the  sweat  of  his  brow. 

But  the  population  of  California  in  particular  has  been  drawn  from 
the  most  indolent  variety  of  an  indolent  species,  being  composed  of 
superannuated  troop  rs  and  retired  oflice  holders  and  their  descendants. 
In  connection  with  the  establishment  of  the  missions,  at  least  of  those 
of  the  upper  province,  there  had  been  projected  three  villages  or  pue- 
blos, as  places  of  refuge  for  such  of  the  old  soldiers  as  might  obtain 
leave  to  settle  in  the  country;  but,  as  the  priests  were  by  no  means 
friendly  to  the  rise  of  a  separate  interest,  they  did  all  in  their  power  to 
prevent  the  requisite  licenses  from  being  granted  by  the  crown,  so  as 
to  send  to  the  villages  as  few  denizens  as  possible,  and  to  send  them 
only  when  they  were  past  labor  as  well  in  ability  as  in  inclination. 
These  villages  were  occasionally  strengthened  by  congenial  reinforce- 
ments of  runaway  sailors,  and,  in  order  to  avoid  such  sinks  of  profli- 
gacy and  riot,  the  better  sort  of  functionaries,  both  civil  and  military, 
gradually  established  themselves  elsewhere,  but  more  particularly  at 
Santa  Barbara,  while  both  classes  were  frequently  coming  into  collision 
with  the  fathers,  whose  vexatious  spirit  of  exclusiveness,  even  after 
the  emancipation  of  the  veterans,  often  prompted  them  nominally  to 
pre-occupy  lands  which  they  did  not  require.  Such  settlers  of  either 
class  were  not  likely  to  toil  for  much  more  than  what  the  cheap  bounty 
of  nature  afl^orded  them,  horses  to  ride  and  beef  to  eat,  with  hides  and 
tallow  to  exchange  for  such  other  supplies  as  they  wanted.  In  a  word, 
they  displayed  more  than  the  proverbial  indolence  of  a  pastoral  people, 
for  they  did  not  even  devote  their  idle  hours  to  the  tending  of  their 
herds.  As  one  might  have  expected,  the  children  improved  on  the 
example  of  the  parents  through  the  influence  of  a  systematic  education, 
— an  education  which  gave  them  the  lasso  as  a  toy  in  infancy  and  the 
horse  as  a  companion  in  boyhood,  which,  in  short,  trained  them  from 
the  cradle  to  be  mounted  bullock-hunters  and  nothing  else  ;  and,  if 


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168 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


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anything  could  aggravate  their  laziness,  it  was  the  circumstance  that 
many  of  them  dropped,  as  it  were,  into  ready-made  competency  by 
sharing  in  the  lands  and  cattle  of  the  plundered  missions. 

The  only  trouble  which  the  Californians  really  take  with  their  cat- 
tle, is  to  brand  them,  when  young,  with  their  respective  marks ;  and 
even  this  single  task  savors  more  of  festivity  than  of  labor.  Once 
a  year,  the  cows  and  calves  of  a  neighborhood,  which,  by  reason  of 
the  absence  of  fences,  all  feed  in  cnnimon,  are  driven  into  a  pen  or 
coralle,  that  every  farmer  may  select  iiis  own  stock  for  his  own  brand, 
at  the  same  time  keeping,  if  he  is  wise,  a  sharp  eye  on  the  proceedings 
of  his  associates  ;  and,  after  the  catde  are  all  branded  and  again  turned 
out  to  their  pastures,  the  owners  and  their  friends  wind  up  the  exciting 
business  of  the  day  with  singing  and  dancing  and  feasting.  In  addi- 
tion, however,  to  this,  each  farmer  does  occasionally  collect  his  own 
cattle  into  his  pen,  partly  to  prevent  them  from  becoming  too  wild,  and 
partly  to  ascertain  how  far  his  neighbors  have  kept  the  eighth  com- 
mandment before  their  eyes.  On  this  latter  point  a  man  must  be  pretty 
vigilant  in  California;  for  a  centaur  of  a  fellow  with  a  running  noose 
in  his  hand  is  somewhat  apt  to  disregard  the  distinctions  between  meum 
and  Imim  ;  and  so  common,  in  fact,  is  this  free  and  easy  system,  that 
even  passably  honest  men,  merely  as  a  precautionary  measure  of  self- 
defence,  occasionally  catch  and  slay  a  fat  bullock  which  they  have 
never  branded.  In  order  to  break  the  scent  in  such  cases,  the  fortu- 
nate finder,  knowing  that  the  hide  alone  of  a  dead  animal  can  tell  any 
tales,  obliterates  the  owner's  mark  by  means  of  a  little  gunpowder,  and 
overlays  it  with  his  own  in  its  stead.  In  the  absence  of  evidence  to 
the  contrary,  these  brands  are  held  to  be  a  conclusive  proof  of  property ; 
and,  on  this  account,  a  transfer,  in  order  to  be  valid  and  safe,  requires 
a  sale-brand  to  be  placed  over  the  seller's  mark,  so  as  to  give  the  buy- 
er's mark  all  the  force  of  an  original  brand.  In  ignorance  of  this  cus- 
tom, Mr.  Douglas,  one  of  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  officers, 
lately  committed  a  capital  mistake.  After  collecting  the  sheep,  whicli 
I  have  already  mentioned,  he  bought  some  horses  for  his  drivers,  which 
were  subsequently  sold  on  the  Columbia  to  Commodore  Wilkes  for 
the  use  of  his  party  that  went  by  land  from  the  Willamette  to  San 
Francisco ;  and  no  sooner  did  the  animals  make  their  appearance  in 
their  old  haunts  than  they  were  claimed  by  the  sellers,  whose  marks 
still  remained,  as  stolen  property  ,to  the  no  small  astonishment  of  their 
real  owners. 

The  income  of  every  farmer  may  be  pretty  accurately  ascertained  from 
the  number  of  his  cattle,  excepting  that  the  owners  of  small  stocks,  as  is 
the  case  at  present  with  many  of  the  plunderers  of  the  missions,  do  not 
venture  to  kill  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  whole  as  their  more  wealthy 
neighbors.  The  value  of  a  single  animal,  without  regard  to  the  merely 
nominal  worth  of  its  beef,  may  average  about  five  dollars,  the  hide 
fetching,  as  already  mentioned,  two  dollars,  and  two,  or  three  arrobes 
of  tallow  of  twenty-five  pounds  each,  yielding  a  dollar  and  a  half  by 
the  arrobe;  and  as  the  fourth  part  of  a  herd  may  generally  be  killed 
off  every  year  without  any  improvidence,  the  farmer's  revenue  must 


yf 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


169 


be,  as  nearly  as  possible,  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  a  head.  Thus  Gene- 
ral Vallego,  who  is  said  to  possess  8000  cattle,  must  derive  about 
10,000  dollars  a  year  from  this  souree  alone;  and  the  next  larjrost 
holders,  an  old  man  of  the  name  of  Sanehos  and  his  sons,  must  draw 
rather  more  than  half  of  that  amount  from  their  stock  of  4500  animals. 
On  the  same  principles  of  calculation,  the  incomes  of  the  missions 
must  have  been  enormous;  San  Jose  havini;  possessed  30,000  head, 
and  Santa  Clara  nearly  half  the  nuuiber,  and  San  (Jabriel  to  the  south 
being  said  to  have  owned  more  cattle  than  both  Santa  C'lara  and  San 
Jose  put  together;  and  even  now,  after  all  the  pillage  that  has  taken 
plac^for  the  benefit  of  individuals,  the  secularized  wrecks  of  the  esta- 
blishments, if  honestly  administercid,  as  they  are  not,  would  yield  large 
returns  to  the  government,  Santa  (Mara  alone,  as  an  average  instance, 
still  mustering  about  4000  cattle.  In  addition  to  the  value  of  hides  and 
tallow,  such  of  the  farmers  as  understand  the  breaking  of  horses,  may 
turn  their  skill  in  this  way  to  profitable  account.  A  well  trained  steed 
sometimes  brings  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  the  worth  of  thirty  head 
of  cattle,  while  the  wild  animal  may  be  had,  at  no  great  distance,  for 
the  trouble  of  noosing  him.  In  fact,  horses  had  at  one  time  become  so 
numerous  as  to  encroach  on  the  pasturage  of  the  cattle;  and  accordingly 
they  were  partly  thinned  by  slaughter,  and  pardy  driven  eastward  into 
the  valley  of  the  San  Joachin. 

There  are  five  missions  in  all  at  San  Francisco;  San  Francisco  de 
los  Dolores  towards  the  southwest,  Santa  Clara  to  the  south,  and  San 
Jose  de  Guadalupe  towards  the  southeast,  while  San  Rafael  and  San 
Francisco  Solano  extend  from  Whaler's  Harbor  along  the  west  and 
north  of  the  Bay  of  San  Pedro.  Previously  to  the  Mexican  revolution, 
the  missions  of  the  upper  province  had  regularly  increased  in  number, 
San  Francisco  Solano,  which  was  founded  even  after  the  establishment 
of  independence,  being  the  twenty-first  in  order  of  erection.  Nor  had 
their  advance  in  wealth  failed  to  keep  pace  with  their  increase  in  num- 
ber. In  addition  to  their  annual  stipends  of  four  hundred  dollars  each, 
the  monks  possessed  in  Mexico  a  considerable  property  in  lands  and 
money,  composed  of  donations  and  bequests,  and  known  as  the 
*'  Pious  Fund  of  California,"  while,  in  tlieir  twenty-one  missions, 
they  had  acquired,  to  say  nothing  at  present  of  cattle  and  crops,  the 
cheap  labor  of  about  eighteen  thousand  converts.  But,  when  Mexico 
established  her  nationality,  the  priests,  partly  from  a  feeling  of  loyalty 
and  partly  from  a  sense  of  interest,  were  by  no  means  unanimous  in 
swearing  allegiance  to  the  newly  constituted  authorities ;  and  this 
spirit  of  resistance,  naturally  strengthening  the  tendency  of  every  revo- 
lution to  make  the  church  its  first  victim,  provoked  the  Mexican 
Government  not  only  to  withdraw  the  stipends  and  confiscate  the 
pious  fund,  but  also  to  distribute  part  of  the  lands  and  cattle  of  the 
missions  among  such  of  Uie  proselytes  as  had  learned  a  trade  and  con- 
ducted themselves  well. '  This  happened  in  1825  ;  but  the  emanci- 
pated natives  no  sooner  became  their  own  masters,  than  they  showed 
that  their  steadiness  and  industry  had  been  the  result  of  external  con- 
trol rather  than  of  internal  principle.     They  wasted  their  time  and 


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170 


BAN    FRANCISCO. 


.4L«L' 


property  in  gambling  with  a  recklessness  proportioned  to  the  duration 
of  their  previous  restraint ;  and,  iiaving  acquired  at  least  the  indi- 
vidual helplessness  ofciviii/alion,  they  knew  no  other  means  of  reliev- 
ing their  hunger  and  nakeihiess  than  a  mingled  course  of  mendicancy 
and  theft.  In  this  way  they  became  such  a  nuisance  to  the  civilized 
population,  that,  after  a  year  or  two,  the  more  innocent  of  them  were 
sent  back  into  the  varnished  servitude  of  the  missions,  while  the  more 
guilty  were  condemned,  as  pul)lic  convicts,  to  do  the  most  laborious 
drudgery  in  irons.  This  miserable  failure,  if  not  actually  desired  by 
the  priests,  must  at  least  have  been  anticipated  by  them  as  the  legiti- 
mate fruit  of  a  discipline,  which,  whether  necessarily  or  not,  regarded 
the  natives  as  children  for  life  ;  and,  under  cover  of  the  reaction,  they 
made  up  matters  with  the  authorities,  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  and 
being  left  unmolested  in  their  missions.  During  the  ensuing  nine  or 
ten  years,  the  fathers  contrived  to  maintain  at  least  a  precarious  foot- 
ing with  respect  to  Mexico,  sometimes  threatened  and  assailed,  and 
sometimes  patronized  and  protected  ;  and  meanwhile,  as  they  felt 
themselves  to  be  only  tenants  at  will,  some  of  them  made  the  most  of 
their  leases  by  licensing  worldly  skippers  to  flay  and  disembowel 
their  herds  without  stint  at  so  much  a  head. 

But  at  last  the  provincial  population  made  short  work  with  the 
establishments,  all  classes  of  tliis  body,  as  I  have  already  hinted,  being 
fundamentally  and  permanently  jealous  of  the  fathers.  What  fanned 
the  smouldering  ashes  into  a  flame,  was  an  abortive  attempt  on  the 
part  of  Mexico,  to  distribute  a  considerable  share  of  the  lands  and  cat- 
tle of  the  missions  among  a  colony  of  strangers,  and,  now  perceiving 
that  they  had  no  time  to  lose,  the  Californians,  in  1836,  rose  against 
the  general  government,  appointed  provincial  rulers,  expelled  the  Mex- 
icans as  intruders,  and,  as  the  phrase  went,  secularized  the  missions. 
After  fuming  a  good  deal  in  her  own  important  way,  Mexico  ratified 
all  that  had  been  done  on  the  single  condition  of  the  renunciation  of 
separate  independence;  and  thus  the  missions, perhaps  as  a  retribution 
for  having  relied  on  aid  that  savored  more  of  the  Koran  than  of  the 
Bible,  were  trodden  under  foot  by  the  sons  of  the  very  men,  or  by  the 
very  men  themselves,  whom  worldly  wisdom  had  introduced  into  the 
province  for  their  protection  and  assistance.  The  existing  state  of  the 
establishments  in  question  will  be  detaUed  in  the  sequel,  when  we 
come  to  describe  San  Francisco  Solano,  San  Francisco  de  los  Dolores, 
San  Carlos,  and  Santa  Barbara. 

On  the  thirty-first  of  December,  to  resume  the  progress  of  my  jour- 
nal, Mr.  Hale,  and  Mr*/ide  Mofras,  took  their  departure  for  Monterey 
in  the  brig  Bolivar,  hoping  there  to  find  some  vessel  bound  to  San  Bias, 
whence  they  would  make  their  way  by  land  to  the  city  of  Mexico ; 
and  on  the  same  day,  notwithstanding  this  opportunity,  we  dispatched 
a  courier  across  to  Monterey,  intimating  to  Governor  Alvarado  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Cowlitz,  and  requesting  special  permission,  as  an  exception 
to  the  general  rule,  to  land  some  articles  of  merchandize  in  the  port  of 
San  Francisco  without  first  visiting  the  seat  of  government.  In  fact, 
the  overland  route  is  the  main  channel  of  communication  between  the 


1-,; 


>f 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


171 


two  placoH,  for,  to  say  notliii.T  of  tlio  want  of  vessels,  tne  sea  is  almost 
iinpracticablo,  wliori!  time  is  of  any  iniport:iin'e,  hy  reason  of  the  haf- 
llinjf  winds  and  currents;  and  the  same  rtsuli,  whether  from  the  same 
or  (iitlcrent  eauses,  has  been  exhibited  aloiiif  ti\e  whoh-  eoast  since  the 
days  of  Cortez  and  l*izarro,  an  unbroken  ehain  of  posts  having  ex- 
ten(l«;d,  in  the  times  of  Spanish  supremacy,  from  San  Francisco  in 
Cahfornia,  to  Rahlivia  in  Ciiili. 

Ilavinjj  eelel^raleil  JN'ew  Year's  day  to  the  best  of  our  ability,  we 
made  preparations  for  starting  on  Monday,  the  third  of  the  month,  to 
pay  our  respects  to  (Jeneral  \'alle<ro,  who  was  rcsidinir  at  the  mission 
ul  San  Francisco  Solano,  siluateil,  as  ah'caiiy  mentioned,  on  the  north- 
ern side  of  the  IJay  of  San  ]*eilro;  and  accordinuly,  at  nine  in  the 
uiorninfT  of  the  day  appointed,  we  left  the  Cowlitz  in  the  loufj  and  jolly 
boats,  accompanied  by  Mr.  H;ie,  and  also  by  Mr.  Forbes,  livinir  near 
the  mission  of  San  Jose  dc;  Uuadalupe,  and  acting,  in  that  nei^'hbor- 
liood,  as  an  ajrent  of  The  Hudson's  H;iy  Company,  to  whom  we  were 
much  indebted  during  our  stay,  not  only  for  his  general  politeness,  but 
also  for  Ills  special  assistance  as  interpreter. 

After  a  heavy  j)ull  of  some  hours  against  a  stifl'  breeze,  we  reached 
the  strait  which  communicates  between  Whaler's  Harbor  and  the  inner 
waters,  having  the  point  of  San  Pedro  on  our  left,  and  that  of  San  Pa- 
blo on  our  right;  and  as  we  here  found  the  tide,  as  w(!ll  as  the  wind, 
opposed  to  us,  we  were  oblisred  to  encamp  on  the  fornn-r  point  a  good 
while  before  it  was  dark.  The  place  of  our  encampment,  once  a  part 
of  the  lands  of  the  mission  of  San  Rafael,  was  now  the  property  of  an 
Irishman  of  the'namn  of  Murphy  ;  and,  as  we  had  started  without  any 
stock  of  provisions,  we  were  glad  to  lind  ourselves  the  guests  of  a 
gentleman,  who,  besides  our  claims  on  him  as  his  fellow-subjects,  had 
got  his  cattle  on  such  easy  terms.  Haviuu  made  up  our  minds,  therefore, 
to  share  with  Mr.  Murphy  in  the  spoils  of  the  church,  we  sent  out 
several  hunters  to  bring  home  a  bullock  for  our  supper;  but,  to  our 
great  mortilication,  we  were  less  successiul  in  plundering  our  host  than 
he  had  been  in  plundering  the  priests,  for  our  emissaries  iiad  not  been 
able  to  approach  within  shot  of  a  single  animal,  a  man  on  foot  being 
such  a  prodigy  in  this  land  of  laziness,  as  to  make  the  very  cattle 
scamper  ofl"  in  dismay.  In  addition  to  the  want  of  beef,  one  of  those 
heavy  fogs,  which  here  a  northwester  so  frequently  l)rings  in  its  train, 
enveloped  us  in  complete  darkness,  at  the  same  time  soaking  through 
our  clothes.  In  fact,  our  old  fortune,  whenever  we  slept  ashore,  seemed 
to  pursue  us  from  the  Columbia  to  San  Francisco. 

Timothy  Murphy,  who  unconsciously  plajiBd  the  part  of  so  inhos- 
pitable a  landlord  on  this  occasion,  resides  at  the  mission  of  San  Rafael 
as  administrator  on  behalf  of  General  Vallego,  to  whom,  as  one  of  the 
prime  movers  in  the  revolution  of  18,36,  there  fell  the  lion's  share  of 
prize-money  in  the  shape  of  the  two  nice  snuggeries  of  San  Rafael  and 
San  Francisco  Solano.  The  general,  who  shows  his  sagacity  by  sys- 
tematically allying  himself  with  foreigners,  selected  Mr.  Murphy  as  a 
fitting  mate  for  one  of  his  sisters,  the  prettiest  girl  of  the  family,  giving 
him  in  advance,  as  an  earnest  of  the  bargain,  the  management  of  San 


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172 


8AN    FRANCISCO. 


.1.1 


ii:  ] 


11 


II        il  ,  I!    I 


Uiifacl  with  :\  jrood  slicn  of  tho  booty  t\  )  U'.*i  f^wn  nriralo  use.  Tho 
lady,  however,  could  not,  or  would  not,  fsi  '*  imothy  ;  and  tho  ni:ii- 
tor  ended  by  tho  frcnoral's  ar(|uisilion  oi'  two  lonMpnevji  instead  of  one, 
Mr.  F^oesc  havinj,'  obtained  the  donna's  hand,  and  Mr.  Mur|)hy  haviMir 
kept  her  dowry.  Hut  the  jihcd  a(hniuiHira(h)r  i.s  not  without  his  share 
of  pleasant  society  in  tlu;  person  of  one  of  the  few  pri(?stsi  who  remained 
in  the  country  after  the  eoiiliscation  of  their  estal)li.shments.  I''ather 
Quijfas  is  one  of  thoise  jovial  souls  who  show,  that,  in  tlie  New  World 
as  in  tho  OUl,  power  and  wealth  are  more;  than  a  inatirh  for  monastic 
austerities;  nor  has  the  r(!nu)val  of  iIk;  eorruptiti}f  inlluences,  render«;d 
his  reverence  a  more  ri^id  observer  of  his  vows,  exeoptinfj  always 
(thanks  to  Murphy  and  V^allciro),  the  sinjrie  article  of  poverty.  'Ilu! 
two  friends  lately  le(|  each  otlusr  into  trouble  in  a  way  which  forcibly 
illustrates  tlu;  state  of  i2(ivernn>ent  in  jfeiu'ral  aiul  the  character  of  V^il- 
lej^o  in  particular.  As  the  bay  of  San  Pedro  is  separated  only  by  a 
ridge  of  frrv.vu  hills  from  the  valley  of  Santa  Rosa,  in  which  are  situ- 
ated the  settlements  of  llodcija  and  lloss,  ^^ur[)hy  and  Qui<i;as,  whetluT 
it  was  that  the  former  was  in  search  of  stray  bullocks,  or  that  the  lat- 
ter wished  to  ease  tho  schismatics  of  a  little  of  their  brandv,  fell  into 
the  snaro  of  visitinjr  the  Russians,  aj^ainst  all  rule  and  precedent.  The 
treason  soon  came  to  the  <Tcncrars  ears,  ami,  on  the  very  ovcninj^  after 
their  return,  the  delinquents  were  politely  invited  to  attend  at  head- 
quarters, by  a  Serjeant  and  five  troopers.  As  the  nifrlit  was  wet  and 
stormy,  they  tried  to  bribe  the  soldiers  with  their  best  faro  into  a  respite 
of  a  few  hours,  plead iufr  at  the  same  time  the  want  of  horses.  IJut 
while  the  serjcant  disclaimed  all  olTicial  knowledge  of  wind  and  weather, 
the  troopers  caught  tho  requisite  number  of  nags,  and  next  morning  the 
luckless  wights  were  thrown,  all  drenched  and  splashed,  into  the  gene- 
ral's culabozo  or  dungeon,  to  chew  the  cud,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  on 
the  contraband  hospitalities  of  IJodega  and  Ross.  So  much  for  the 
freedom  and  einiity  of  Califoniian  republicanism. 

Early  next  morning  we  got  under  way  with  a  breeze  from  the  south- 
east; and,  though  the  ebb-tide  was  sweeping  and  tumbling  through  the 
straits  like  a  rapid,  yet  we  succeeded  in  crossing  the  bay  to  the  entrance 
of  the  creek  of  Sonoma,  Avhich  here  flows,  as  do  several  other  creeks 
in  the  neighborhood,  through  one  of  the  fiats  or  marshes  so  common  on 
the  shores  of  the  inlet  of  San  Francisco.  AVe  toiled  up  the  windings 
of  this  stream  against  a  powerful  current,  looking  in  vain  for  a  dry  spot 
to  put  ashore,  tho  banks  being  so  low  that  they  are  regularly  overflowed 
at  high  tide;  and  it  was  six  in  tho  evening  before  we  reached  the  land- 
ing place,  distant  about*ten  miles  from  the  bay,  and  about  three  from 
the  mission.  Our  standing  lupk  here  stuck  to  us,  for  we  had  no  sooner 
pitched  our  tents  and  secured  our  baggage,  than  the  southeaster,  after 
the  day's  reprieve,  brought  down  its  usual  accompaniment  of  heavy 
rain.  Finding  an  Indian  at  the  landing-place,  we  dispatched  him  with 
a  note  to  the  general,  explaining  the  object  of  our  visit,  and  requesting 
the  favor  of  his  sending  us  horses  to  enable  us  to  pay  our  respects  to 
him  in  the  morning.  During  the  night  a  northwest  wind  had  taken  the 
place  of  our  southeaster,  bringing,  at  this  distance  from  the  ocean,  not 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


173 


the  chilly  fogH  of  the  coaBt,  but  bMuiiliilly  clear  wcatficr,  rrndercd 
perli:i|)H  iiuin!  ploasanl  by  tlu;  bracinif  air  of  a  sharp  frost. 

The  «uii,  however,  had  hardly  risen,  wlieii  the  air  became  aijreenbly 
warm;  and,  while  we  wt^re  iiiakiiiir  the  tiiosi  of  a  hjrht  breakfast,  the 
Ituhan  r(!lurned  with  a  polite  nie.ss;ij»e  from  tin;  general,  to  the  eO'ect 
that  horses  would  be  with  us  immediately.  In  fact,  before  he  had  well 
delivered  his  errand,  a  band  of  thirty  charjfers  came  in  sijrht,  and  soon 
afl<'r  a- still  birfjer  herd,  the  whole  escorted  by  a  Serjeant  and  two 
troopers,  with  a  rabijle  of  native  auxiliariivs.  Out  of  this  supply  nine 
or  ten  of  the  bj'st  lookinif  animals  were  (|uiekly  caii<,du  for  us  with  tho 
lasso ;  and  the  whole  of  the  motley  eavalca<le  now  proceeded  over  a 
rich  plain,  studded  with  sc;rid)-oak8  and  emi)osomed  within  well  wooded 
hills  of  considerable;  heijjht.  In  coiwecpjence  of  heavy  rains,  aiul  more 
particularly  of  the  burstinif  of  a  water-spout,  the  roads  were  Hooded, 
f)r  llie  plain  beinp^  low  and  l(!vel,  not  only  receives  far  more  than  its 
share;  of  whatever  I'alls,  but  also  retains  nearly  all  that  it  receives,  a 
circumstance  which,  however  inconvenient  to  the  traveler,  is  in  jreneral 
peculiarly  beneficial  to  agriculture.  In  fact,  so  dry  is  the  climate  dur- 
ing all  the  best  seasons  of  the  year,  that  the  valley  is  intersected  in 
every  direction  by  artificial  ditches,  which  are  fed  from  the  creek  for 
the  purpose  of  irrigation.  These  artificial  ditches,  by  the  by,  were 
the  first  symptom  of  human  energy  that  we  had  seen  in  California  ; 
but,  on  inquiry,  we  found  that  they  had  been  dug  under  the  direction 
of  the  priests,  by  the  reluctant  labor  of  the  converts. 

At  {Sonoma,  for  the  very  name  of  the  mission  has  been  secularized, 
we  were  received  by  the  firing  of  a  salute  and  the  hoisting  of  the 
colors,  the  former  mark  of  respect  being  complimentary  in  proportion 
to  the  scarcity  of  gunpowder  in  this  land  of  lassos.  Through  a  gate- 
way and  a  courtyard  we  ascended  a  half-linished  flight  of  steps  to  the 
principal  room  of  the  general's  liouse,  being  of  fifty  feet  in  length,  and 
of  other  dimensions  in  proportion.  Besides  being  disfigured  by  the 
doors  of  chambers,  to  which  it  appeared  to  be  a  passage,  this  apart- 
ment was  very  indifferently  furnished,  the  only  tolerable  articles  on 
the  bare  floor  being  some  gaudy  chairs  from  Woahoo,  such  as  the  na- 
tive islanders  themselves  often  make.  This  was  California  all  over, 
the  richest  and  most  influential  individual  in  a  professedly  civilized 
setUement,  obliged  to  borrow  the  means  of  sitting  from  savages,  who 
had  never  seen  a  white  man  till  two  years  after  San  Francisco  was 
colonized  by  the  Spaniards.  Here  we  were  received  by  Don  Salvador 
Vallego  and  Mr.  Leese,  our  host's  brother  and  brother-in-law ;  and 
immediately  afterwards  the  general,  being  somewhat  indisposed,  re- 
ceived us  very  courteously  in  his  own  chamber. 

General  Vallego  is  a  good-looking  man,  of  about  forty-five  years  of 
age,  who  has  risen  in  the  world  by  his  own  talent  and  energy.  His 
father,  who  was  one  of  the  most  respectable  men  in  California,  died 
about  ten  years  ago  at  Monterey,  leaving  to  a  large  family  of  sons  and 
daughters  little  other  inheritance  than  a  degree  of  intelligence  and 
steadiness  almost  unknown  in  the  country.  The  patrimonial  estate, 
such  as  it  was,  descended  to  the  eldest  son,  while  the  second,  now  the 


'H'  :ij 


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174 


SAN    FRANCISCO. 


}lll|]Nf:j, 


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Ik 


«■';! 


prop  of  the  name,  was  an  ensign  in  the  army  with  the  command  of  the 
Presidio  of  San  Francisco.  Havinj^  acquired  considerable  influence  in 
the  party,  which  styled  itself  democratic,  and  aimed  at  something  like 
iiKlcpendence,  he  was  promoted,  by  a  conciliatory  governor,  to  be 
( ommandant  of  the  frontier  of  Sonoma;  and  soon  afterwards,  taking 
advantage  of  this  same  governor's  death,  he  became  the  leader  in  the 
revolution  of  1836,  securing  for  a  nephew  of  the  name  of  Alvarado,  the 
office  of  civil  governor,  and  reserving  to  himself  the  important 'post  of 
commander  of  the  forces.  As  to  the  rest  of  the  family,  Don  Salvador 
became  a  captain  of  cavalry,  and  another  brother  was  made  adminis- 
trador  of  the  mission  of  San  Jose  de  Guadalupe,  while  the  girls  were 
married  oft",  most  of  them  to  foreigners,  with  a  shrewd  view  to  the 
strengthening  of  the  general's  inlltience.  In  addition  to  what  I  have 
already  said  as  to  the  power  and  value  of  foreigners,  the  revolution, 
which  has  made  Vallego  a  great  man,  was  brought  to  a  crisis  by  the 
spirited  conduct  of  an  individual  of  that  class.  The  insurgents  havin<r 
entered  the  Presidio  of  Monterey,  were  brought  to  a  stand  by  tlie 
Mexican  commandant's  refusal  to  surrender;  but  one  of  their  foreign 
associates,  after  apostrophizing  their  "eyes,"  and  ejaculating  something 
about  "humbug,"  loaded  a  gun  to  the  muzzle,  and  shot  oil'  part  of  the 
roof  of  the  commandant's  place  of  retreat,  a  hint  to  capitulate  which 
could  no  longer  be  misunderstood  or  neglected.  The  foreigners  were 
pretty  nearly  unanimous  in  favor  of  the  insurgents,  some  of  them  from 
the  love  of  a  row,  many  through  matrimonial  connections,  and  the 
Americans  in  the  hope  of  seeing  the  new  republic  hoist  the  stars  and 
stripes  of  the  Union. 

After  spending  about  half  an  ''our  with  our  host,  we  left  him  to  par- 
take of  a  second  breakfast,  at  whicii  wo  were  joined  by  the  ladies  of 
the  family.  First  in  honor  and  in  place  was  Senora  Vallego,  whoss; 
sister  is  married  to  Captain  Wilson  of  the  barque  Index,  an  honest 
Scot  from  "Bonny  Dundee;"  next  came  one  of  her  sisters-in-law,  who 
is  the  wife  of  Captain  Cooper  of  the  schooner  California,  and  resides 
at  Sonoma,  as  a  pledge  for  the  lidelity  of  the  provincial  navy ;  and 
lastly  followed  Mrs.  Leese  with  an  unmarried  sister,  and  Mrs.  Coop- 
er's daughter.  It  won't  be  the  general's  fault,  if  the  English  race  does 
not  multiply  in  California;  so  far  as  names  went,  we  might  have  sup- 
posed ourselves  to  be  in  London,  or  in  Boston.  In  front  of  Mr.  Leese, 
who  sat  at  the  head  of  the  table  as  master  of  the  ceremonies,  was  placed 
an  array  of  five  dishes,  two  kinds  of  stewed  beef,  rice,  fowls,  and  beans. 
As  all  the  cooking  is  done  in  out-houses,  for  the  dwellings,  by  reason 
of  the  mildness  of  the  climate,  have  no  chimneys  or  fire-places,  the 
dishes  were  by  no  means  too  hot,  whejj  put  on  the  table,  while,  by 
being  served  out  in  succession  to  a  party  of  about  twenty  people,  they 
became  each  colder  than  the  other,  before  they  reached  their  destina- 
tions. It  was  some  consolation  to  know  that  the  heat  must  once  have 
been  there,  for  everything  had  literally  been  seethed  into  chips,  the 
beans  or  frixoles  in  particular  having  been  first  boiled,  and  lastly  fri  d, 
with  an  intermediate  stewing  to  break  tlie  suddenness  of  the  transition. 
Then  every  mouthful  was  poisoned  with  the  everlasting  compound  of 


•% 


-!-3r 


SAN    FRANCISCO. 


175 


pepper  and  ^arlick;  and  this  repast,  be  it  observed,  was  quite  an  aristo- 
cratic specimen  of  the  kind,  for  elsewhere  we  more  than  once  saw,  in 
one  and  the  same  dish,  beef,  and  tongue,  and  pumpkin,  and  garlic,  and 
potatoes  in  their  jackets,  and  cabbage,  and  onions,  and  tomato,  and  pep- 
per, and  Heaven  knows  what  besides  ;  this  last  indefinite  ingredient 
being  something  more  than  a  mere  figure  of  speech,  considering  tliat 
all  the  cookery,  as  one  may  infer  from  the  expenditure  of  so  much 
labor,  is  the  work  of  native  drudges,  unwashed  and  uncombed.  When 
to  the  foregoing  sketch  are  added  bad  tea,  and  worse  wine,  the  reader 
has  picked  up  a  perfect  idea  of  Californian  breakfast,  Californian  din- 
ner, and  Californian  supper,  and  is  quite  able  to  estimate  the  sacrifice 
which  a  naturalized  John  IJuU  makes  for  the  pleasures  of  matrimony, 
and  the  comforts  of  Catholicism.  Such  varieties  as  cheese,  and  butter, 
and  milk,  and  mutton,  and  fish  are,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  here 
unknown;  even  game,  whether  of  the  land,  or  of  the  water,  is  at  a  dis- 
count not  only  as  a  matter  of  business,  but  also  as  an  object  of  amuse- 
ment; and  the  very  beef  has  been  parboiled  in  the  feverish  blood  of 
the  unfortunate  bullock,  first  heated  and  infuriated  by  the  chase,  and 
then  tortured  and  strangled  with  the  lasso. 

Immediately  after  breakfast,  our  horses  were  brought  to  the  door ; 
and  we  started  to  see  the  country,  accompanied  by  Don  Salvador,  and 
an  escort  of  three  or  four  soldiers.  We  first  ascended  a  steep  hill  at 
the  back  of  the  mission,  whence  we  obtained  an  extensive  view  of  the 
surrounding  region.  In  the  distance  there  lay  the  waters  of  the  mag- 
nificent harbor,  while  at  our  feet  stretched  a  plain,  for  it  exhibued 
nothing  of  the  valley  but  its  wall  of  mountains,  about  fifteen  miles  long 
and  three  broad.  This  plain  is  composed  of  alluvial  soil,  which  is  so  fer- 
tile as  to  yield  about  fifty  returns  of  wheat  ;  and  the  hills  present  abund- 
ance of  willow,  poplar,  pine,  chestnut,  and  cedar.  If  one  may  judge 
from  appearances,  this  valley  once  formed  an  arm  of  the  bay  of  San 
Pedro  ;  and,  in  fact,  the  whole  harbor,  in  remote  ages,  was  most  pro- 
bably an  inland  lake,  which  has  forced  its  way  to  the  ocean  through  the 
same  barrier  of  soft  rock,  which,  as  already  mentioned,  still  continues 
to  melt  into  the  tide. 

In  the  course  of  our  ride  we  saw  several  deer  on  the  road, — these 
animals  being  so  tame  as  often  to  approach  the  houses  in  large  herds. 
For  beasts  of  chase,  if  here  the  phrase  is  not  a  misnomer,  California 
is  a  perfect  paradise.  The  Californian  is  too  lazy  to  hunt  for  amuse- 
ment ;  and,  as  to  any  necessity  of  the  kind,  his  bullocks  supply  all  his 
wants,  excepting  that  the  red  deer  is  occasionally  pursued  on  account 
of  the  peculiar  hardness  and  whiteness  of  its  tallow.  Hence  the  num- 
ber of  wild  animals  is  very  considerable.  Beaver  and  otter  liave 
recently  been  caught  within  half  a  mile  of  the  mission  ;  and  there  are 
also  the  red  deer,  the  wild  goat,  the  bear,  the  panther,  the  wolf,  the  fox, 
iMi  rabbit,  &c. 

Having  descended  from  the  hill,  we  traversed  a  great  portion  of  the 
plain.  The  waterspout,  which  has  been  already  mentioned,  had  done 
i  great  deal  of  damage,  sv,  eeping  away  the  newly  sown  seed  from 
^several  large  fields  of  wheat.     1  heso  fields  had  been  highly  prized  by 


kM 


^, 


176 


SAN    FRANCISCO. 


IJjUlliTlr' 


the  general,  as  the  grain  had  been  procured  from  the  Cohimbia  River, 
and  was  superior  in  quality  to  his  own.  As  one  might  expect  from 
the  abundance  of  land,  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  indolence  of  the 
people,  agriculture  is  conducted  in  the  rudest  possible  way.  As  tho 
surface  of  the  plain  presents  so  few  obstacles  to  cultivation,  the  same 
land  is  never  cropped  for  more  tiian  two  successive  years ;  and  as 
Vallego's  farm  contains  from  five  hundred  to  six  hundred  acres,  he 
thus  annually  breaks  up  about  three  hundred  acres  of  wiiat  may  be 
called  wild  land,  either  fresh  from  the  hands  of  nature  or  refreshed  by 
rest.  In  the  fields,  that  had  been  stript  by  the  waterspout,  we  saw 
several  ploughs  at  work,  or  radier  at  what  expects  to  be  called  work 
in  this  country.  The  machine  consists  of  little  more  than  a  log  of 
wood  pointed  with  iron,  from  the  top  of  which  rises  in  a  sloping  direc- 
tion a.  long  pole  for  the  oxen,  while  an  upright  iiandle  for  the  plough- 
man is  fixed  to  the  unpointed  end  of  the  share,  or,  if  possible,  is 
formed  out  of  the  same  piece  of  timber  as  the  share  itself.  The  oxen, 
as  if  to  prevent  even  them  from  putting  forth  their  strength,  are  yoked 
by  the  horns ;  and,  considering  that  there  are  only  two  such  animals 
to  so  clumsy  a  piece  of  workmanship,  the  topsoil  alone  is  scratched  to 
a  depth  of  not  more  than  two  or  three  inches. 

Having  learned  from  us  during  our  excursion,  that  we  wished  to 
see  an  exhibition  of  the  lasso,  Don  Salvador  had  kindly  sent  back 
orders  to  make  the  requisite  preparations;  and  accordingly,  on  our 
return  to  the  mission,  we  found  everything  ready  for  action.  A  band 
of  wild  horses  had  been  driven  into  a  pen  or  coralle  of  very  strong 
build.  The  door  being  thrown  open,  Don  Salvador  and  one  or  two 
others  entered  on  horseback ;  and  the  former,  having  his  lasso  coiled 
up  in  his  hand,  swung  it  round  his  head  to  give  it  an  impetus,  and 
then,  with  a  dexterous  aim,  secured  in  the  noose  the  neck  of  a  fiery 
young  steed.  After  plunging  and  rearing  in  vain,  the  animal  was  at 
length  thrown  down  with  great  violence.  Soon,  however,  it  was  again 
on  its  legs  ;  and  its  captor,  having  attached  the  lasso  to  his  saddle-bow, 
dragged  it  tottering  out  of  the  coralle,  till,  with  eyes  starting  from  its 
head  and  nostrils  fearfully  distonded,  it  fell  panting  and  groaning  to  the 
ground.  The  lasso  being  now  slackened,  the  animal  regained  it*" 
breath,  and,  infuriated  with  rage,  started  away  at  its  utmost  speed. 
Don  Salvador,  of  course,  '^ollowing  at  an  equal  pace.  One  of  the 
assistants  now  spurred  forward  his  steed,  and,  overtaking  the  victim, 
seized  it  by  the  tail  with  his  hand  ;  and  at  length,  watching  a  favor- 
able moment,  he  threw  die  animal  by  a  jerk  to  the  earth  with  such 
force,  as  threatened  to  break  every  bone  in  its  body.  This  cruel 
operation  was  repeated  several  times,  till  we  begged  hard  that  the 
wretched  beast  should  be  released  from  farther  torture.  A  second 
horse  was  then  caught  and  thrown  down  in  a  manner  still  more  pain- 
ful. The  captor  suddenly  stopped  his  horse  when  at  full  gallop, 
which,  being  well  trained,  threw  its  weight  towards  one  side  in  expec- 
tation of  the  impending  jerk,  while  the  captive  steed  was  Instanta- 
neously pitched,  head  over  heels,  to  a  distance  of  several  yards. 

Cinel  as  the  sport  was,  we  could  not  but  admire  the  skill  of  the  CaU- 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


177 


I'ornians  in  the  management  of  their   horses.     One  of  the    people, 
whether  by  accident  or  design,  dropped  his  hisso,  of  which  the  other 
end  was  attached  to  a  wild  horse  in  full  career;  and,  following  till  ho 
came  up  with  it  as  it  trailed  on  the  ground,  he  stooped  to  it  from   his 
saddle  and  picked  it  up  without  slackening  his  pace  for  a  moment. 
But,  with  all  their  dexterity  and  experience,  the  riders  often  meet  with 
serious,  and  even  fatal,  accidents  by  being  thrown  from  their  horses. 
Don  Salvador  himself  had  had  his  full  share  of  this  kind  of  thing  :   he 
had  broken  two  ribs  and  fractured  both  his  thighs,  the  one  in  two 
places  and  the  other  in  thre(>,  so  tliat  he  had  now  very  little  left  in 
reserve  but  his    neck.      'J'here  is,  moreover,  one  peculiar  danger  to 
which  the  thrower  of  the  hisso  is  exposed.     The  saddle  of  the  country 
has  an  elevated  pummel,  round  which  the  lasso,  after  noosing  its  vic- 
tim, is  rapidly  twisted  ;  and,  in  this  operation,  the  captor  not  unfre- 
quently  sees  the  first  finger  of  his  right  hand  torn  oft"  in  an  instant. 
These  evils  are,  of  course,  often  aggravated,  by  the  want  of  proper 
assistance, — our  host's  present  indisposition  being  a  curious  instance 
of  this.     While  engaged  with  the  lasso,  the  general  had  dislocated  his 
iiip.     The  joint,  however,  was  replaced,  and  he  was  doing  tvoll,  till  he 
l)ruised  it  sligiitly.     lie  sent  a  messenger  to  the  only  pn  otitioner  at 
San  Francisco,  one  Bail  from  Manchester,  for  a  strengthening  plaster; 
hut  the  doctor,  who  sometimes  takes  doses  very  diflerent  from  those 
which  he  prescribes,  sent  by  mistake  a  blister  of  cantharides,  which, 
being  supposed  to  be  salutary  in  proportion  to  the  pain  of  its  applica- 
tion, was  allowed  to  work  double  tides  on  the  poor  general's  bruise  so 
as  to  turn  it  into  a  very  pretty  sore,  which  had  confined  him  to  his  bed. 
During  the  day,  we  visited  a  village  of  (iencral  Vallego's  Indians, 
about  three  hundred  in  number,  who  were  the  most  miserable  of  the 
race  that  I  ever  saw,  excepting  always  the  sh-.ves  of  the  savagj^s   )f  the 
northwest  coast.     Though  many  of  them  a.*    veil  formed  and  well 
grown,  yet  every  face  bears  the  imprors  of  ,;;(.;'  t^rty  jlJ  vvrctihedncss ; 
and  they  are,  moreover,  a  prey  to  several    )  a*i<;nan'  disea^os,  among 
which  an  hereditary  syphilis  ranks  h-;  t!it  predon'  iuiiit  scourge  alike 
of  old  and  young.     They  are  badly  clothed,  badly  lodged  and  badly 
*'ed.     As  to  clothing,  they  are  pretty  nviiilj   ia  a  state  of  n  ture;  as  to 
lodging,  their  hovels  are  made  of  boughs  \;;,i  'jd  with  bulus-hes  in  the 
form  of  beehives,  with  a  hole  in  the  tc['  tcr  a  chimne\  and  with  two 
holes  at  the  bottom  towards  the  northwest  and  the  southeast,  so  as  to 
enable  the  poor  creatures,  by  closing  them  in  turns,  to  exclude  both 
the  prevailing  winds :  and  as  to  food,  ihey  eat  the  worst  bullock's 
worst  joints,  with  bread  of  acorns  and  chestnuts,  whif  i  are  most  labo- 
riously and  carefully  prepared  by  pounding  and  rii-c    ;g  and  grinding. 
Though  not  so  recognised  by  the  law,  yet  they  are  thralls  in  all  but 
the  name ;  while,  borne  to  the  earth  by  the  toils  of  civilization  super- 
added to  the  privations  of  savage  life,  they  vegetate  raiiier  than  live, 
without  the  wish  to  enjoy  their  former  pastimes  or  the  skill  to  resume 
their  former  avocations.     This  picture,  which  is  a  correct  likeness  not 
only  of  General  Vallego's  Indians,  but  of  all  the  civilized  aborigines  of 
California,  is  the  only  remaining  monument  of  the  zeal  of  the  church 

PART  I. — 12 


178 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


j  i; 


.[    ;'i 


ill 


^"lii 


■Mi'i^'iii 


'p 


ml 


and  the  munificenoe  of  the  state.  Nor  is  the  result  very  diflerent  from 
what  ought  to  have  been  expected.  In  a  religious  point  of  view,  the 
priests  were  contented  with  merely  external  observances  ;  and  even 
this  semblance  of  Christianity  tliey  systematically  purchased  and  re- 
warded with  the  good  things  of  this  life,  their  very  first  step  in  the 
formation  of  a  mission  having  been  to  barter  maize-pottage,  by  a  kind 
of  regular  tarilT,  for  an  unconscious  attendance  at  church  and  the  repe- 
tition of  unintelligible  catechisms.  With  regard,  again,  to  temporal 
improvement,  the  priests,  instead  of  establishing  each  proselyte  on  a 
farm  of  his  own  and  thus  gradually  imbuing  liim  with  knowledge  and 
industry,  penned  tlie  whole  like  cattle  and  watched  them  like  children, 
at  the  very  most  making  them  eye-servants  dirough  their  dread  of  pun- 
ishment and  their  reverence  for  a  master.  In  truth,  the  Indians  were 
then  the  same  as  now,  excepting  tiiat  tliey  shared  more  liberally  in  the 
fruits  of  their  own  labor,  and  possessed  spirit  enough  to  enjoy  a  holi- 
day in  tlie  songs  and  dances  of  their  race.  The  true  tendency  of  the 
monkish  discipline  was  displayed  by  the  partial  emancipation,  whicii 
took  place,  as  alre;uiy  mentioned,  in  1825;  and,  when  the  missions 
were  conhscaied  in  1836,  the  proselytes,  almost  as  naturally  as  the 
cattle,  were  divided  among  the  spoilers,  eitlier  as  menial  drudges  or  as 
predial  serfs,  excepting  that  some  of  the  more  independent  among  them 
retired  to  the  wilderness  in  order,  as  the  sequel  will  show,  to  avenge 
their  wrongs  by  a  life  of  rapine.  These  sons  and  daughters  of  bond- 
age,— many  of  them  too  sadly  broken  in  spirit  even  to  marry, — are  so 
rapidly  diminishing  in  numbers  that  tliey  must  soon  pass  away  from 
the  land  of  their  fathers, — a  result  which,  as  it  seems  uniformly  to 
spring  from  all  the  conflicting  varieties  of  civilized  agency,  is  to  be  ulti- 
mately ascribed  to  the  inscrutable  wisdom  of  a  mysterious  providence. 
If  anything  could  render  such  a  state  of  things  move  melancholy,  it 
would  be  the  reflection  that  many  of  these  victims  of  a  hollow  civiliza- 
tion must  have  been  born  in  the  missions,  inasmuch  as,  even  at  San 
Francisco,  those  rsiablishments  had  taken  root  sixty  years  before  the 
revolution ;  and  it  was  truly  pitiable  to  hear  Vallego's  beasts  of  burden 
speaking  the  Spanish  language,  as  an  evidence  that  the  system,  wher- 
ever the  fault  lay,  had  not  failed  through  want  of  time. 

Previously  to  dressing  for  dinner  we  took  a  closer  survey  of  the 
buildings  and  premises.  The  general's  plan  seems  to  be  to  throw  his 
principal  edifices  into  the  form  of  a  square,  or  rather  of  three  sides  of 
a  square.  The  centre  is  already  filled  up  with  the  general's  own 
house,  flanked  on  one  side  by  a  barrack,  and  on  the  other  by  Don 
Salvador's  residence;  but  as  yet  the  wings  contain  respectively  only  a 
billiard-room  and  Mr.  Leese's  dwelling,  opposite  to  eacli  other.  On 
the  outside  of  this  square  are  many  detached  buildings,  such  as  the 
calabozo,  the  church,  &c.  The  calabozo  is  most  probably  a  part  of 
the  original  establishment,  for  every  mission  had  its  cage  for  refractory 
converts :  but  the  church,  which  even  now  is  large,  has  been  built  by 
Vallego,  to  replace  a  still  larger  one,  though  no  priest  lives  at  Sonoma, 
and  Father  Quigas  of  San  Rafael,  after  his  experience  of  the  dungeon, 
has  but  little  stomach  for  officiating  at  head-quarters. 


m 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


179 


All  the  buildinfTs  are  of  adobes,  or  unbaked  bricks,  which  are  ce- 
mented with  mud  instead  of  mortar  ;  and  in  order  to  protect  such  perish- 
able materials  from  the  rain,  besides  keepinir  off  tlio  rays  of  the  sun, 
the  houses  are  very  neatly  finished  with  verandalis  and  overhani;;in<]f 
eaves.  If  tolerably  protected  for  a  time,  the  walls,  which  are  generally 
lour  or  five  feet  thick,  become,  in  a  measure,  vitrified,  and  are  nearly 
as  durable  as  stone.  To  increase  the  expenditure  of  lahor  and  mate- 
rials, the  partitions  are  nearly  as  thick  as  the  outer  walls,  each  room  of 
anv  size  having  its  own  separate  roof — acircumstantu;  which  explained 
what  at  first  surprised  us,  the  great  length  and  breadth  of  the  apart- 
ments. 

At  this  season  of  the  year,  we  found  the  houses  very  comfortless,  in 
consequence  of  the  want  of  fire-places,  for  the  warmth  of  the  day  only 
rendered  us  more  sensible  of  the  chilliness  of  the  night.  'J'lie  Cali- 
ibrnians  remedy  or  mitigate  the  evil  by  the  ludicrous  makeshift  of 
wearing  their  cloaks;  and,  even  among  the  foreigners,  not  more  than 
two  or  three  dwellings  with  chimneys  will  be  found  from  one  end  of 
the  province  to  the  other. 

The  garrison  of  Sonoma  is  certainly  well  ofl^iccred,  for  the  general 
and  the  captain  have  only  thirteen  troopers  imder  their  eomniaiul;  this 
force  and  Prado's  corps,  if  they  could  only  get  I)alsas  enough  to 
otlect  a  junction,  forming  a  standing  army  of  ahout  twenty  men  for 
San  Francisco  alone.  The  absurdity  of  tlie  thing  consists  not  in  the 
luimber  of  soldiers,  for  they  are  sixteen  times  more  numerous  in  pro- 
portion than  the  army  of  the  United  States;  the  essential  folly  is  this, 
that  a  scattered  population  of  seven  thousand  men,  women  and  children 
should  ever  think  of  an  independence,  which  must  either  ruin  them  for 
the  maintenance  of  an  adequate  force,  or  expose  them  at  one  and  the 
same  time  to  the  horrors  of  popular  anarchy,  and  of  military  insubor- 
dination. If  one  may  judge  fiom  the  variety  of  uniforms,  each  of  the 
thirteen  warriors  constitutes  Jiis  own  regiment,  one  being  the  "Blues," 
another  the  "Bufls,'"  and  so  on;  and  as  they  are  all  mere  boys,  this 
r..  leus  of  a  formidable  cavalry  iias  at  least  the  merit  of  being  a  grow- 
ing one.  The  only  articles  common  to  the  whole  of  this  baker's  dozen 
ire  an  enormous  sword,  a  pair  of  nascent  moustachios,  deerskin  boots 
and  that  everlasting  serape  or  blanket  with  a  hole  in  the  middle  of  it 
for  the  head.  This  troop  the  general  turns  to  useful  account,  being 
clearly  of  opinion  that  idleness  is  the  very  rust  of  discipline;  he  makes 
them  catch  his  catde,  and,  in  short,  discharge  the  duty  of  servants  of  all 
work — an  example  highly  worthy  of  the  imitation  of  all  military  auto- 
crats. The  system,  however,  has  led  to  two  or  three  revolts.  On 
one  occasion,  a  regiment  of  native  infantry,  being  an  awkward  squad 
of  ffteen  Indians,  having  conspired  against  the  general,  were  shot  for 
'heir  pains;  and  more  recently  the  Californian  soldiers,  disdaining  to 
drive  bullocks,  were  caship''ed  on  the  spot,  and  replaced  by  new  levies. 
Hesid  's  the  garrison,  th.^  general  possesses  several  field-pieces  and  car- 
ronades,  which,  however,  are,  by  reason  of  the  low  state  of  the  ammu- 
nition, rather  ornamental  than  useful. 

There  is  a  small  vineyard  behind  the  house  of  about  three  hundred 


'iff 


':!t 


I'i  '•,■ 


■    h'fl! 


i^^' 


! 


li' '  ■ 


ft 


180 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


leet  square,  which,  in  the  days  of  the  priests:,  used  to  yield  about  one 
tliousand  gallons  of  wine.  The  general,  on  couiing  into  possession, 
replanted  tiie  vines,  wr.ich  bore  abundantly  in  the  third  season;  and 
now,  at  the  end  of  only  five  years,  they  have  just  yielded  twenty  bar- 
rels of  wine  and  four  of  spirits,  equal  to  sixteen  more  of  wine,  of  fifteen 
gallons  each,  or  about  five  hundred  and  forty  gallons  of  wine  in  all. 
'I'he  peaches  and  pears  also,  though  only  three  years  old,  were  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  feet  high,  and  had  borne  fruit  this  season.  In  short, 
almost  any  plant  might  here  be  cultivated  with  success.  During  the 
rihort  winter,  snow  is  never  seen,  excepting  occasionally  on  the  sum- 
mits ol'  the  highest  hills,  while  at  noon  the  heat  generally  ranges  from 
()5°  to  70°  in  tlie  shade ;  and,  in  summer,  the  average  temperature  of 
the  day  is  seldom  lower  than  90°.  As  tlie  northwest  fogs  do  not 
))enetrate  into  the  interior  more  than  fifteen  miles,  there  are,  in  fact, 
two  climates  at  San  Francisco;  and  Gener:\l  V^allego  has  chosen  the 
better  one  for  himself  as  also  for  his  brotlicr,  the  adininistrador  of  San 
•lose  de  Guadalupe. 

At  dinner,  the  general  made  his  appearance,  wrapped  in  a  cloak ;  and 
we  had  now  also  the  pleasure  of  being  introduced  to  the  Dowager 
Senora,  a:-  agreeable  dame  of  about  sixty;  and  we  could  not  help  en- 
vying the  old  lady  the  very  rare  luxury  of  being  immediately  surround- 
eil,  at  her  time  of  life,  by  ?>j  many  as  five  grown  sons  and  daughters. 
This  meal  was  merely  a  counterpart  of  the  breakfast — the  same  Mr. 
Leese,  the  same  stews,  the  same  frixoles,  and  the  same  pepper  and 
garlic,  with  the  same  dead  and  alive  temperature  in  every  morsel;  and 
the  only  difference  was  that,  as  we  were  a  little  better  appeUzed,  we 
took  more  notice  of  the  want  of  attendance,  the  only  servant,  besides 
my  own,  being  a  miserable  Indian,  dressed  in  a  shirt,  with  bare  legs 
and  cropped  hair.  Immediately  after  dinner,  the  ladies  retired,  the 
gentlemen  at  the  same  time?  going  out  for  a  stroll ;  but  soon  afterwards 
the  ladies  again  met  us  at  tea,  reinforced  by  one  or  two  of  the  more 
juvenile  donnas  of  the  establishment.  Dancing  was  now  the  order  of 
the  day.  Don  Salvador  and  one  of  his  troopers  played  the  guitar, 
while  we  were  "toeing  and  heeling  it"  at  ihe  fandango,  the  cotillon, 
ai  d  the  waltz.  The  scene  was  rather  peculiar  for  a  ball  room,  both 
gentlemen  and  ladies,  when  not  on  active  service,  smoking  furiously 
with  fully  morey  ii^  soi.u  cases,  than  the  usual  accompaniments. 

Among  the  persons  present  \v as  a  very  fierce,  punchy  little  man, 
enveloped  in  an  immense  cloak.  He  proved  to  be  no  less  a  personage 
than  Commandant  Prado  of  the  Presidio  of  San  Francis'^o,  successor, 
in  fact,  of  Vallego,  in  the  same  office  which  forni'^d  the  stepping-stone 
to  his  present  elevation.  Besides  having  been  engaged  in  many  skir- 
inishes  against  both  Californians  and  Indians,  he  has  had  several  nar- 
row escapes  with  his  life  in  private  brawls.  About  two  years  ago  a 
religious  festival  was  celebrated  at  the  mission  of  San  Francisco  de  los 
Dolores,  in  honor  of  the  patron  saint,  passing  through  ail  the  usual 
gradations  of  mass,  bull-fight,  supper,  and  ball.  In  the  course  of  the 
rvening,  Guerrero,  die  steward  of  the  mission,  stabbed  Prado  with  the 
ever  ready  knife,  for  presuming  to  interpose  in  an  altercjition  between 


hi 
sc 
a( 
sa 
a 

01 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


181 


le  man, 

rsonage 
ccessor, 
ig-stone 

y  skir- 
ral  nar- 

s  ago  a 
(le  los 

e  usual 
of  the 

^ith  the 

etween 


him?  ^f  and  his  mistress;  but  the  corpulent  commandant  was  n^  vo  je 
so  easily  run  through,  for,  though  breadth  of  beam  is  not  generally  an 
advantage  to  a  soldier,  yet,  on  this  occasion,  Prado's  fat  did  succeed  in 
saving  his  bacon.  Such  a  termination  of  a  religious  festival  is  so  much 
a  matter  of  course,  that  at  one,  which  took  place  a  few  months  back, 
one  of  Prado's  numerous  enemies  came  up  to  him,  and  drawing  his 
knife,  said,  "  What !  here's  daylight  and  no  one  yet  stabbed!"  and  it  re- 
quired all  the  influence  of  Vallego,  who  happened  to  be  present,  to  nip 
so  very  promising  a  quarrel  in  the  bud.  On  such  occasions  the  cloak 
is  often  invaluable  as  a  shield ;  and  in  fact,  when  both  parties  are  on 
their  guard,  there  is  commonly  far  more  of  noise  than  of  mischief. 

Our  evening,  however,  passed  over  most  amicably  and  agreeably, 
winding  up,  after  several  other  songs,  with  "Auld  Lang  Syne,"  in 
whicii  the  Californians  joined  the  foreigners  very  heartily;  so  that,  as 
next  day  was  old  Christmas,  I  could  have  almost  fancied  that  I  was 
welcoming  "Auld  Yule"  in  the  North  of  Scotland. 

On  the  morning  of  the  sixth  we  left  the  mission  about  seven  o'clock, 
under  a  pretty  heavy  rain,  to  the  great  surprise  of  its  amiable  and  hos- 
pitable inmates.  We  breakfasted  at  the  landing-place  on  the  site  of 
our  old  camp,  after  which  we  made  our  way  to  the  moutii  of  the  creek 
with  the  ebb-tide;  but  as  the  wind  was  blowing  hard  from  the  south- 
east, w?  could  not  face  the  bay,  and  were  obliged  to  retrace  our  steps, 
encampirg  for  the  lliird  time  at  the  landing-place,  after  nearly  a  whole 
day's  exposure  and  toil.  In  all  the  course  of  my  traveling,  I  never  had 
occasion  to  go  so  far  in  search  of  an  encampment  as  1  did  this  day ; 
but  between  our  encampment  ami  tlie  bay,  there  really  was  not  a  single 
spot  wliere,  even  in  the  direst  necessity,  we  could  have  obtained  a 
footing.  The  banks  of  the  creek  were  a  mere  marsh,  and  we  saw  and 
heard  thousands  upon  thousands  of  cranes,  geese,  ducks,  curlew,  snipe, 
plover,  heron,  &c.  These  birds  enjoy  a  perpetual  holiday.  They,  of 
course,  are  quite  safe  from  the  lasso;  and  so  long  as  the  Californians 
can  get  beef  without  gunpowder,  they  are  not  likely  to  expend  it  on 
any  less  profitable  quarry. 

By  next  morning  the  wind  had  returned  to  tlie  northwest.  We  ac- 
cordinojly  got  under  way  at  six  o'clock  ;  and,  after  a  pleasant  run  down 
the  creek,  we  stood  across  the  bay  of  San  Pedro,  passed  our  old  en- 
campment on  Murphy's  estate,  and,  at  four  in  the  afternoon,  arrived  in 
safety  on  board  of  the  Cowlitz. 

It  liad  been  our  intoniioii,on  this  trip,  to  have  visited  Captain  Sutter, 
the  purchaser,  as  already  mentioned,  of  the  Russian  American  Com- 
pany's stock  in  Ross  and  Hodega,  who  had  settled,  under  the  sanction 
of  the  government,  on  the  banks  of  the  Sacramento;  l^n.t,  as  this  pro- 
longation of  our  excursion  would  have  occupied  us  at  leust  eight  or  ten 
days,  we  were  reluctantly  obliged  to  return  without  beating  up  the  Cap- 
tain's quarters.  Besides  having  thus  lest  the  opportiinity  of  seeing  a 
litde  of  the  interior,  we  had  reasons  of  a  less  roni;u.,.i-  character  for 
regretting  our  disappointment,  as  Sutter,  a  man  of  a  speculative  turn 
and  good  address,  had  given  to  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  in  com- 
mon with  many  others  less  able  to  pay  ibr  the  compliment,  particular 


4;^ 


M\ 


182 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


■I'ii' 


'k\ 


'm 


!)  'V 


{rronnds  for  takinfjf  an  interost  in  his  welfare  and  prosprrily.  He  was 
imdcrstood  to  have  served  in  the;  hody-fjuard  of  Charles  the  T(!nth,  and 
to  have  emigrated,  after  the  three  f^iorious  days  of  ISIIO,  to  the  United 
States — a  country  wliieh,  by  its  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  ofrcrs  far 
more  powerful  inducements  to  French  enterprise  than  any  one  of  the 
ricketty  colonies  of  the  grand  nation.  He  had  successively  tried  his 
fortune  in  St.  Louis,  among  the  Shawnee  Indians,  in  the  Snake  Coun- 
try, on  the  Columbia  River,  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  at  Sitka,  and  at 
San  Francisco,  uniformly  illustrating  the  proverb  of  the  rolling  stone, 
but  yet  generally  contriving  to  leave  anxious  and  inquisitive  friends 
behind  him.  He  was  now  living  on  a  grant  of  land  about  sixty  miles 
long  and  twelve  broad,  trapping,  larmi ng,  trading,  bullying  the  govern- 
ment, and  letting  out  Indians  on  hire — being,  in  short,  in  a  fairer  way 
of  figuring  in  the  world  as  a  territorial  potentate  than  his  royal  patron's 
heir,  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux.  If  Sutter  really  has  the  talent  and  the 
courage  to  make  the  most  of  his  position,  he  is  not  uidikcly  to  render 
California  a  second  Texas.  Even  now,  the  Americans  only  want  a 
rallyinff  point  for  carrying  into  effect  their  theory,  that  the  English  race 
is  destined  by  "right  divine"  to  expel  the  Spaniards  from  their  ancient 
seats — a  theory  which  has  already  begun  to  develop  itself  in  more  ways 
than  one.  American  adventurers  have  repeatedly  stolen  cattle  and 
horses  by  wholesale,  with  as  little  compunction  as  if  they  had  merely 
helped  themselves  to  an  instalment  of  their  own  property.  American 
trappers  have  frequently  stalked  into  the  Californian  towns  with  their 
long  rides  ready  for  all  sorts  of  mischief,  practically  setting  the  govern- 
ment at  defiance,  and  putting  the  inhabitants  in  liodily  fear;  and,  in 
18.36,  the  American  residents,  as  also  some  of  the  American  skippers 
on  the  coast,  supported  the  revolution  in  the  hope  of  its  merely  trans- 
ferring California  from  Mexico  to  the  United  States.  Now,  for  foster- 
ing and  maturing  Brother  Jonathan's  ambitious  views,  Captain  Sutter's 
establishment  is  admirably  situated.  Besides  lying  on  the  direct  route 
between  San  Francis(!0  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Missouri  and  the  Wil- 
lamette on  the  other,  it  virtually  excludes  the  (Jaliforniaiis  from  all  tin- 
best  parts  of  their  own  country,  the  valleys  of  the  San  Joachin.  tiic 
Sacramento  and  the  Colorado.  Hitherto  the  Spaniards  have  contined 
themselves  to  the  comparatively  barren  slip  of  laud,  varying  from  ten  to 
I'orty  miles  in  width,  which  lies  between  the  ocean  and  the  first  range 
of  mountains  ;  and  beyond  this  slip  they  will  never  penetrate  with  their 
present  character  and  their  present  force,  if  Captain  Sutter,  or  any  other 
adventurer,  can  gather  rouml  him  a  score  of  such  marksmen  as  won 
Texas  on  the  field  of  San  Jacinto.  But  this  is  not  all,  for  the  Ameri- 
cans, if  masters  of  the  interior,  will  soon  discover  that  ihey  have  a 
natural  right  to  a  maritime  outlet;  so  that,  whatever  may  be  the  fate  of 
Monterey,  and  the  more  southerly  ports,  San  Fr.ui  iseo  will,  lo  a  moral 
aertainty,  sooner  or  later  fall  into  the  possession  of  Americans ;  the  only 
possible  liiodo  of  preventing  such  a  result,  beiuii  the  previous  occupa- 
tion of  the  port  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain.  Eniilisli,  in  some  sense 
or  other  of  the  word,  the  richest  portions  of  California  must  become — 
either  Great  Britain  will  introduce  her  well  regulated  freedom  of  all 


SAN    FRANCISCO. 


183 


■tj 


classes  ami  rolors,  or  thn  people  of  the  United  States  will  inundate  the 
country  with  their  own  pocnliar  mixture  of  helpless  hondai;e  ami  lawU'ss 
insubordination.  Uetween  twosueh  alternatives  the  Caliiornians  them- 
selves have  little  room  for  choice;  and,  even  if  there  were  ifround  for 
hesitation,  they  would,  I  am  convinced,  liiul  in  their  actual  experience 
sunici(!nt  reason  for  decidini;  in  favor  of  th(>  IJritish,  for  they  especially 
and  emphatically  complain  that  the  Americans,  in  their  mercantile  deal- 
iiil,'s,  are  too  wideawake  for  such  drowsy  customers  as  would  rather  ho 
cheated  at  once  than  |>rotect  themselves  by  any  unusual  expenditureof  vigi- 
lance and  caution.  tSo  much  as  to  Captain  Sutter's  history  and  prospects. 
On  our  return  to  Verba  IJuena,  we  made  arransiements  with  Don 
Francisco  (iuevrero,  already  mentioned  in  conn(!ction  with  command- 
ant Prado,  for  visitinjj  him  at  the  luission  of  San  Francisco,  the  oldest 
establishment  of  the  kind  on  the  bay  and  the  nearest  to  our  anchorajre. 
This  •rentleirian,  who  had  been  steward  of  the  mission  till  the  protrress 
of  pilla<re  and  dilapidation  rendered  stewardship  unnecessary,  now  re- 
sided here  as  an  alcalde  for  the  neicrhborin<r  district,  as  one  of  die  local 
orjrans  for  the  administration  of  Californian  justice.  In  California,  and, 
1  believe,  throughout  Spanish  America,  the  judicial  system  is  rotten  to  the 
core.  Even  the  fundamental  distinction  between  executive  and  judiciary 
is  practically  unknown.  In  cases  of  real  or  fictitious  importance,  the 
alcalde  reports  to  the  prefe(;t  ol"  his  district,  the  prc^feet  to  the  governor 
of  the  province,  and  the  governor  to  the  central  authorities  of  Mexico; 
and,  while  all  this  tedious  process  advances  at  a  Spanish  pace,  the  ac- 
cused party,  even  if  innocent,  is  enduring,  in  some  dungeon  or  other, 
a  degree  of  mental  torture  more  than  adequate,  in  most  instances, 
to  the  expiation  of  his  alleged  guilt.  But  this  is  only  a  small  part 
of  tiic  evil.  The  ordinary  result,  when  time  and  tide  have  done 
liioir  worst,  is  a  rescript  either  for  dismissing  or  for  punishing  without 
trial,  perhaps  for  punishing  the  innocent  and  for  dismissing  the  guilty  ; 
so  that  the  system,  to  say  nothing  of  the  hardships  of  individual  cases 
of  oppression,  utterly  fails  in  the  grand  end  and  aim  of  every  penal 
code,  the  identifying  of  crime  andsulTering  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 
Frequendy,  however,  the  subordinate  tunctionaries,  under  the  inlluence 
of  personal  feelings,  such  as  caprice,  or  vindictiveness,  or  indignation, 
or  love  of  popularity,  pronounce  and  execute  judgment  on  their  own 
responsibdity,  exhibiting  just  about  as  much  equity  and  impartiality  as 
might  be  expected  in  a  country,  where  there  is  neither  a  professional 
bar  nor  a  free  press,  where  education  is  hardly  known,  and  government 
exists  only  in  name,  where  the  law  is  scarcely  distinguished  from  the 
judge,  and  evidence  is  generally  confounded  with  suspicion.  Thus  a 
prefect  of  the  name  of  Castro,  beinc:  informed  that  a  man  had  murdered 
his  wife  in  a  fit  of  jealousy,  caused  the  otlender  to  be  instantly  de- 
stroyed under  this  sentence  :  "  Let  him  be  taken  out  and  shot  before  mu 
blood  cools  y^  and  a  commandant  of  the  name  of  Garaletta  similarly 
disposed  of  a  person  suspected,  but  not  convicted,  of  n)urder,  on  the 
curiously  cumulative  principle,  that  he  had  once  before  been  accused 
of  another  crime  of  the  same  dye.  It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  this 
system  is  rendered  better  or  worse  by  the  occasional  inability  of  the 


184 


^' 


SAN   FRANCESCO. 


:i:i;;r''^: 


govcrnincnt  to  carry  into  effect  even  its  own  ideas  of  justice.  Pre- 
viously to  the  successful  revolution  of  1830,  an  abortive  attetupt  of  the 
kind  had  been  excited  by  O  rnor  Victoria's  havinj(  coixUimned  a 
man  to  be  executed  for  tlu;  niurdcjr  of  his  child  ;  and,  in  1837,  when 
the  foreijrn  residents  of  the  l'uebl.>  de  los  An^elos  carried  before  Go- 
vernor Alvarado  some  wret(!hcs,  who  ha!  ronfesseil  the  murder  of  a 
(Jcrman,  they  received,  and  fidfilled  as  v.c!'  is  recei\ 'il,  this  unique 
commission  of  oyer  and  terminer  :  "  I  have  not  sutlicieni  I'orce  to  carry 
the  law  into  execution  against  them  ;  but,  if  you  have  evidence  of  their 
crime,  do  as  you  consider  right."  To  return,  in  conclusion,  to  our 
friend  (iuerrero,  the  reader  must  now  understand  jMotty  clearly  what 
sort  of  a  magistrate  an  alcalde  is  in  California.  'I'hc  word  is  of  orien- 
tal origin,  being  part  of  the  legacy  left  by  the  Moors  in  Spain,  while, 
true  to  his  order,  the  Californian  alcalde  resembles  the  Turkish  cadi 
as  closely  on  most  other  points  as  in  name. 

On  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  tenth  of  the  month,  Guerrero's 
horses  were  in  attendance ;  and  a  pleasant  ride  of  three  miles  over 
some  sandy  hills,  covered  M'ith  the  dwarf  oak  and  the  strawberry  tree, 
brought  us  to  the  mission  of  San  Francisco.  In  the  case  of  San  Fran- 
cisco Solano,  the  remains  of  the  original  establishment  had  been 
replaced  or  eclipsed  by  the  more  ambitious  buildings  of  General  Val- 
lego;  but  here  one  wilderness  of  ruins  presented  nothing  to  blend  the 
promise  of  tlie  future  with  the  story  of  the  past.  This  scene  of 
desolation  had  not  even  the  charm  of  antiquity  to  grace  it,  for,  as  it  was 
only  in  1776  that  the  mission  was  founded,  the  oldest  edifice,  that  now 
crumbled  before  us,  had  not  equaled  the  span  of  human  life,  the  age  of 
three-?coie  years  and  ten ;  and  yet,  when  compared  with  tiie  stubborn 
piles  wliich  elsewhere  perish  so  gradually  as  to  exhibit  no  perceptible 
change  iv,  a  single  generation  of  men,  these  ruins  had  attained  a  state  of 
decay  which  would  have  done  credit  to  the  wind  and  weather  of  centuries. 
Oddly  enough  the  endemic  laziness  of  the  country  had,  in  this  instance, 
run  ahead  of  Old  Time  with  his  jog-trot  and  his  scythe,  and  had  done 
his  work  for  him  at  a  smarter  pace  and  with  more  formidable  tools. 
In  plain  English,  the  indolent  Californians  had  saved  themselves  a  vast 
deal  of  woodsman's  and  carpenter's  labor  by  carrying  off  doors  and 
windows  and  roofs,  leaving  the  unsheltered  adobes,  if  one  may  name 
small  things  with  great,  to  the  fate  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon.  But 
these  good  Catholics  did  set  a  limit,  and  that,  too,  a  characteristic  one, 
to  their  sacrilege.  They  could  appropriate  the  cattle,  and  dismantle 
the  dwellings  of  the  missions,  robbing  both  priests  and  proselytes  of 
what  they  had  earned  in  common  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows ;  but 
they  respected  the  churclies  with  a  superstitious  awe,  even  after  they 
had  degraded  them  into  baubles  by  the  expulsion  at  once  of  the  pas- 
tors and  their  flocks.  They  left  the  mint  and  the  anise  and  the  cum- 
min untouched,  but  trampled  on  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law  ;  they 
reverenced  the  altar  but  disclaimed  the  mercy  of  which  it  was  the 
emblem.  Of  this  hollow  t^how,  however,  the  friars  should  parUy  bear 
the  blame.  It  was  an  external  religion  that  they  had  taught :  they  had 
sown  the  wind  and  were  reaping  the  whirlwind.  , , 


SAN    FRANCISCO. 


185 


r  justice.  Prr- 
i!  atleriipt  of  the 
f  (M)n(l(!mned  a 

in  1837,  when 
ried  before  Go- 
lie  murder  of  a 

'  d,  this  unique 
ii  force  to  carry 
vidence  of  their 
itlusion,  to  our 
ty  clearly  what 
^ord  is  of  orien- 
in  Spain,  while, 
e  Turkish  cudi 

nth,  Guerrero's 

liree  miles  over 

5trawl)erry  tree, 

se  of  San  Fraii- 

inent  had   been 

)f  General  Val- 

in<;f  to  blend  the 

This   scene  of 

it,  for,  as  it  was 

idifice,  that  now 

I  life,  the  age  of 

ith  the  stubborn 

no  perceptible 

tained  a  state  of 

ler  of  centuries. 

n  this  instance, 

and  had  done 

rmidable  tools. 

mselves  a  vast 

ofT  doors  and 

one  may  name 

Babylon.     But 

racteristic  one, 

and  dismantle 

proselytes  of 

ir  brows ;  but 

ven  after  they 

ice  of  the  pas- 

and  the  cum- 

the  law ;  they 

h  it  was  the 

Id  partly  bear 

ght :  they  had 


In  former  days  tliere  resided  here,  besides  the  priests  and  Holdiers, 
about  seven  hundred  doniesticated  converts,  of  whom  we  «aw  only 
three  naked,  dirty,  miserable  creatures.  In  i77(J,  liie  mjssion  had  com- 
Mienced  operations  with  five  cattle,  the  ancestors  of  the  tliousaml  herils 
that  now  crowd  the  shores  of  the  bay;  but,  lowarils  the  close  of  its 
career,  it  had  actjuired  aI)out  lifleen  thousand  descendants  of  the 
original  stock  for  its  own  single  share,  bcsid('s  coiisi(k'ral)!e  (locks  of 
sheep  and  large  bands  of  horses.  When  times  of  trouble,  however, 
arrived,  the  priests,  as  I  have  already  stated  in  a  general  way,  so  suo 
cessfully  forestalled  the  spoilers  by  killing  oil  their  animals,  that  the  first 
administrador  of  the  mission  of  San  Francisco  came  into  possession  ol 
not  more  than  five  thousand  cuttle;  and  this  number  has  been  since 
reduced  to  about  three  hundred,  that  are  now  running  wild  on  the  hills. 

Priests,  cattle,  sav.ages  ami  dwellings  had  all  vanished.  Nor  were 
llie  spiritual  results  of  the  sysl<  more  conspicuous  than  its  material 
fruits,  consisting,  as  they  did,  >  .ulhing  but  a  negative  ven(!ration  for 
the  ornaments  and  appendages  of  a  deserted  plac(!  of  worship. 

Hut  the  mission,  though  dead,  still  spake  through  its  interesting 
associations.  As  I  had  perused,  during  our  tedious  voyage  in  the 
Cowlitz,  Forbes's  History  of  California,  with  its  many  curious  details 
in  the  shape  of  the  authentic  records  of  the  estal)lishments,  every  object 
in  the  present  solitude,  not  even  excepting  the  mouldering  adobe,  had 
its  own  tale  to  tell  of  the  motley  life  of  bygone  days.  In  making  the 
tour  of  the  ruins,  we  lirst  entered  the  apartment  in  which  the  priests 
took  their  meals  and  rec(Mved  visits, — two  branches  of  business  which 
they  understood  to  perfection.  'I'o  say  nothing  of  the  grand  staples 
of  beef  and  frixoles,  their  tables  groanerl  under  a  profusion  of  mutton, 
fowls,  vegetables,  fruits,  bread,  pastry,  milk,  butter  and  cheese,  of  every- 
thing, in  short,  which  a  prolific  soil  and  an  almost  tropical  climate 
could  be  made  to  yield  to  industry  and  art;  and  as  tlieir  dining-room 
was  connected  with  their  kitchen  l)y  a  small  closet,  which  served 
merely  to  intercept  the  grosser  peruimes,  they  had  evidently  known, 
contrary  to  modern  use  and  wont,  how  to  heighten  the  zest  of  these 
good  things  by  attacking  them  hot  and  racy  from  the  fire,  and  cooling 
them,  if  necessary,  for  tliemselves  with  the  juice  of  their  own  grapes. 
These  were  the  times  for  traveling  in  California.  Besides  its  agreeable 
society  and  its  hospital)le  board,  every  mission  was  more  ready  than 
its  neighbor  to  supply  the  stranger  with  guides,  and  horses  and  pro- 
visions, whether  for  visiting  the  immediate  neighborhood,  or  for  prose- 
cuting his  journey  through  the  province ;  and,  if  one  did  not  look  too 
critically  below  the  surface,  tiie  contrast  between  the  untamed  savages 
and  the  half-civilized  converts  could  harcUy  fail  to  complete,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  hasty  wayfarer,  a  kind  of  terrestrial  paradise.  Witness  Langs- 
dorfTs  artless  picture,  drawn  from  the  life,  in  18UG,  of  the  placid  exist- 
ence of  the  presidency  and  missions  of  the  Harbor  of  San  Francisco. 
Passing  through  the  dining-room,  we  were  conducted  into  a  square 
surrounded  with  buildings,  in  which,  to  say  nothing  of  less  important 
avocations,  the  natives  used  to  be  employed  in  manufacturing  the  wool 
of  the  establishment  into  blankets  and  coarse  cloths,  their  wheels  and 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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Hiotographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  UStO 

(716)  873-4503 


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186 


SAN    FRANCISCO. 


■"n^Br 


1 1  r< 

Is 


looms  haviiifr  bopii  made  by  tlicnisclvps  tindor  the  dirrction  of  llirir 
zealous  teachers,  who  had  derived  their  know  Mediae  on  th(!  stdijeet  Irdiii 
hooiis.  It  was,  ill  laet,  ehiedy  by  means  of  hooks  thai  the  mission- 
jiries  had  eontrived  to  ovoreome  all  th(!  didieulties  of  their  isolated  posi- 
tion, from  the  preparinif  of  tin-  adoltes  to  the  deeoratinirof  the  churches, 
from  the  eonstriietinjf  of  the  plough  to  the  hakiiiif  of  the  bread,  frum 
the  sheariiit:  of  the  sheep  to  the  iMliinif  of  the  web.  Hut,  in  addition 
to  tludr  iniiemiity  in  planninjr,  they  toiled  more  diliirently  than  any  el 
their  unwillinif  assistants  in  the  actual  execution  of  their  various  labors, 
strivinir  "Jt  the  same  time  to  render  their  drudifC'rv  morally  available  as 
an  exam])le.  Thus,  for  instance,  did  the  astute  and  indefaliualilc 
fathers  temper  the  mud  with  measured  steps  and  merry  ditties  in  onler 
to  bejruilc,  if  possible,  their  indolent  and  simple  ]»upils  into  useful  labor 
by  the  attractions  of  the  sonir  and  the  danci'.  'J'he  praise  of  all  this, 
liowever,  shoidd,  in  a  great  dejiree,  be  awarded  to  the  Jestiits,  who. 
before  they  were  supplanted  by  the  Franciscans,  had  covered  the  sterile 
rocks  of  Lower  California  with  the  monunu'nts,  ai^ricultural  and  arclii- 
tectural,  and  economical,  of  their  j)atience  and  aptitude,  not  only  leaviiii: 
to  their  successors  apposite  models  and  tolerable  workmen,  but  also 
l)cquealhin!i  to  them  the  invaluable  lesson  that  nothing  was  impossiltic 
to  eiKTiry  and  perseverance.  Still  the  system,  in  spite  of  all  the  sacri- 
fices of  the  two  foremost  ord(!rs  of  the  Romish  ('hurch,  was  but  a  show, 
in  which  the  puppets  ceased  to  dance  when  the  wire-j)idler8  were  with- 
drawn; it  was  a  body  without  a  soul  of  its  own,  which  could  move 
only  by  the  infusion  of  extraneous  life;  it  was,  in  a  word,  tj'pified  by 
its  own  adobe,  which  nq^liinir  but  constant  care  and  attention  eoulil 
prevent  from  returninjr  to  its  elementary  dust. 

From  the  factory  we  went  to  the  church.  This  was  a  large  edifice, 
almost  as  plain  as  a  barn  excepting  in  front,  where  it  was  prettily 
finished  with  small  c(duinus,  on  which  was  hun<r  a  peal  ol' bells.  The 
interior,  however,  of  the  building  presented  a  prodigality  of  ornament. 
'J'he  ceiling  was  painted  all  over;  tin!  walls  were  covered  with  pictures 
and  pieces  of  sculpture  ;  and  tlu;  altar  displayed  all  the  appointments 
of  the  Romish  service  in  a  style,  which,  for  this  country,  might  well 
be  characterized  as  gorgeous.  liven  to  our  I'rotestant  tastes  the 
general  efieet  was  considerably  heightetu'd  by  the  "  dim  religious 
light"  of  two  or  three  narrow  windows,  which  themselves  appeared  to 
be  buried  in  the  recesses  of  a  wall  betw(>en  five  an«l  six  leet  thick. 
The  church,  as  I  have  already  said,  remained  in  perleet  preservation 
amidst  the  contrast  of  the  surrounding  ruins  ;  ami  considering  the 
solidity  of  the  walls,  which,  to  say  nothing  of  their  thickness,  had 
become  vitrified  by  time,  it  could  hardly  In;  destroyed  in  any  otiici" 
way  than  by  the  removal  of  its  roof.  This  church  is  sometimes,  Init 
not  often,  opened  by  Father  Quigas  of  San  Rafael,  or  by  the  priest  of 
Santa  Clara.  Thus  have  the  zeal  and  industry  of  the  fathers  becomi' 
useless  alike  to  Californians  and  Indians.  Hut,  with  respect  to  tlMso 
deserted  places  of  worship,  the  mere  erection  of  the  sacred  edifice 
formed  a  small  part  of  th(>  exertions  of  the  missionaries.  The  harder 
task  was  to  fill  them  with  reverential   listeners,  more  parlieidarly  in 


SAN    FRANCISCO. 


187 


rarlv  timrs.  TiVPii  afirr  conscntiui:,  lor  a  coiisidrralinu.  to  swrll  tlm 
iiMislrr-roll  of  llic  llock,  the  savajrcs  rrc(jiiriitly  iii(luI<r(Ml  in  noisy  ridi- 
cule ;  :in;i  an  niitliciilii"  anccdotf  is  lold  ol' (mh' of  the  Jesuits,  who, hcinjr 
a  stalwart  I'l'lluw,  t'ircctiially  put  the  wliulc  of  his  conijrciralioii  on  ihcir 
hfst  behaviour  hy  sci/iiiLr  <>ne  iiJL^autie  seolUr,  who  was  in  iVont  of  th(^ 
liiijr  desk,  l>y  the  hair  n|'  his  head,  and  swiiiirin!.'  him  to  and  fro  i 


rcat 


n 


the  sisrht  of  his  astiiuishi'd  coiiij)  niinus. 

In  the  vicinity  of  the  ehureii  was  formerly  situated  the  u;arden,  which, 
Ix'iiisr  within  the  ordinary  rauL'c  of  the  northw«'st  fof^s,  had  always 
lieen  inferior  to  the  L'^anlens  of  the  more  inland  missions.  It  was  now 
choked  with  weeds  and  hushes  ;  and  tin;  walls  w(>re  hroken  down  in 
many  places,  tlioUi.di,  hy  a  eharacteristie  oxerlion  ol Californian  indus- 
irv,  piles  of  skulls  had  filled  u|)  some  of  the  traps,  remindinii;  n\w  of 
the  pouiul  of  hull'alo-ljones,  a  huiulre<l  I'eet  scjuare  anil  live  or  six  feet 
liiirli.  which  had  been  eonstnu'ted,  a  year  cm*  two  ajro,  by  the  Indians  of 
the  prairies  on  tin?  eastern  side  of  the  njountains. 

'I'lio  soil  ajipeareil  to  be  lijxht  ami  sandy;  but  it  had,  as  usual,  the 
priests  to  thank  for  the  means  of  artificial  irrijiatitm,  a  small  stream 
liavinu  been  brouLdit  from  lli;'  hills  under  their  direction,  aiul  made  to 
llow  in  tiny  chaninds  wherever  water  could  be  reijnired. 

We  felt  hiirhly  ijratilied  by  our  visit,  the  more;  so  as  the  day  was 
hriffht  and  warm  ;  and,  after  payini(  our  respects  to  Senora  (Juerrero, 
a  pretty  younij  woman  with  black  eyes  and  white  teeth,  we  returned 
to  V  erba  IJuena  on  the  alcalde's  steeds. 

We  should  most  probal)ly  have  made  an  excursion  as  far  as  the 
.Mission  of  Santa  Clara,  had  not  the  return  of  our  courier,  who  arrived 
on  the  lollowinji  day,  hastened  our  departure  for  Monterey.  It  is  one 
of  the  few  establishnu'iits  that  still  possess  a  resident  priest ;  ami 
I'ather  (Jonzales,  a  very  dilVerent  man  from  his  reverence  of  San  l{a- 
lacl,  is  a  truly  worthy  representative  of  the  early  missionaries.  As 
the  poor  friars  still  continue  to  hope  for  better  times,  they  tfeiuTally 
strive,  with  a  de}^rce  ol"  zeal  proportioned  to  their  respective  (diaracters, 
to  do  their  best  for  such  buildings  as  may  be  under  their  own  eyes  ; 
and  acconliMf^ly  I'ather  (ionzales'  mission  is  in  a  more  perfect  state 
of  [)reservation  than  almost  any  similar  establishment  in  the  country. 
IJesides  that  the  church  is  said  to  bo  decorated  with  more  than  nsnal 
skill  and  mairnilicencc,  the  neighborhood  presents  one  feature  which 
reilects  peculiar  credit  on  the  piety  and  energy  of  the  Franciscans. 
Hetween  the  Pueblo  of  San  Jose  de  (iuadahipe  and  the  Mission  of 
Santa  Clara  there  lies  an  impassable  swamp  nearly  t'lve  miles  long  ; 
and.  in  order  to  enable  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  to  attend  to  their 
devotions,  the  fathers  of  their  own  accord  bridged  the  morass  from 
side  to  side  with  an  excellent  path  of  dry  earth.  Not  contented  with 
niere  utility,  they  planted  (Mther  side  of  the  monnd  with  a  row  of 
trees  ;  and  now,  to  mark  the  din'erence  between  the  disinterestedness 
of  the  authors  of  the  gift  and  the  inirratitude  of  its  objects,  some  of  tho 
vairabonds  of  the  pneblo  have  b(<run  to  make  unsightly  gaps  in  the 
avenue,  as  being  more  temptingly  situated  for  supplying  them  with 
timber  than  the  natural  forest. 


■1 


188 


SAN   FRANCISCO. 


-I'' 


i   J 


!■!  .s    ;    -.  h4 


m 


The  hopes  of  iho  fiiUirc,  in  whicli  the  poor  liiars,  as  I  hiivc  just 
itJPntioM(;(l,  still  iiuliilifc,  hail,  at  this  time,  dorivcd  considerahle  encou- 
rafremt'iit  Irom  iho  appoinliiu'iit  of  a  l)ishop  in  the  person  of  a  former 
colleagtie  of  l''alher  (Jon/ales  ;  and,  while  we  lay  at  Ycrha  Bucna,  \\c 
had  nuieh  pleasure  in  eoniplyinir  with  that  aniiahle  man's  request,  tli;i: 
we  should  fire  a  salute  and  hoist  our  colors  in  honor  of  the  arriv:il 
of  his  friend  and  superior  at  San  l)ie{ro.  'J'he  IJishop  of  the  ('alifor- 
nias  is  supposed  to  have  made  some  arrangement  with  the  Mexican 
(Jovernnient  for  at  least  the  partial  restoration  of  the  missions, — a  cir- 
eumstanee  which  affords  hijrh  satisfaction  not  only  to  the  priesthood, 
hut  also  to  the  more  respectahle  portion  of  the  laity.  That  the  mis- 
sions can  recover  their  cattle  and  resume  their  lands,  is  morally  iin- 
possii)le  ;  and  that  the  priests  will  hreak  new  grounds  in  some  of  tlic 
iidand  valleys  with  the  certain  prospect  of  future  spoliation  hefore  them, 
is  very  improhalile.  Hut  the  original  establishments,  with  compara- 
tively limited  means,  may  still  he  devoted,  under  the  light  of  past  ex- 
perience, to  a  more  useful  purpose  than  hefore.  Let  the  priests  treiit 
the  savage  not  as  a  child  but  as  a  man  ;  let  them  consider  him  not  as  a 
mere  machine  but  as  a  rational  being  ;  let  them  train  him,  not  by  phy- 
sical coercion,  but  by  motives  addressisd  to  his  head  and  heart,  to  think 
and  act  for  himself  in  the  various  relations  of  life.  Above  all,  let  them 
humanize  the  whites  by  the  innuences  (jf  religion,  for,  without  tlir 
hearty  co-operation  of  the  colonists,  the  civilization  of  the  savages  can 
be  neither  complete  nor  permanent. 

The  expedition  of  our  courier  to  Monterey,  excepting  that  the  inter- 
val had  been  agreeably  spent  by  us  at  San  Francisco,  had  been  fruit- 
less, for  he  returned  with*orders  that  the  Cowlitz  should  instantly  pro- 
ceed to  the  seat  of  government,  without  landing  any  thing  at  Yerl):i 
Unena :  and  the  strict  letter  of  the  law,  notwithstanding  the  peculiari- 
ties of  our  case,  was  to  be  enforced  against  us, — the  real  truth  proba- 
bly being  that  Alvarado  thought  that  the  duties  would  be  safer,  if  paid 
under  his  own  eye,  than  if  left  at  the  mercy  of  the  other  king  of  IJreiii- 
ford,  his  uncle  Vallego. 

The  law  in  question  is  oppres:-!ive  to  strangers  and  pernicious  to  the 
government.  As  a  striking  instance  of  its  oppression,  a  schooner. 
which  was  entirely  laden  with  goods  for  San  Francisco,  lately  became 
a  wreck  in  Drake's  IJay,  which  she  had  mistaken  for  her  harbor,  lo;*- 
ing  nearly  the  whole  of  a  cargo,  on  which  she  had  just  paid  15, ()()<• 
dollars  of  duty  at  Monterey.  With  regard,  again,  to  the  clFect  of  ihc 
law  on  the  interests  of  the  government,  a  vessel,  after  entering  herselt 
and  oi)taining  an  unconditional  and  unlimited  permission  to  trade  in  tlic 
country,  not  unfrequently  contrives  to  receive  additional  goods  from  an 
unlicensed  consort,  or  to  pick  them  up,  where  j)erhaps  siie  has  herselt 
left  them,  in  some  distant  nook  or  other  of  the  coast,  or  in  some  of  tli'' 
adjacent  islands.  'J'his  evil  is,  of  course,  aggravated  by  the  extrava- 
gance of  the  tariff,  inasmuch  as  such  extravagance  renders  the  tempta- 
tion to  smuggle  almost  irresistible ;  and  so  well  aware  are  the  aiitlinri- 
ties  of  this  fact,  that  they  are  generally  glad  to  compound  for  the  duties 
with  all  but  the  novices,  and  to  accept  the  composition  not  in  specie 
but  in  goods. 


189 


CHAPTER  Mil. 


MONTI  :kky 


At  threr  in  the  nrtrnionn  of  ilio  twclfili  we  Icl't  Yrrhii  Miicii.i.  rx- 
cliaiis^mjr  salutes  with  (';ipt;ui)  Wilson  ol'  the  Index.  Wo  pa-^^sed  ilic 
l)resi(lio  :ind  fort  under  the  iiilluenee  of  a  stronir  ebb-tide,  uiiioli,  after 
roiindiiif^  the  sotithern  side  ol"  the  entranee,  rushes  to  the  southward  ai 
the  rale  of  six  knots  an  hour.  In  the  very  direction  of  the  curreiif 
i!iore  lay  some  rocks  ;  and  as  the  wind  failed  us  just  at  the  point,  the 
vessel,  which  no  loiiL'^er  had  any  way  upon  her,  was  hurrieil  towards 
ihein  like  a  Imr.  The  aiu-hor  was  dropped  with  thirty  laihorns  of 
chain,  but  dragged  till  we  were  within  a  few  yards  of  the  object  of  otir 
fears  ;  and  when  at  last  it  did  hold,  it  was  raised  so  as  barely  to  touch 
ilio  bottom,  that  l)y  thus  counteracting,  in  some  degree,  tlu!  action  of  the 
title,  it  might  enal)le  the  ship  to  obey  her  helm.  Ily  this  operation  of 
kcdiriug,  as  it  is,  I  believe,  technically  termed,  we  steered  clear  of  the 
rocks,  when  the  wind  freshened  sulliciently  to  enable  us  to  stand  oil' 
from  the  shore,  whicli  was  not  above  a  cable's  length  distant.  Luckily 
the  rocks  in  question  sjiow  all  their  danger  abovt;  water,  for  there  is  a 
ilcpth  of  seven  fathoms  round  each  of  them;  so  that  the  Catilina,  now 
lying  at  Verba  Buena,  was  lately  carried  in  safety  between  them. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  voyage,  the  appearance  of  the  coast 
was  very  uninteresting,  consisting,  as  it  did,  of  a  chain  of  sandy  hills 
covered  with  a  scanty  verdure.  Hy  the  morning  of  tin;  fourteenth  we 
passed  the  point  of  Santa  Cruz,  forming  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
\hy  of  Monterey,  which  resembles  a  segment  of  a  circle  with  a  chord 
of  about  eighteen  miles ;  but  in  consetjuence  of  the  lichtncss  of  the 
winds,  it  was  eight  in  the  evening  of  the  fifteenth  before  we  came 
abreast  of  tlie  castle  and  cast  anchor,  in  the  neighborhood  of  four  ves- 
sels, the  American  barque  Fama,  schooner  Julia  Ann,  and  brig  Bolivar, 
and  the  Mexican  schooner  California. 

The  harbor,  if  harbor  it  can  be  called,  is  merely  the  southern  end  of 
the  bay,  protected  from  the  west  by  the  northerly  inclination  of  Point 
I'inos.  It  is  sheltered  from  only  one  of  the  prevailing  winds,  the 
southeaster  of  the  short  winter;  and  so  little  is  it  land-locked,  that  in 
the  most  favorable  state  of  wind  and  weather,  the  w  hole  beach  presents 
nearly  as  troublesome  a  surf  as  the  shore  of  the  open  ocean.  Well 
was  it  described  by  one  of  the  band  of  Franciscans,  who  first  visited  it 
after  the  days  of  Vizcaino,  as  "  this  horrible  port  of  Monterey." 

Next  morning  by  eight  o'clock,  we  exchanired  a  salute  of  seven  guns 
with  the  castle,  which  was  at  present  so  flush  of  gunpowder  as  to 


1      n^ 


.  ;.' 


?'i 


190 


MONTERKY. 


tf!' 


'i 

1 

m 

1 

k. 

!/ 

m 

m 

". 

return  our  ronipliinciit  williniil  Ijorrowiiifi  iVoin  us.  as  it  somrtiiiif«; 
(•(hi(Icsc(mi(Ih  to  do,  tlu;  ni!(!(llul  for  tli(!  |)ui|Kts(';  :iii(l  soon  al'icrwanU 
wo  W(!rc  hoardcil  l>y  hIx  ofiiccrs  ol  llu;  ciisioms,  who  (locked  down  to 
our  vessel  like  vultures  to  llieir  prey.  As  lliey  came  up  llie  side  ot 
tli(!  ship,  ihey  j-xhihited  :i  superaltundaiiee  ol'  howinir  und  sinilin;:  : 
and,  alter  the  ordinary  cerenionics  were  exhausled,  iliey  were  eoii- 
ilueted  into  the  eahiu  in  order  to  proceed  to  business.  \\  hen  t(dd  that 
we  had  paid  our  tounajrc-dues  at  San  I-'raneisco,  ai\d  had  no  earuo  lo 
land  at  IVIonterey,  they  looked  like  a  disappointed  hatch  ol'  expeclam 
leirat(!es,  leavinjr  ihi;  tahle  on  which  the  wine  was  already  placed,  with 
dry  lij)s  and  lenjrtheiu'd  faces. 

To  ourselves,  however,  tin;  visit  was  hy  no  moans  unwelcoinc,  as  a 
necessary  preliminary  to  our  f,n)in'j;  on  shore,  an  operation  which  we 
eHeeted  hy  waitin^f  on  the  outer  edj£e  of  the  surf,  till  a  conil)cr,  as  it  is 
technically  distinj^uished,  waited  our  boat  into  a  little  cove;  at  the  toot 
of  the  eustoni-house  ;  and  then  one  or  two  of  the  sailors,  junipin<;  out. 
draijired  her  up,  so  that  when  the  wave  retired,  we  were  hijrh  and  iliv 
on  the  beach. 

'J'hough  infinitely  inferior,  as  a  port,  to  San  Francisco  aiul  San  Dieiro. 
yet  Monterey,  from  its  central  position,  has  always  hi'cn  the  seat  oi 
government.  It  was,  however,  only  after  the  revolution  of  IH'M\,  th;ii 
it  could  be  compared  with  the  other  settlements  in  p(»int  of  cominerci:'.! 
importance,  liavinpf  suddeidy  expanded  I'rom  a  few  houses  into  a  poj>u- 
lation  of  about  700  souls. 

'JMie  town  occupies  a  very  pretty  plain,  which  slopes  towards  the 
north  and  terminates  to  the  southward  in  a  tolerably  loftv  ridiro.  It  is 
a  ntere  collection  of  buildings,  scattered  as  loosely  on  the  surface  as  if 
they  were  so  many  bullocks  at  pasture;  so  that  the  most  expert  sur- 
veyor could  not  possibly  classify  them  even  into  crooked  streets. 
AVIiat  a  curious  dictionary  of  circumlocutions  a  Monterey  Directory 
would  be  !  'J'he  dwellings,  some  of  which  attain  the  dignity  of  a  second 
story,  are  all  built  of  adobes  ;  being  sheltered  on  every  side  from  the  sun 
by  overhanging  eaves,  while,  towards  the  rainy  quarter  of  the  southca.*t 
they  enjoy  the  additional  protection  of  boughs  of  trees,  resting  like  so 
many  ladders  on  the  roof.  In  order  to  resist  the  action  of  the  elements, 
the  walls,  as  I  have  already  mentioned  with  njspcct  to  the  mission  ol" 
San  Francisco,  are  remarkably  thick,  though  this  peculiarity  is  hen^ 
pardy  intended  to  guard  agi.inst  the  shocks  of  eartluiiudves,  which  are  so 
frequent  that  a  hundred  and  twenty  of  them  were  felt  during  two  suc- 
cessive months  of  the  last  summer.  This  average,  however,  of  two  eart!;- 
quakes  a  day  is  not  so  frightful  as  it  looks,  the  shocks  being  seUloni 
severe,  and  often  so  slight,  according  to  Basil  Hall's  experience  in 
South  America,  as  to  escape  the  notice  of  the  uninitiated  stranger. 

Externally  the  habitations  have  a  cheerless  aspect  in  consetpicncc  ol 
the  paucity  of  windows,  which  are  almost  unattainable  luxuries.  Gla?s 
is  rendered  ruinously  dear  by  the  exorbitant  duties,  while  parchment, 
surely  a  better  substitute  than  a  cubic  yard  of  adobes,  is  clearly  inad- 
missible in  California  on  account  of  the  trouble  of  its  preparation  ;  and. 
to  increase  the  expense,  carpenters  arc  equally  extravagant  and  saucy, 


MONTERKY, 


191 


I'lmrcinji  llirco  dollars  for  sucli  ;i  dny's  work  :is  nun  is  likely  to  irct 
Irnin  iV'liows  that  will  ivtt  l:il)or  more  tli:m  tlucc  days  in  the  wrck. 
Altrr  all,  perhaps  the  Caliroriiiaiis  do  not  led  the  privatimi  of  liuhl  to 
he  all  evil.  \\  hile  it  certainly  makes  tlu;  rooms  cooler,  it  eaimot  hy 
any  possihility  iiiterl'erc!  with  the  occnpaiions  olthoso  wlio  do  iu)thiiii»; 
ami,  even  lor  the  |)iir[)oses  of  ventilation,  windows  are  hardly  needed, 
inasmindi  as  the  Iieddinir,  the  oidy  thinizthat  rei]nires  fresh  air,  is  daily 
(•xi)osed  to  the  siiii  ami  wind.  Auioiiir  the  ('alifornian  housewives  the 
1)0(1  is  quite  a  show,  eiijoyintr,  as  it  ijoes,  the  full  hem  lit  ol"  contrast. 
While  the  other  furniture  eonsisls  ol"  a  deal  tahle  ami  some*  hadly  made 
rliairs,  with  prol)al)ly  a  Dutch  clock  and  an  old  lookin»r-i.dass,  the  hed 
(Ostentatiously  challeiisies  admiration  with  its  snowy  sheets  friiifjed  with 
lace,  its  j)ilo  ol"  soft  pillows  covered  with  the  finest  linen  or  the  richest 
satin,  and  its  well  arran<j<'d  drapery  ol'  costly  and  tasteful  curtains. 
Stiil,  nolwithstamlintr  the  washiims  and  th(>  airinirs,  this  hed  is  hut  a 
wiuted  se|)ul(dire,  eonccalini:  in  the  interior  a  pestilential  wool  matlres.s, 
t!;(^  impre^riiahle  stronyhold  of  millions  n{'  las  jinf<(as. 

As  to  ptihlic  huildinjrs,  this  cajjital  of  a  province  may,  with  a  strrt(?h 
cf  charity,  he  allowed  to  j)ossess  four.  First  is  the  church,  part  of 
which  is  jfoini^  to  decay,  while  another  part  is  not  yet  finished  :  its 
iiidy  j)eculiarity  is  that  it  is  huilt,  or  rather  half-htiilt,  of  stone.  Next 
ii)iiies  the  castle,  consistini:  of  a  small  house  surrounded  l)y  a  low 
Mall,  all  of  adohcs.  It  commands  the  town  and  anchoraire,  if  a  irarrison 
(»!  live  soldiers  and  a  hattery  of  eiji^ht  or  ten  rusty  and  honey-comhed 
L'Uiis  can  be  said  to  command  anythiuL^.  'J'hird  in  order  is  the  puard- 
iioiisc,  a  paltry  mud  hut  without  windows,  l-'ourth  and  last  stands  the 
custom-house,  which  is,  or  rather  promises  to  ho,  a  small  ranye  of  de- 
•  cnt  oflices,  for,  ihoui^h  it  has  been  buildini^  for  live  years,  it  is  not  yet 
finished. 

The  noi(rhl)orliood  of  the  town  is  j)loasinf^ly  diversifie(l  with  hills, 
;.:ul  olfcrs  abundance  of  timber.  'I'he  soil,  thoujrh  liirht  and  sandy,  is 
'  <rtainly  cajjable  of  cultivation  ;  and  yet  there  is  neither  lield  nor  jiarden 
to  he  seen.  If  one  were  to  judfre  from  appearances,  even  the  trouble 
"i"  fencinir  would  exceed  the  limits  of  Californian  patience,  for  we  here 
and  there  saw  premises  enclosed  after  a  fashion  by  bramdies  of  trees 
j'tuck  in  the  (jround  ;  and  this  miserable  makeshift  was  the  less  cxcusa- 
!i:c,  as  the  adjacent  pasture.s  were  inconveniently  ovcr^jrown  with  the 
I'rickly  pear,  trrowinir  to  the  heis^ht  of  twelve  feet,  and  armed  with 
si>ikes  too  formidable  for  either  man  or  beast  to  encounter. 

Monterey  is  badly  supplied  with  water,  which,  in  consequence  of 
Hit'  extraordinary  drought  fd'  last  year,  lately  broufjht  a  dollar  a  pipe. 
The  small  str(;am,  which  runs  dir()Ui>li  the  town,  is  jrcnerally  dry  in 
>'unnier,  the  very  season  when  its  water  is  most  wanted. 

On  landing;  we  found  that  the  wood  f(dks  were  all  ensrajTcd  at  mass  ; 
n:'.d  accordin<rly,  ihoujih  rather  late  for  the  service,  we  followed  them 
to  church.  'I'liere  was  a  tolerable  ci)ni^r((.fation  of  about  two  hundred 
people,  principally  females,  who  wen-  all  dressed  alike,  with  a  shawl 
"ver  their  heads,  han<rinff  down  on  their  slioulders  ;  and  the  priest  was 
;i  tended  by  two  or  three  Indians,  who  appeared  to  be  well  versed  in 


:M 


192 


MONTKREY. 


■ 

;  BBMBMi  ^'' 

1 

.jH|\ 

knrcliiitr,  ami  crossiiifr,  ^p.,  to  he  porfcct  masters,  in  short,  of  all  tlio 
iTroinoiiial  (Inidticry  ol'  the  Uoiuitili  srrvifc.  \V«!  rntcrcd  the  ('(liticc 
iinly  in  liin(!  to  rcroivf  his  rrveroiico's  hrncdictioii,  which,  I  am  afraid. 
l»n»litt'<l  us  hilt  lilllo,  as  I'^adicr  .Icsus  Maria  Heal  was  said  to  hoar  a  far 
-Iroiifjor  rrscmhhinrn  to  (iiiigas  of  San  Uafacl  than  to  (jonzaU's  ol 
Santa  (Mara.  After  mass,  the  pastor  and  his  lh>ck  went  to  christen  a 
hridj^e,  which  had  heen  hitely  thrown  over  the  HttU;  river  of  the  town, 
and  was  now  fjaily  decorated  with  hanners,  <fcc.,  for  the  occasion.  In 
('i  lifornia  every  s|)ot,  Monterey  aioiu!  excepted,  is  dedicated  to  sonic 
saint  or  «»lher, — a  mockery  of  names  which  forms  a  curious  contrast 
with  the  pillairo  of  ovcrythinf^  else.  CiiMicral  Valleiro  has  heen  the 
only  consisteiil  spoiler,  havinfr  suhstituted,  as  I  have  already  said,  the 
•  tld  term  Sonoma  for  the  name  of  the  saint  whom  he  had  rohlied  of 
lands  and  herds  and  jiriests,  San  I-'rancisco  Solano. 

As  wo  took  very  little  interest  in  the  christeninij  of  the  hridj^o,  wc 
readily  allached  ourselves  to  Mr.  Spence,  a  native  of  lliintly  in  Aher- 
deeiishiri',  wiio  had  conducted  a  llourishiii!;  husincss  here  for  more  than 
nine  y<'ars.  After  heinjj  introduced  hy  that  jrcntliMiian  at  the  door  ot 
the  clinrch  to  several  of  the  principal  inhahitants,  we  were  carried  hy 
him  to  the  re.'-idence  of  (Jovjirnor  yMvarado.  Makinjj  far  less  display 
than  his  compeer  Valhiro,  the  yovernor  has  no  soldiers  ahoiit  him,  and 
lives  in  a  small  house  which  is  hut  poorly  hirnished.  Wt-  were  ushered 
into  his  excellency's  hest  a])artnient,  which  contained  a  host  of  com- 
mon chairs,  a  paltry  tahle,  a  kind  of  a  sofa,  a  lar<r(;  Dutch  dock,  and 
four  or  live  cheap  mirrors,  boastiiii^,  however,  the  uniiiu*'  I'eatiire  n| 
three  laiiic  windows  that  reached  to  the  floor,  and  communicateil  wiili 
a  halcony  overlookiiiir  the  town  and  hay. 

We  found  the  liovernor  lame  as  we  had  already  found  the  com- 
mander of  the  forces,  the  cause  in  the  one  instance  hein;j  not  less  cha- 
racteristic than  in  the  other.  Vallejro  had  heen  thrown  from  his  horse 
while  amusinfj  himself  with  the  lasso  ;  hut,  ahout  u  month  n<ro,  Alv-i- 
rado,  who  had  heen  cntertainiiijr  ilu!  jMiest  and  some  other  friends 
in  honor  of  the  saint  of  tin;  day, — prohahly  the  very  saint  who  Inul 
heen  forced  to  conlrihute  the  wine, — manaired,  hy  means  of  his  win- 
dows and  his  halcony,  to  fall  to  the  irromid  and  dislocate  his  ankh'. 
The  nephew,  in  fact,  possesses  little  of  die  talent  and  decision  of  tlu- 
uncle,  beiiifT,  at  least  accordinjif  to  his  present  practice,  more  remarkalilc 
lor  love  of  conviviality  than  for  anything  else.  Whatever  ability  he 
may  have  displayed  in  rising  from  an  inferior  rank  to  he  the  lirsi  m;ui 
in  California,  he  has  not  allowed  the  cares  of  jrovcrnment  to  prey  on 
his  vitals,  for  the  revolution  of  183(1,  amid  its  other  changes,  has  meta- 
morphosed its  champion  from  a  thin  and  spare  conspirator  into  a  phimii 
and  punchy  lover  of  singing,  and  dancing,  ami  feasting.  He  received 
us  very  politely,  but  declined,  on  account  of  his  lameness,  my  invita- 
tion to  dine  with  us  next  day  on  board  of  the  Cowlitz. 

After  half  an  hour's  chat  we  took  our  departure  for  Mr.  Spence's 
house,  where  we  had  the  pleasure  of  being  introduced  to  his  pretty 
and  lively  wife,  a  donna,  of  course,  of  the  country.  Thence  we  boxed 
the  compass  through  the  town,  tacking  and  beating  in  every  direction,  in 


MONTEUKV. 


193 


inordor  to  payoiirrcsprctslo  sniiir  of  the  iiili:>ltit:ints;il  ihrirnwn  1mhisi>s. 
Amonif  others,  u  r  visited  an  unsophisticated  eoektu-v  ol'  the  name  oC  Wat- 
son from  "  Hedriir,"  whose  lather  had  **  heen  in  the  pulilie  line,"  and  had 
kept  "the  Noah's  Ilark, 'tween  the  ({h»l)e  Stairs,  and  the  *orse  Ferry." 

Though  he  had  heen  eijjhteen  years  in  ('alilornia,  yet  he  was  appa- 
rently uneonsei«)Us  of  ajiy  lapse  of  time,  for  his  notions  of  persons  ami 
plaeea  were  pretty  nnich  the  same  as  he  had  ind)il)ed  under  the  pater- 
nal roof.  Ho  talked  as  if  the  ehurehyards  had  enjoyed  a  sineenre,  and 
as  if  doeks  and  railways  had  (Muntnitied  no  trespasses  ;  and  yet,  while 
lie  supposed  all  the  rest  of  the  world  to  he  standiuLr  still,  he  himself 
had  contrived  to  serape  together  the  largest  fortune  in  the  j)rovinee. 
Watson's  simplicity  did  not  greatly  surprise  us,  for,  «'ven  if  he  had  heen 
less  deeply  immersed  in  hides  and  tallow,  and  perhaps  more  delicate 
speculations,  he  would  hardly  have  ohtained  the  nu'ans  of  regular  aiitl 
continuous  information.  To  take  our  own  case,  we  had  left  the  At- 
lantic nine  months  hefore,  having  tarried  one  month  on  Hed  Hiver,  and 
at  least  two  months  on  the  Columl)ia,l)esides  making  an  ollset  to  Sitka, 
and  yet,  in  all  ('alilornia,  we  found  no  later  news  than  our  own  front 
lireat  Britain  or  the  United  States.  The  deniand  for  knowledjre  is 
necessarily  inconsiderahle.  'I'he  only  seminary  of  education  in  the 
province  is  a  petty  school  at  Monterey  ;  and  thoutrh,  uiuler  the  old  sys- 
tem, parents  were  hy  law  obliged  to  send  their  children  to  the  near(!st 
mission  for  instruction,  yet  very  few  individuals  of  any  age  can  either 
write  or  read. 

While  returning  to  our  boat,  wo  wore  saluted  hv  a  horseman  in 
Spanish  costume,  whom  we  at  length  recognized,  through  his  disguise, 
to  be  Mr.  Ermatingcr,  one  of  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  olllcers, 
who  had  left  Vancouver  for  California,  about  the  time  of  our  return 
from  Sitka,  in  command  of  our  annual  party  of  trappers.  Having 
heard  at  Sonoma,  that  he  had  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Sacramento, 
I  requested  him  by  letter  to  follow  me,  if  necessary,  to  Monterey  liat 
we  might  have  an  interview  on  matters  of  businc^ss ;  and  he  had  i.-j- 
cordingly  hastened  to  Yerba  Bucna,  whence,  finding  that  the  Cowlitz 
had  got  the  start  of  him  by  a  few  hours,  he  had  pursued  his  journey 
by  land  to  this  place. 

After  tracing  the  Willamette  to  its  sources,  Mr.  Ermatingcr  had 
crossed  the  height  of  land  into  the  valley  of  the  Clamet  River,  thence 
making  his  way  to  the  snowy  chain  which  terminates  in  Cape  Mendo- 
cino. The  latter  portion  of  this  route  ran  through  the  country  which 
had  been  the  scene  of  the  cowardly  atrocities  of  some  Americans ;  but, 
though  the  Indians  did,  for  a  time,  make  the  Company's  innocent  serv- 
ants pay  the  penalty  of  the  guilt  of  others,  yet,  through  the  inlluence 
of  kindness  and  firmness  combined,  they  have,  within  the  last  two 
years,  permitted  our  people  to  pass  unmolested.  Mr.  Ermatingcr  then 
crossed  the  snowy  chain  aforesaid  by  the  Pit  mountain,  so  called  from 
the  number  of  pitfalls  dug  by  the  neighboring  savages  for  the  wild  ani- 
mals ;  and  here,  pardy  in  consequence  of  the  lateness  of  the  season, 
lie  and  his  men  had  to  m.irch,  for  three  days,  through  snow,  whicli,  in 
some  places,  was  two  feet  deep.     In  fact,  this  mountain  was  notorious 

PART   I. — 13 


■"•Hi 
A 


m 


1.;. ,  i 


'ii 


.■.^.<.  5 


194 


MONTERKy. 


i 


'jl^B 


mi' 


■>«- 


'(  li 


.'iH  llio  worst  part  of  llicir  journey,  for,  about  ton  yearH  before,  our  trap- 
pers, bciiitf  overtaken  by  a  violent  storm,  had  lost,  on  ibis  very  ground, 
tb(!  u  bole  of  ibeir  furn  and  nearly  tiirer  biMidred  horses.  The  partv 
now  i-niered  tin.'  valb'y  of  tin;  Saeramcnto,  described  by  Mr.  lOrnialin- 
^er  as  prcscntinif  in  a  b!nj,nh  of  eijrbty  Icairucs,  the  riehcist  anii  most 
verdant  district  on  the  \v«'st(!rn  side  ol"  the  Koeky  .Moiniiains.  The 
country,  however,  is  subject  to  inundations.  On  the  12tli  of  l)»'ccui- 
bcr,  whib;  we  were  experieiicini;  such  heavy  weather  in  Uaker'n  Hay, 
.Mr.  I'lrinatin^er  and  his  peoph*  had  encamped  on  a  petty  tributary  of 
the  Sacramento,  when,  in  consecjueiice  of  torrents  of  rain,  the  stream 
ros(>  nine  feel  duriii!*  the  nitrbt,  swellinir  into  a  tide  that  threatened  to 
iiver(l(»w,  or  swee|)  away,  its  banks.  In  tin;  morninif  they  prtK'ccded 
towards  situw  rising  ^rromid,  ai)oul  live  miles  distant.  Hut  the  intervening 
plain  had  beeomo  a  perfect  bor;,  so  that  it  was  (deven  o'clock  at  ni^ht 
l)efore  iIm.'  party  assembled,  with  the  (exception  of  one  poor  s(iuaw  ami 
several  horses;  and,  Itel'ore  dayliijhl  returned,  tlndr  urc'en  knoll  stood 
as  an  island  in  a  coiisiderabh!  lake.  'J'ho  mdbrtunatt!  woman  was  dis- 
covered to  have  died  in  the  ni^jbt;  ami  the  missin}^  animals  wcrestand- 
inj,',  still"  and  irhastly,  upon  their  lejfs  with  tludr  loads  on  their  bai^ks. 

Hence  Mr.  J'irmatin^cr  proceeded  to  another  tributary  of  llie  Sacra- 
mento, known  a.s  the  Riviere  la  (^^lehe ;  and  here  he  dispat(died  his 
hunters  in  difle-nuU  directions,  with  orders  to  meet  him  at  a  certain 
spot,  about  two  days  distant  from  Sonoma,  by  the  25lh  of  April,  the 
latest  dati!  at  which  tin;  swarms  of  mosquitoes  wotdd  allow  th(!m  to 
carry  on  their  trappini^  in  the  haunts  of  tlu;  beaver  and  the  otter,  'i'o 
the  appoint(!d  place,  Mr.  lOrmatinj^er  immediately  went  in  person,  with 
two  or  three  men  and  the  wives  and  chililren  of  tin;  partv;  and  havinir 
there  met  the  messeuj^er  with  our  letters,  ho  tirst  announced  his  arrival 
to  (ieneral  Vallego,  and  then  made  his  way  to  Yerl)a  IUi(>na. 

Trom  Yerba  IJuena,  Mr.  Ermatinsrer's  route  lay  alon<(  the  bay  as  far 
as  the  Pueblo  of  San  Jose  de  (Juadalupe,  thence  advancing  to  the  mis- 
sion of  Santa  Clara;  and  from  this  establishment,  again,  it  carried  him 
through  a  beautiful  district  uj)wards  of  a  hundred  miles  long,  varied 
with  hills  and  plains,  woods  and  streams,  all  in  a  state  of  nature.  I 
had  myself  intended  to  travel  by  this  road  from  Verba  Uuena  to  Mon- 
terey ;  and  the  more  that  1  heard  of  it  from  Mr.  Ermatinger,  the  more 
did  I  regret  that  1  had  permitted  myself  to  be  deterred  from  undertak- 
ing the  journey,  by  exaggerated  accounts  of  the  danger  and  discomfort 
whiidi,  at  this  season,  the  state  of  the  waters  was  likely  to  occasion. 

What  a  contrast  do(!s  Mr.  Ermatinger's  brief  narrative  present  to  the 
position  which  the  Spaniards  occupy  with  respect  to  the  Indians  ? 
While  a  handful  of  strangers  leaves  women  and  children  almost  un- 
protected in  the  wildernciss,  and  sends  forth  solitary  hunters  in  every 
directit)n,  the  permanent  colonists  of  the  country,  many  of  them  being 
themselves  children  of  the  soil,  are  the  victims  of  a  systematic  course 
of  savage  depredation.  In  the  palmy  days  of  the  missions,  the  prac- 
tice of  sending  out  soldiers  to  bag  fresh  subjects  for  civilization,  tended 
to  embitter  the  naUirally  unfriendly  feeling  of  the  red  man,  more  par- 
ticularly as  the  aborigines  of  the  interior  were  constitutionally  more 


li^  I 


'     ;' 


MONTKRhY. 


195 


rrstk'88  and  rnorirf'tic  thiui  tlw  savajri's  of  tlir  roast;  and  the  n'vniiition 
n(  IH'M\  auirravalcd  llic  evil  liy  tiiriniiir  loitsc  into  the  uomls  a  niiilli- 
tiidc  ol"  converts,  uliosi'  power  ol'  iloiini  miscliier,  Itesides  Im  lui;  in- 
creased liv  knowlediii'  ami  experience,  was  forced  into  lull  plav  l»v  ;i 
sense  of  tin;  injnsiic(!  and  inlitnnanity  oi'  tlu'  local  irovernnient.  lint 
the  Indians  of  all  descriptions  are,  Iroiii  day  to  day.  remlered  morj; 
niidacions  by  iinpiinity.  'I\)o  iiiilolmt  to  be  always  on  llie  alert,  tin; 
Californians  overlook  the  constant  pilt'eriiius  of  cattle  and  liorses,  till 
ihev  aro  roused  hevcnid  the  measure  j-vcn  of  their  patience  hv  somo 
ouiraire  of  more  than  ordinary  mark  ;  ami  then,  instead  of  hiintinir 
down  tlu'  irnilly  lor  «-xemplary  [xinishment.  they  destroy  excrv  native 
that  falls  in  their  way,  wiihtmt  distinction  of  sex  or  ai[<'.  'I'ho 
lilood-houmis,  of  course,  find  chietly  women  and  children,  for,  in  iiene- 
ral,  the  men  are  better  aide  to  eseapc,  biilcherinif  their  helpless  and 
inollensive  victims  afier  tlu!  blas|)iieiiious  m(»ckery  (d'  Itaptism.  'The 
sanctifyiiiir  of  murd(;r  by  the  desecration  of  a  Christian  rite,  however 
incredibh'  it  may  seem,  is  a  melancholy  matter  ui'  fact,  the  performrr.s 
in  the  trairedy  doubtless  belii-vim^  that,  if  tln-re  be  any  truth  in  the 
maxim  that  the  «'nd  justilies  the  means,  surely  the  salvation  of  the  soul 
is  sullicient  warrant  for  the  (h'struction  ol  the  body.  I  subjoin  a  more 
detailed  description,  on  the  authority  of  an  eye-witness.  When  the 
incursions  of  the  savages  have  appeared  to  remler  a  crusade  necessary, 
the  alcaUh;  of  the  neijihljorhood  summons  frcuti  twelve  tit  twenty  ccdo- 
iiists  t«)  serve,  either  in  person  (U-  by  sul)stitut«',  on  horseback  ;  and 
one  of  the  foreii.ni  residents,  when  nominaied  about  three  years  before, 
preferred  the  alternative  of  joiniuLr  the  jiarty  himself,  in  order  to  see 
soniethinij  <>l  tin;  interior.  After  a  ride  of  three  days  they  reached  .» 
village,  whose  inhabitants,  for  all  that  the  crusaders  knew  to  the  con- 
trary, miifht  have  been  as  innocent  in  the  matter  as  themselves.  Hut, 
f.'ven  without  any  consciousness  of  iiuilt,  the  tramp  of  the  horses  was 
a  symptom  not  to  be  misunderstood  by  tin;  savai:(;s  ;  and  accordin<,dy 
all  that  could  run,  comprising,  of  course,  all  that  could  possibly  be 
criminal,  (led  for  their  lives.  Of  those  who  remained,  nim;  persons, 
all  females,  were  tied  to  trees,  ehristoned,  and  shot.  With  jrreat  didi- 
oulty  and  considerable  danjrer,  my  informant  saved  one  ohi  woman  by 
conducting  her  to  a  short  distance  from  the  aeeurseil  scene  ;  and  even 
there  he  had  to  shield  the  creature's  miserable  lile  by  (lrawin<r  a  pistol 
against  one  of  her  merciless  pursuers.  .SIk;  uUimatt-ly  escaped,  though 
not  without  seeing  a  near  relative,  a  handsome;  youth  who  had  been 
captured,  slaughtered  in  cold  blood  befort;  her  eyes,  with  the  outward 
and  visible  sign  of  regeneration  still  glistening  on  his  brow.  IJcforo 
any  reader  rejects  the  testimony  of  my  informant,  on  account  of  its 
intrinsic  improbability,  let  him  read,  mark,  and  inwardly  digest  an 
anecdote,  told  with  much  zest  bv  the  Jesuit  historian  of  French  ('ana- 
ua,  an  anecdote,  of  which  the  more  horrible  features,  let  us  in  charity 
believe,  must  have  been  veiled  from  the  pious  writer  himself,  by  the 
lofty  phraseology  of  the  Latin  languajre.  Tlu;  ('hristian  Ilurons  had 
captured  some  of  the  heathen  Iroquois,  ami  had  doomed  them,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  to  die  by  the  most  cruel  tortures.      W  ithout  once  ex- 


196 


MONTEUEY. 


11 

mil 

■  r 

I'M! 

4* 

iiM 

f 

1     ;    ~ 

;n 

Ai,^. 

hortinp  liin,  proHflytf"  to  llio  irrarrH  nf  nuTcv  nnd  forcivcin'SH,  ilic 
:Mlfii(l:iiil  miMsinriary  was  roMtcntiMl  to  impldrc,  and  rven  lo  l)ril)r  iIh'iu, 
that  ho  iiiiizlit  III!  prrriiitKMt  to  l)a|)ti/r  ilirir  virtiiiiN.  CliriHtriinl  the 
IrcMHioJM  wrrr  acronliiiijly,  n'ciiintj,  riilu-r  by  r«>lc  or  Ity  inspiraiioii, 
their  lu^U'-horii  hi-lirl' atiiul  the  loriiHMits  ot'  thi;  lire  and  the  kiiilc,  while 
their  (diief,  who  had  received  the  name  ot  Peter,  ruKheul  Ironi  the;  wtake, 
alter  his  lii;utiires  were  consumed,  and,  with  a  hhizint;  hillet  in  either 
hand,  Hi'attered  his  circle  of  perseejitors  like;  a  llock  of  sheep.  It  was 
to  the  tool-hardy  valor  of  this  chief',  that  the  capture  of  himself  and  his 
ecMintrymen  had  heon  owinir;  ■md,  with  relerence  to  this  fart,  the 
Jesuit  historian  closes  liis  extraordinary  narrative,  which  occupies  four 
pa<;es  of  classical  tliction,  liy  expn'ssiui.'  his  opinion  that  to  the  reckless 
couraj^e  of  their  leader  the  prisoners  were  induhted  for  their  salvation, 
an  opinion  which,  if  entertained  also  hy  the  attendant  missionary,  may 
suniciently  account  hoth  lor  what  he  did  and  for  what  he  left  undone, 
hr)th  for  his  anxiety  to  christen  the  Irotjuois,  and  for  his  indiHerence 
ahout  humanizing  tlie  llurons.  In  truth,  cruelty,  when  thus  vari'.ished, 
becomes  mercy  in  its  htveliest  form,  the  butchers  of  California,  as  well 
as  those  of  Canada,  havinif  adopted  the  best  means  of  «loing  the  greatest 
good  to  those  that  hated  them. 

Under  thes(!  circunisiances  the  two  rac«'s  live  in  a  state  of  warfare, 
that  knows  no  truc(\  'l*he  Indian  makes  a  rctrular  business  of  stcalini^ 
horses,  that  he  may  ride  the  tame  ones  and  eat  such  as  are  wild. 
Sometimes,  lH)wever,  he  raises  his  eyes  to  the  younir  br\inett(!s  them- 
selves, one  pirl  having  been  actually  carrieil  olf  from  San  Diego,  and 
no  less  a  person  thaii  Senora  VallcLfo's  sister  having  almost  been  the 
victim  of  a  conspiracy,  which  the  ireneral,  with  all  his  taste  for  foreign 
alliances,  took  care  to  defeat.  In  his  turn,  the  Californian  treats  the 
savage,  wherever  he  linds  him,  very  much  like  a  beast  of  prey,  shootiiisr 
liim  down,  even  in  the  absence  of  any  specific  charge,  as  a  commuii 
pest  and  a  public  enemy,  and  still  more  decidedly  disdaining,  in  a  case 
of  guilt,  the  aid  of  such  law  and  justice  as  the  country  aflbrds.  In 
the  latter  event  he  not  merely  punishes  him  on  his  own  responsibility, 
but  docs  so,  in  some  degree,  according  to  judicial  forms,  Mr.  Spence's 
brother,  who  has  a  farm  at  a  little  distance  from  Monterey,  having  hanged 
two  horse-stcalers,  who  had  confessed  the  crime,  the  very  night  before 
our  arrival  in  the  port. 

For  such  a  state  of  things,  however,  the  public  authorities  are  far 
more  to  blame  than  private  individuals.  Contented  with  extorting  the 
amount  of  their  own  salaries  from  the  missions  and  the  foreign  trade, 
they  care  little  for  the  general  welfare  and  security,  though  a  band  of 
fifty  resolute  horsemen,  provided  they  chastised  only  the  actual  ma- 
rauders, would  hold  at  bay  all  the  savages,  with  their  wretched  bows 
and  arrows,  between  Sonoma  and  San  Diego.  In  The  Hudson's  IJay 
Company's  territories,  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  twelve  or  fifteen 
men  to  maintain,  with  proper  management,  an  isolated  post  in  peace 
and  safety  against  larger  numbers  of  more  formidable  neighbors. 

After  being  joined  by  Mr.  Ermatinger,  we  made  our  way  through 
the  surf  with  some  difficulty,  and  found,  on  board  of  the  Cowlitz,  two 


MONTKKKY. 


197 


('U»t(»m-h()U«o  ofViccrH,  otip  of  ilurii  :i  lirotlirr  of  (irru'r:il  \  ;illruo. 
Tliev  rcinitiiicd  with  lis  ;ill  iiiLrlit,  ki'c|)iiit:  :i  cIunc  watch  uii  our  iiiovo* 
iiinits. 

Nrxt  inoriiiiur  wr  ucro  !iir:iiii  hoanliMl  hy  the  whoh-  Kanjr;  ami,  altrr 
a  (food  (leal  of  chatrcritii;  anil  liiifi:liiiir<  vvo  fiitrrcd  into  a  ('oiii|iri)iiiiNt! 
for  traiis-sliippiiiir  into  ilic  l';iiiia,  wliicli  was  i)oiin.l  lor  San  Francisco, 
sr)nic  nccj'ssary  supplies  fur  our  csialiiishim'nt  at  Vcrlia  Mucna,  paving 
rxorl>itant  duties  on  sdini'  articles,  and  ol>tainin<r  leave  to  pass  oiIutn 
free.  As  an  instance;  of  the  hardship  to  which  vessels  are  siilijected 
in  not  IxMii!;  allowed  to  break  hulk  without  visitinir  Monterey,  wo  had 
to  |)ay  a  freijrht  (d"  ahout  two  hundreil  dcdlars  ftir  carrying  hack  part  of 
our  carifo  to  San  Francisco,  hcinji;  at  U-uaiJiflcrn  per  cint.  on  the  value 
i)f  the  shipnuMit. 

In  all  prolialiility,  the  want  of  funds  fur  (itiinj;  out  the  schooner 
California  had  rendered  the  authorities  somewhat  more  |)lial)le.  Am 
|)rovisions  were  needed  as  well  as  money,  Alvarado,  as  1  have  already 
mentioned,  piindiased  fnuii  U8  some  tlonr  and  salmon  as  sea  stores,  all 
this  preparatory  fuss  heinif  necessary  for  the  voyaye  of  a  paltry  tnli  to 
San  HIas,  the  nearest  port  in  Mexico  to  California. 

This  national  vessel,  a  mere  apoloiry  for  a  coastinu  cruiser,  is  an  old, 
cranky  craft,  not  mounting  a  sinirlc  tfuii,  and  so  badly  manned,  that 
she  is  unable  to  make  any  proju-fss  by  beatiuir  ajiainst  the  wind.  1 
have  already  mentioned  that  the  skipper's  wife,  a  sister  of  (ieiieral 
Valleiro,  resides  at  Sonoma,  so  that,  as  soon  as  he  casts  anchor  in 
Whaler's  Harbor,  Captain  Cooper  starts  oil' with  the  boat  and  tin;  bulk 
(■f  tlu!  crew  across  the  May  of  San  Pedro  to  see  his  iViends;  and,  as 
the  victualinuf  department,  which  is  never  in  a  llourishin<j  condition,  is 
j)eculiarly  low  at  the  end  of  a  voyatre,  the  male  has  been  known  to 
.><iarve  three  days  at  a  time  in  siijhi  of  herds  of  cattle. 

Hesides  our  friend  Mr.  Hale,  who  had  been  kickinir  his  heels  in 
Monterey  in  expectation  of  the  sailing  of  the  schooner,  and  some  olbcr 
passenj^ers,  the  California  had  on  board  seven  convicts,  if  men,  who 
had  not  been  tried,  could  be  so  called,  who  were  to  be  transported  by 
order  of  the  executive  povernment  on  eharf^es  of  miirdc^r  and  robbery, 
and  to  be  left,  as  was  supposed,  on  the  uninhabiuul  island  of  Santa 
(Juadalupe  lyinjSf  to  the  south  of  San  Diej^o.  On  this  spot  there  was 
said  to  be  plenty  of  water  and  wild  ijoats,  thoiiirh,  in  all  probability, 
Alvarado  did  not  care,  even  if  the  fellows  should  die  of  huiijrer,  or  live 
by  eating  each  other. 

To  return  to  the  question  of  duties,  the  revenue  of  the  province  is 
by  no  means  considerable,  havinjjf  amounted,  last  year,  to  about  1 10,000 
dollars.  As  the  secularized  missions,  besides  having  seen  their  best 
days,  are  always  lleeced  by  the  administradors,  whose  "nails"  are 
proverbially  worth  more  than  their  pay,  the  treasury,  of  course,  de- 
pends chiellvon  the  tarill'lbr  its  supplies — a  tarilf,  of  whi(di  the  wh(d»' 
iuirden  falls  at  last  on  the  ctdonists  themselves.  As  the  Californians 
enjoy  no  such  monopoly  of  hides  and  tallow  as  t(»  inlluence  the  prices 
of  those  commodities  in  the  market  of  the  world,  the  foreign  trader,  in 
his  dealings  with  them,  must,  of  course,  deduct  Irom  the  actual  value 


V 


198 


MONTEREY. 


1    *''!' 
'1 
'■■*..-        ■ 

;i: 

M;  ,• 

i\ 


tn 


n,: 


I'll 


•I  !  ' 


I'  1% 


of  his  piirohasrs  at  least  tlio  full  lain  of  tho  dollars  which  tho  jrovprn- 
mont  has  proviously  exacted  from  him.  To  jjive  an  instance,  without 
aiming  at  extreme  accuracy,  the  floods,  which  are  now  jrivcn  for  three 
hides,  would,  if  untaxed,  he  paid  for  two.  To  sum  up,  in  one  word, 
the  proeeedinjrs  of  the  citizens  and  rulers  of  this  teeminsr  land,  the 
rapacity  of  the  latter  fearfully  depreciates  the  only  equivalents  which 
the  indolence  of  the  former  eiial)les  them  to  ofler  for  all  the  comforts 
and  luxuries  of  civilized  life.  To  make  matters  worse,  the  C'alifornians 
receive  little  or  no  return  for  the  virtual  confiscation  of  one-third  of 
their  sidistance,  for  the  whole  of  the  spoil  is  devoured  hy  the  mere 
semblance  of  ^.  government,  which,  as  we  have  elsewhere  seen,  has 
neither  the  power  n<  r  the  inclination  to  protf^ct  the  two-thirds  that  are 
left.  As  an  example  of  the  profligate  expend:  ure  of  the  public  money, 
the  custom-house  of  Monterey,  though  it  has  to  deal  only  once  for  all 
with  evc'ry  vessel  that  trades  on  the  coast,  musters  twelve  leeches  that 
suck  the  blood  of  the  country  to  the  tune  of  ir),()0()  «lollars  a  year. 
The  whole  of  the  fiscal  business  might  be  equally  well  done,  at  a  third 
part  of  the  expense,  by  a  collector,  a  comptroller,  and  a  clerk  ;  and  it 
is  a  mere  pretext  to  say  that  the  present  twelve  are  maintained  to  be  a 
check  on  each  other  by  the  Mexican  government,  which,  as  it  draws 
no  revenue  from  the  province,  has  nearly  as  little  interest  in  the  matter 
as  the  Emperor  of  China.  In  truth,  the  revolutionary  functionaries  of 
(California,  after  seizing  the  reins  of  power  in  defiance  of  the  central 
atithorities,  make,  as  is  to  be  expected,  a  mere  convenience  of  the  laws 
of  the  republic,  enforcing  them  to-day  against  others,  but  dispensing 
with  them  to-morrow  in  favor  of  themselves. 

But  the  state  of  things,  M'hich  has  been  just  described,  is  not  peculiar 
to  California.  'J'hrougliout  the  whole  of  Spanish  America,  the  machine, 
which  is  called  a  government,  appears  to  exist  only  for  its  own  sake, 
the  f;rand  secret  of  oflice  being  to  levy  a  revenue  and  consume  it;  and 
public  men  have  little  or  no  object  in  life  but  to  share  the  booty,  while 
private  individuals  look  with  apathy  on  intrigues  which  promise  no 
other  change  than  that  of  the  names  of  their  plunderers.  Hence,  in  tho 
absence  of  any  balancing  power,  such  as  public  opinion,  between  thofjo 
who  possess  the  spoil  and  those  who  covet  it,  almost  every  change  of 
rulers  is  effected  by  a  successful  rebellion,  by  the  triumph  of  force  over 
law.  In  a  word,  the  whole  country  either  always  is,  or  is  always 
liable  to  be,  the  prey  of  violence  and  disorganization,  one  part  of  it 
differing  from  another  only  in  this  characteristic  way,  that  the  elements 
of  anarchy  are  numerous  and  powerful  in  proportion  to  the  nearness  of 
the  seat  of  government.  JNor  ought  such  a  system  of  misrule  to  sur- 
prise us.  In  the  days  of  Spanish  domination,  no  native  of  the  country, 
even  if  the  proudest  blood  of  (Castile  alone  ilowed  in  his  veins,  was 
competent  to  fill  the  lowest  oflice  under  the  crown,  while  the  old 
S|>aniards,  who  were  the  local  rulers  of  every  colony,  were  universally 
expelled,  under  the  new  order  of  things,  by  those  who,  besides  envy- 
ing them  as  a  privileged  class,  hated  them  as  the  instruments  of  an 
intolerable  despotism.  Thus,  after  the  achievement  of  independence, 
the  country  found  itself  almost  utterly  destitute  of  political  experience, 


MONTEREY. 


199 


wliile  the  entire  remodolinj;  of  its  institutions  rendered  such  a  qtialifica- 
tion  necessary  in  its  liijjhest  possible  deiTree.  Hitherto  ruh'd  hy  an 
oligarchy  of  strangers,  who  were  themselves  the  slaves  of  tlie  most 
arbitrary  sovereiijn  in  Europe,  the  JSpanish  Colonies,  as  if  by  a  leap, 
emerged  at  once  into  the  position  of  independent  republics,  with  hardly 
any  other  definite  principles  to  guide  them  in  the  selection  of  what  was 
new  than  the  indiscriminate  hatred  of  all  that  was  old.  The  result  was 
inevitable,  liberty  defrenerated  into  licentiousness,  while  power  was 
merely  another  name  for  tyranny  ;  and,  thoueli  the  reality  of  govern- 
ment nowhere  existed,  yet  tlu!  form  of  the  thing  was  multiplied  beyond 
all  former  example,  either  by  the  constant  succession  of  sectional  strug- 
gles, or  by  the  occasional  disruption  of  a  whole  into  its  parts. 

As  Spain  is  deeply  responsible  tor  the  miseries  of  her  transatlantic 
children,  so  has  Knjrland  reason  to  claim  much  of  the  merit  of  the  very 
dillerent  career  of  her  njvolted  colonies.  Founded  chiefly  by  various 
sects,  that  left  liimland  to  avoiil  a  persecution  which,  in  Spain,  would 
have  been  hailed  as  nicrcy,  the  revolted  colonies  were,  from  their  very 
commencement,  governed  by  themselves  on  principles  which  were 
republican  in  everytliinsj  but  the  name,  'J'heir  revolutionary  war, 
therefore,  afVected  little  or  nothing  of  their  laws  and  institutions  but  tlu; 
tie  that  conn(;cted  them  with  the  old  country,  leaving,  on  the  whole, 
the  sanu'  men  to  keep  the  same  machinery  in  motion  ;  and,  to  illustrate 
and  establish  this  by  an  instance,  Rhode  Island  retainetl,  and,  I  believe, 
still  retains,  her  royal  charter  without  comment  or  alteration  as  her 
republican  constitution.  Now  mark  the  result,  as  contrasted  with  the 
condition  of  Spanish  America.  In  spite  of  the  essential  evils  of  pure 
democracy, — a  government  which  can  be  eflicient  only  where  the 
virtue  and  patriotism  of  the  great  mass  of  a  people  are  such  as  to  ren- 
der government  almost  su|)erlluous, — the  citizens  of  every  state  in  the 
confederation  enjoy  a  degree  of  security  for  property,  liberty  and  life, 
such  as  is  utterly  unknown  in  any  portion  of  Sj)anish  America  ;  again, 
instead  of  constantly  fluctuating,  at  the  expense  of  much  blood  and 
treasure,  between  centralism  and  federation,  our  transatlantic  kindred 
have,  for  more  than  fifty  years,  exhibited  a  union  of  their  own  making, 
wliicii,  without  trenching  on  the  rijjhts  of  its  component  parts  with 
respect  to  internal  proceedings,  curiously  blends  in  itself  the  principles 
of  a  consolidated  dominion  with  those  of  a  federal  repid)lic ;  and,  last 
tliouffh  not  least,  the  United  States,  in  all  that  constitutes  the  material 
prosj)erity  of  a  nation,  have  surpassed  every  country  but  the  one  that 
trave  them  birth,  standing  before  the  world  as  the  most  formidable  rival 
of  England  in  the  race  that  has  made  her  what  she  is, — a  position 
which  accounts,  more  satisfactorily  than  anything  else,  for  the  undis- 
firiiised  and  incurable  Jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  Americans  of  the  land 
of  their  fathers. 

IJut,  to  return  to  the  Spanish  Colonies,  there  appears  to  be  reasona- 
l)lc  roouj  for  doubling,  whether  their  independence  has  not  cost  them 
nu)re  than  it  is  worth  in  an  anarchy,  wliich,  iidierent,  as  it  seems  to 
l>e,  in  every  man's  mind,  threatens  to  be  as  durable  as  it  is  general. 
If  Spain  ruled  her  sons  with  a  rod  of  iron,  she  secured  to  them,  in  a 


■ "  '*->| 


■  ?;• 


P^ 


200 


MONTEREY. 


til 


W:. 


pre-eminent  decree,  tlie  blcssinps  of  peaee  and  order;  if  she  burdened 
and  fettered  tlieui,  she  guaranteed  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  all  the 
energy  and  freedom  that  slie  left ;  if  she  enhaneed  the  price  of  imported 
goods  by  taxes  and  restrictions,  she  took  care  that  the  resources,  which 
were  to  buy  them,  should  not  l)e  wasted  by  the  locust-like  marches  and 
countermarches  of  alternately  victorious  factions.  In  truth,  the  eman- 
cipation of  Spanish  America  has  been  an  unmixed  good  to  the  English 
races  alone,  for  on  them  it  has  conferred  not  only  the  monopoly  of  the 
trade,  but  also,  through  such  monopoly,  the  virtual  sovereignty  of  the 
country  and  of  its  adjacent  oceans. 

To  resume  the  thread  of  my  journal,  the  Catilina  arrived  to-day,  the 
seventeenth  of  the  month,  from  San  Francisco,  swelling  the  number  of 
vessels  in  port  to  six.  The  air  was  cool,  with  heavy  rain  from  morn- 
ing till  night ;  and  the  tops  of  the  distant  mountains  were  covered  with 
snow.  It  was  quite  the  weather  for  a  fire ;  and  as  there  was  no 
pleasure  in  going  ashore  to  be  drenched,  we  took  care  to  have  our  full 
allowance  of  the  luxury  of  a  blaze  on  board.  Several  whales  were 
sporting  near  our  vessel,  the  bay  of  Monterey  being  a  favorite  resort 
for  that  fish ;  and  we  were  told  that  the  shark,  the  thresher,  the  cod 
and  the  sardine  also  abounded.  The  sardine,  by  the  by,  furnishes  an 
admirable  illustration  of  the  industry  of  the  good  folks  of  this  province. 
The  Californians,  as  has  been  elsewhere  stated,  eat  no  fish  because 
they  have  no  boats  to  catch  them  ;  but,  when  a  westerly  gale  has  driven 
millions  of  sardines  on  the  strand,  they  do  take  the  trouble  of  cooking 
what  dame  Nature  has  thus  poured  into  their  laps. 

The  only  places  in  the  neighborhood,  which  are  worthy  of  notice, 
are  the  Pueblo  of  Branciforte  and  the  Missions  of  Santa  Cruz  and  San 
Carlos,  the  first  two  lying  on  the  Bay  of  Monterey  and  the  last  on  the 
River  Carmelo. 

Branciforte  contains  barely  150  inhabitants;  and,  as  being  the  least 
populous,  it  is  also,  of  course,  the  least  profligate  of  the  three  pueblos 
of  the  upper  province.  But  the  deficiency  of  the  pueblo  in  this  respect 
is  said  to  have  been,  in  some  measure,  supplied  by  the  uncanonical  pro- 
ceedings of  some  of  tlie  fathers  of  the  neighboring  mission.  In  1823, 
one  Quintanes,  then  a  priest  of  Santa  Cruz,  forgot  one  of  his  vows  in 
the  society  of  a  certain  squaw,  who,  through  penitence  or  indignation, 
or  vanity,  or  some  other  motive,  let  her  husband  into  the  secret  of  her 
conquest.  After  watching  his  opportunity,  the  man  at  last  succeeded 
in  mutilating  the  lover  in  the  most  brutal  manner,  leaving  him  insensi- 
ble, but  was  himself  dragged  to  the  calabozo,  whence,  according  to 
common  rumor,  he  was  soon  afterwards  carried  off  by  the  devil  for 
his  impiety.  Quintanes,  on  the  contrary,  died  with  the  fame  of  a 
martyr,  for  a  long  time  elapsed  before  the  truth  was  known  through 
the  confessions  of  a  woman  who  had  been  privy  to  the  injured  savage's 
fatal  revenge.  Treading  in  the  footsteps  of  Quintanes,  though  with 
more  caution  and  greater  success,  his  present  reverence  of  Santa  Cruz, 
brother  of  the  jovial  priest  of  Monterey,  finds  pleasant  relaxation,  to 
say  nothing  of  his  bottle,  in  a  seraglio  of  native  beauties,  which  is  said 
to  be,  in  general,  more  numerously  garrisoned  than  the  Castle  of 


Mo 
usu 
the 
a  C 
nee 


i 

i 

1 

hi^ 

MONTEREY. 


201 


■u'H 


Monterey.  I  need  hardly  add,  that  the  mission  in  question  is  in  tlie 
usual  stale  of  decay  and  dilapidation;  and  in  fact,  being  so  close  to 
the  seat  of  trovernment,  it  was  sure  to  be  one  of  the  first  to  sulfur,  for 
a  Californian  is  not  likely  to  advance  one  step  faster  or  farther  than  is 
necessary  even  in  the  pleasant  and  profitable  path  of  spoliation. 

Orifjinally  the  Mission  of  San  Carlos  also  stood  on  the  bay,  l)ein<5 
the  second  that  was  established  in  the  upper  province.  In  a  former 
passage  I  have  noticed,  that  an  expedition,  which  had  been  sent  from 
San  Diego  by  land  to  discover  Monterey,  had  failed  in  its  immeiliate 
object,  though  it  succeeded  in  making  the  more  valuable  discovery  of 
the  Harbor  of  San  Francisco.  Next  year,  however,  two  expeditions, 
the  one  by  land  and  the  other  by  sea,  reached  the  desired  spot ;  and  a 
graphic  letter, — whose  second  paragraph  is  a  curiosity  well  worth  pre- 
serving,— conveyed  from  Father  Junipero  Serra  to  Father  Palou  the 
fallowing  account  of  their  proceedings: 

"My  Dearest  Friend  and  Sir.  On  the  31st  day  of  May,  by  the 
favor  of  God,  after  rather  a  painful  voyage  of  a  month  and  a  half,  this 
packet,  San  Antonio,  commanded  by  Don  Juan  Perez,  arrived  and 
anchored  in  this  horrible  port  of  Monterey,  which  is  unaltered  in  any 
degree  from  what  it  was  when  visited  by  the  expedition  of  Don  Sebas- 
tian Vizcaino  in  the  year  1603.  It  gave  me  great  consolation  to  find 
that  the  land  expedition  had  arrived  eight  days  before  us,  and  that 
Father  Crespi  and  all  others  were  in  good  health.  On  the  3d  June, 
being  the  holy  day  of  Pentecost,  the  whole  of  the  officers  of  sea  and 
land,  and  all  the  people,  assembled  on  a  bank  at  the  foot  of  an  oak, 
where  we  caused  an  altar  to  be  raised,  and  the  bells  to  be  rung:  we 
then  chaunted  the  Veni  Creator,  blessed  the  water,  erected  and  blessed 
a  grand  cross,  hoisted  the  royal  standard,  and  chaunted  the  first  mass 
that  was  ever  perfotmed  in  this  place;  we  afterwards  sang  the  salve 
to  Our  Lady  before  an  image  of  the  most  illustrious  Virgin,  which 
occupied  the  altar;  and  at  the  same  time  I  preached  a  sermon,  con- 
cluding the  whole  with  a  Te  Deum.  After  this  the  officers  took 
possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  the  king  our  lord  (whom 
God  preserve).  We  then  all  dined  together  in  a  shady  place  on  the 
beach ;  the  whole  ceremony  being  accompanied  by  many  volleys  and 
salutes  by  the  troops  and  vessels. 

"  As  in  last  May  it  is  a  whole  year  since  I  have  received  any  letter 
from  a  Christian  country,  your  reverence  may  suppose  in  what  want 
we  are  of  news;  but  for  all  that,  I  only  ask  you,  when  you  can  get  an 
opportunity,  to  inform  me  what  our  most  holy  father,  the  reigning 
pope,  is  called,  that  I  may  put  his  name  in  the  canon  of  the  mass; 
also  to  say  if  the  canonization  of  the  beatified  Joseph  Cupertino  and 
Serafino  Asculi  has  taken  place ;  and  if  there  is  any  other  beatified 
one,  or  saint,  in  order  that  I  may  put  them  in  the  calendar,  and  pray 
to  them  ;  we  having,  it  would  appear,  taken  our  leave  of  all  printed 
calendars.  Tell  me  also  if  it  is  true,  that  the  Indians  have  killed 
Joseph  Soler  in  Sonora,  and  how  it  happened  ;  and  if  there  are  any 
other  friends  defunct,  in  order  that  I  may  commend  them  to  God,  with 
anything  else  that  your  reverence  may  think  fit  to  communicate  to  a 


202 


MONTKREY. 


few  poor  licrmits  scparatod  from  human  sorioty.  Wo  proceed  to-mor- 
row to  cclehnitc  the  lb;ist,  and  make  the  procession  of  Corpus  C'hristi, 
(allhoiifrh  in  a  very  poor  miinner,)  in  order  to  scare  away  whatever 
little  devils  there  possil)ly  may  be  in  this  land.     I  kiss  the  hands,  &;c. 

"Fr.  JUNIPERO  SeRRA." 


"Mi  ■ 


h  *:'i: 


i:>ni 


m  .. 


i  >  ■ 


|?'i  ■:' 


As  all  this  happened,  at  the  earliest,  in  the  year  1770,  some  of  the 
younirer  witnesses  of  the  solemn  and  ambitions  pomp  may  have  lived, 
and  may  still  be  alive,  to  mark  the  contrast.  To  say  nothin)^  more  ol 
the  expulsion  of  the  friars  and  the  desecration  of  their  labors,  the  Span- 
ish crown,  which,  by  its  recent  acquisition  of  FVench  liOuisiana,  then 
possessed  a  colonial  empire  stretchinji  in  lengtli  from  the  sources  of  the 
Missouri  to  the  confluence  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  and,  in  its 
breadth,  generally  embanking  either  ocean,  was  left,  in  about  half  a 
century,  without  a  sintrle  province  or  even  a  single  partisan  on  the 
American  Continent.  Tliis  revolution,  more  extensively  influential 
than  any  other  that  the  world  had  ever  seen,  was  far  too  improbable  t(t 
enter,  at  that  time,  into  any  human  calculations  of  the  future.  The 
United  States  had  not  yet  given  life  and  form  to  the  opinion,  that  dis- 
tant dependencies  must  sooner  or  later  become  independent ;  the 
colonial  rulers,  whether  civil  or  military,  were,  through  the  prejudices 
of  birth  and  station,  more  deeply  attached  to  Spain  than  to  her  pro- 
vinces, while  the  colonists  themselves,  sunk  in  ignorance  and  luxury, 
were  contented  to  hug  the  muflled  chains  that  checked  their  growth 
and  impeded  their  movements  ;  and,  though  here  and  there  liable  lo 
be  plundered  by  foreign  assailants,  yet  Spanish  America,  as  a  whole, 
had  proved  herself  to  be  more  decidedly  impregnable  than  perhaps  any 
other  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  IJut,  as  if  in  mockery  ot 
man's  foresight,  the  axe  was  already  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree.  In 
17G3,  the  cession  of  Canada  lo  England  and  the  transfer  of  Louisiana 
to  Spain,  by  relieving  the  English  Colonies  from  their  hereditary 
terror  of  France,  had  broken  the  strongest  tie  that  kept  them  to  their 
allegiance  ;  and  in  1765,  M'ithin  three  short  years,  they  had  practically 
exhibited,  in  forcibly  resisting  the  execution  of  an  imperial  statute,  the 
rebellious  tendency  of  their  new-born  ease  and  security, — a  tendency 
which,  in  eleven  years  more,  ripened  into  the  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence. 

Again,  the  American  war,  partly  by  inspiring  the  French  auxiliaries 
with  an  enthusiasm  for  liberty,  and  partly  by  embarrassing  the  French 
finances  beyond  the  hope  of  remedy,  was  one  main  and  immediate 
cause  of  that  great  European  revolution,  which,  by  placing  Spain 
under  the  armed  heels  of  a  foreign  dynasty,  gave  to  Mexico  and  South 
America  at  once  a  favorable  opportunity  and  a  plausible  pretext  lor 
rebellion,  thus  sending  back  to  the  one-half  of  the  New  World  the  same 
impulse  which  it  had  itself  originally  received  from  the  other. 

The  heavy  rain  of  Monday  was  on  Tuesday  sdcceeded  by  brii^ht 
and  warm  weather;  and  we  gladly  went  ashore,  though  at  the  cost  ot 
upsetting  one  of  our  boats  in  the  surf.  Such  an  accident  is  quite  com- 
mon, particularly  with  men  unaccustomed  to  the  work, — our  captain, 


.■in 


MONTEREY. 


203 


for  iiistanro,  and  a  whole  party  of  rricnds.  who  had  hpcw  diiiiuir  on 
hoard,  haviii};  hcnn  conifortahly  cap-sizt'il  into  a  c  'd  hath,  no  further 
hack  than  last  cvL-iiinir. 

Thoiifrh  I  was  inys<'ir<h'tainod  hy  hnsiiirss  in  ihr  town,  yot  most  ol 
my  t'rionds  started  ofl' to  visit  the  lAIissioii  of  San  ('arh)s,  which,  in  this 
its  second  situation,  is  al)out  ionr  miles  distant  from  .Monterey,  lyitiii 
near  the  sea  on  the  C'armeh).  The  interveniiiir  counlrv  was  very  pic- 
turesque, presenting  a  succession  of  jrrassy  sh)pes,  with  a  snilicient 
sprinkling  of  tind)er  to  relieve  the  monotony,  while,  in  the  distance, 
there  appeared,  in  pleasing  contrast,  the  illimitahle  ocean  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  snow-cappeil  mountains  on  the  other.  The  nurnlter  of 
cattle  that  grazed  oti  the  rich  pasturajje,  was  veiv  considerahle.  In 
fad,  throughout  the  whole  country,  the  herds  roam  so  much  at  will  as 
to  he  dangerous  to  thosi;  who  are  not  well  mounted  ;  and  instances  are 
not  uncommon  in  which  solitary  individuals  have  heen  "treed"  i'or 
several  liotirs  at  a  time,  hy  some  ferocious  rascal  of  an  old  hull. 

Near  liie  mission  thi-re  is  a  very  distinct  rent  in  the  earth  of  a  mile  or 
so  in  length,  and  of  thirty  or  forty  feet  in  depth,  the  result  of  one  of 
the  recent  eartlujuakes.  'J'he  mission  itself,  in  addition  to  the  hand  of 
the  spoiler,  has  also  had  this  same  suhterranean  eiu'inv  to  encounter, 
for  the  heantiful  church,  which,  as  usual,  su|)erstition  has  wrested  from 
rapacity,  has  had  one  side  pretty  severely  shattered  hy  a  recent  shock. 
The  exterior  of  this  sacred  edilice  is  more  hisrhly  finished  than  is  gene- 
rally the  ease  in  the  missions,  inasmuch  as  the  skill  and  taste  of  the 
irood  fathers  have,  in  most  instances,  heen  reserved  for  the  interior  deco- 
rations. 'J'wo  elegant  towers  sustain  a  peal  of  six  hells;  and  on  the 
walls  of  the  same  are  two  or  three  momiments,  one  of  them,  which 
reminded  us  that  we  too  were  strangers  in  the  land,  in  memory  of  a 
marine  of  the  "  Venus."  closing  an  appropriate  inscri[)tion  with  t)ie 
characteristic  request  "  Priez  pour  lui."  In  the  interior,  among  other 
images,  are  two  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  eac  h  ludding  a  heautifully  dressed 
doll,  to  represent  the  Infant  Saviour.  In  adilition  to  the  images,  there 
are  several  excellent  pictures,  each  surmounting  a  tahlet,  which  hears 
some  description  of  it,  generally  terse  and  pithy  ;  for  instance,  under- 
neath the  representation  of  (Jhrist  carrying  his  ('ross,  the  reader  fmds 
a  homily  in  the  line,  "Thy  sins  were  the  cause  of  this  misery." 
Several  paintings  portrayed,  for  the  edification  of  the  savages,  the  tor- 
ments of  purgatory  and  hell ;  and  opposite  to  tliem  was  a  realization  of 
heaven  with  an  amusing  preponderance  of  popes,  priests,  and  nuns. 

With  the  exception  of  the  church,  the  immense  ranges  of  huildings 
were  all  a  heap  of  ruins.  Here,  ajrain,  as  in  the  case  of  Santa  Cruz, 
tiie  proximity  of  the  ruling  powers  had  hastened  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion, the  last  tile  having  heen  rifled  from  the  roofs,  and  sold  to  adorn 
the  houses  of  Monterey.  Of  the  seven  hundred  converts,  n^siding  hero, 
according  to  Ilumholdt,  in  1802,  not  one  remained;  and  the  only  living 
tenants  of  the  estahlishment,  were  a  man  and  his  wife,  whose  single 
duty  was  to  take  care  of  a  church  that  had  no  priest. 


4 


>  -1 

r.. 


if; 


f 


1    n 


u 


204 


CHAPTER  IX. 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


iM'! 


1^ ;  i 


On  the  nineteenth  of  the  month,  havinj^  completed  onr  business  in 
Monterey,  we  prepared  to  take  our  leave.  But,  as  there  was  not  a 
breath  of  wind  all  day,  it  was  ten  in  the  evening  before  we  got  under 
way  in  company  with  the  Fama  and  the  Bolivar  and  the  two  schooners 
California  and  Julia  Ann,  leavinir  the  port  and  its  twelve  tax-gatherers 
deserted  by  every  vessel  except  the  Catilina.  By  next  morning,  the 
wind  was  right  ahead  with  the  southeaster's  usual  accompaniment  of 
thick  and  rainy  weather, — a  state  of  things  which  continued  with  no 
other  change  than  an  increase  of  the  gale,  till,  towards  evening  on  the 
twenty-second,  the  sky  began  to  clear  and  the  wind  hauled  round  to 
the  westward.  At  this  time,  according  to  our  dead  reckoning,  we 
were  off'  Point  Conception,  a  remarkable  promontory  whence  the  coast, 
instead  of  continuing  to  run  a  little  to  the  east  of  south,  trends  nearly 
due  east  for  a  very  considerable  distance.  Besides  this  peculiarity,  the 
headland  in  question  possesses  the  more  practical  distinction  of  termi- 
nating the  belt  of  coast,  which,  during  nine  months  of  the  year,  is 
affected,  more  particularly  in  the  mornings,  by  the  northwest  fogs ; 
and,  in  fact,  the  sudden  turn  of  the  land  places  all,  that  is  below  Point 
Conception,  in  the  same  position  as  the  interior  with  respect  to  the 
prevailing  breezes  of  the  summer.  It  is,  moreover,  probably  with  a 
precise  reference  to  this  cape,  that  San  Francisco  and  Monterey  on  the 
one  hand,  and  Santa  Barbara,  San  Pedro  and  San  Diego  on  the  other, 
are  respectively  classified  as  the  Windward  and  the  Leeward  Ports. 

About  thirty  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Point  Conception  lies  Santa 
Barbara,  with  four  islands  abreast  of  it  in  the  distant  offing;  and,  in 
reliance  on  our  dead  reckoning,  we  ran  boldly  before  the  wind,  so  as 
to  make  a  straight  course  for  our  destined  port.  About  eleven  in  the 
evening,  the  first  of  the  islands,  as  we  supposed,  was  seen  on  our  star- 
board bow  ;  but,  before  midnight,  the  cry  of  "Land  ahead," — land  so 
near  that  we  could  discern  the  surf  breaking  on  the  beach, — came 
just  in  time  to  prevent  us  from  running  ashore  in  the  Bay  of  San  Luis 
Obispo,  situated  forty  miles  to  the  north  of  Point  Conception.  To  us 
the  error  in  our  calculations  appeared  to  be  the  more  unaccountable  at 
the  time,  inasmuch  as  we  had  been  taking  for  granted  that  the  current 
on  the  coast,  uniformly  set  towards  the  south  and  was,  therefore,  always 
in  our  favor.  But  we  soon  came  to  the  natural  conclusion  that  the 
current  must  be  alTected  in  its  direction  by  the  wind ;  and,  besides  our 
own  experience  in  corroboration  of  this  view,  we  found  from  Langs- 


1 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


205 


(lord'  that  Von  Rcsanoff's  vpssol,  alroady  mrntioncd,  had  been  ropoat- 
edlv  carried  to  the  northward,  in  the  month  of  March,  bv  the  currents, 
having,  on  one  occasion,  drifted  imperceptibly  in  a  sinjjle  nijrlit  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  to  the  entrance  of  Wliidbey's  Harbor.  In 
fict,  where  there  do  not  happen  to  be  any  disturbing  causes,  this  con- 
nection between  winds  and  currents  may  be  regarded  as  a  physical  law, 
whether  it  be  that  the  air  moves  the  wafer  or  the  water  the  air.  Thus 
the  easterly  trade-wind  forces  the  Atlantic  into  the  Caribbean  Sea  and 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  with  a  current  accelerated  by  the  comparative  nar- 
rowness of  the  intermediate  channels,  while  this  same  current,  forced 
to  the  northeastward  under  the  name  of  the  Florida  Stream  by  the  op- 
posing continent,  is  doubtless  assisted  in  cleaving  its  well  defined  way 
to  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  by  the  general  prevalence  of  the  south- 
westers  on  the  adjacent  waters. 

Havingescaped  from  the  dangerof  the  baflling currents, almost  theonly 
danger  on  this  part  of  the  coast,  for,  at  least  to  the  north  of  Point  Concept 
tion,  the  terrors  of  a  lee  shore  are  iiardly  known, — we  next  morning  dou- 
bled Point  Conception  in  real  earnest;  but,  as  the  wind  was  light,  it  was 
dark  before  we  could  reach  the  roadstead.  Seeing  the  Julia  Ann  stand- 
ing into  the  port,  we  fired  a  rocket  and  blue  light  for  signals  to  guide 
us ;  but,  though  the  schooner  took  the  hint,  yet  she  was  too  far  oil"  for 
us  to  benefit  by  her  answers.     We,  therefore,  lay  to  for  the  night. 

In  the  morning  we  found  ourselves  distant  about  ten  miles  from  the 
Mission  of  Santa  Barbara,  which,  being  situated  on  an  eminence  within 
a  quarter  of  an  hour's  walk  from  the  town,  forms,  with  its  whitewashed 
walls,  an  excellent  landmark  for  steering  into  the  harbor.  Being  al- 
most becalmed,  with  the  prospect  of  not  gaining  our  anchorage  for  seve- 
ral hours,  we  lowered  the  whaleboat  and  stowed  away  as  many  of  our 
party  as  she  could  accommodate,  boarding  the  Julia  Ann  on  our  way 
10  thank  her  owner,  Mr.  Thompson,  for  his  politeness  of  the  previous 
evening.  It  was  well  that  we  did  so,  for,  unless  that  gentleman  had 
added  to  his  kindness  by  accompanying  us  in  his  own  boat  to  the  pro- 
per landing-place,  we  should  have  had  considerable  difficulty  in  getting 
asliore.  During  the  season  of  the  southeasters,  the  surf  is  sometimes 
so  heavy  as  to  prevent  boats  from  landing,  to  say  nothing  of  their 
grounding  on  the  sands,  and  being  entangled  in  the  sea-weed.  In  sum- 
mer, however,  the  surf  is  less  dangerous,  while  the  shallows  are  said 
to  be  deepened  by  the  banking  up  of  the  sand  on  the  beach  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  seaward  gales. 

With  the  pilotage  of  Mr.  Thompson  and  the  assistance  of  his  boat's 
crew,  which  luckily  happened  to  consist  ciiiefly  of  Sandwich  Island- 
ers, perfect  ducks  of  fellows,  we  surmounted  all  obstacles  without  any 
mishap ;  and  our  guide,  after  conducting  us  to  his  residence  and  intro- 
ducing us  to  Mrs.  Thompson,  handed  us  over  to  Mr.  Scott,  a  native  of 
Perth,  to  whom  we  had  letters  of  introduction  from  his  partner.  Cap- 
tain Wilson,  of  the  Index.  Mr.  Scott,  who  is  one  of  the  most  prosper- 
ous merchants  in  the  country,  received  us  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make 
us  feel  that  we  were  among  friends, — an  impression  which  every  face 
that  we  saw  in  Santa  Barbara  only  tended  to  confirm. 


■■."»' 


*.. 


206 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


m 


■■1 


m. 


m  ■  it 


■:t  .■ 


AVo  iinmndiatcly  sljirtcd  to  pay  our  respects  to  the  principal  inliatiif- 
iintH,  aiii()n<rst  othcrn  Don  Antonio  Oreai::),  J)on  Antiiiiio  A{ruire,  Don 
Carlos  ('arillo  and  Mrs.  liiirkc,  l>y  all  of  whom  we  were  received 
with  {frcal  cordiidily  ;  and  then,  r«:turnin'r  to  (Japtain  Wilson's  house, 
where  Mr.  iScott  resided,  w(!  had  the  pl(;asure  of  heinjf  introduced  to 
Mrs.  Wilson,  whom  wc;  already  knew  hy  name  as  a  sister  of  8enora 
V  alleiro,  and  whom  wc  now  louml  to  he  one  of  tin;  prettiest  and  most 
ajrreeahU'  women  that  we  had  ever  met  either  here  or  elstfwhere.  He- 
lore  she  hecame  Mrs.  Wilson,  she  had  heen  the  wife  of  ('aptain  I*a- 
checo,  one  of  the  lew  persons  that  have  lost  their  lives  in  conseijuenco 
of  the  revolutionary  trouhlcs  of  California, — a  country  in  which,  frotn 
various  causes,  intestine  commotions  have  hitherto  heen  comparatively 
Jiarmless.  llavinjr  heen  comrades  in  the  same  service,  or  being  the 
sons  of  such  as  were  so,  the  ('alifornians  cherish,  either  hy  hahit  or 
hy  inheritance,  feelings  of  mutual  regard,  while  their  simplicity  of  cha- 
racter and  contentedness  of  disposition  lend  to  prevent  them  from  heinir 
i^\y\\[  into  petty  cliques  hy  social  vanities  and  commercial  rivalrici^. 
Again,  even  when  they  are  divided  against  ea(di  other  hy  political  ex- 
citement, tjiey  possess  but  scanty  means  of  doing  mischief.  Gunpow- 
der, as  we  have  s(!en,  is  always  a  scarce  article ;  the  sword  is  an  awk- 
ward weapon  to  wield  where  there  is  so  little  of  personal  animosity; 
and  as  to  the  lasso,  the  ('alifornians  have  not  yet  elevated  it,  I  believe, 
to  the  dignity  of  noosing  men,  however  cleverly  it  can  disable  a  fellow 
without  either  killing  or  wounding  him.  To  return  to  Mrs.  Wilson, 
she  insisted  <;n  our  making  Uvs  house  our  head-quarters,  while  Mr. 
Scott  devoted  the  whole  of  his  time  to  our  service  in  the  double  capa- 
city of  interpreter  and  guide. 

After  dinner  we  were  joined  by  the  remainder  of  our  party,  the 
Cowlitz  having  by  this  time  come  to  anchor;  and  we  again  sallied 
forth  to  see  a  few  more  of  the  lions.  Among  the  persons,  whom  we 
met  this  afternoon,  was  a  lady  of  some  historical  celebrity.  Voii 
Kesanofl",  having  failed,  as  elsewhere  stated,  in  his  attempt  to  enter 
the  Columbia,  in  1800,  continued  his  voyage  as  far  as  San  Francisco, 
where,  besides  purchasing  immediate  supplies  for  Sitka,  he  endeavored, 
in  negotiation  with  the  commandant  of  the  district  and  the  governor 
of  the  province,  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  regular  intercourse  between 
Russian  America  and  the  Californian  settlements.  In  order  to  cement 
the  national  union,  he  proposed  uniting  himself  with  Donna  Concep- 
tion Arguello,  one  of  the  commandant's  daughters,  his  patriotism 
clearly  being  its  own  reward,  if  half  of  Jjangsdorfl's  description  was 
correct.  "  She  was  lively  and  animated,  had  sparkling,  love-inspiring 
eyes,  beautiful  teeth,  pleasing  and  expressive  features,  a  fine  form,  and 
a  thousand  other  charms  ;  yet  her  manners  were  perfectly  simple  and 
artless."  The  chancellor,  who  was  himself  of  the  Greek  church, 
regarded  the  difference  of  religion  with  the  eyes  of  a  lover  and  a  poli- 
tician ;  but,  as  his  imperial  master  might  take  a  less  liberal  view  of  the 
matter,  he  posted  away  to  St.  Petersburgh  with  the  intention,  if  he 
should  there  be  successful,  of  subsequently  visiting  Madrid  for  the 
requisite  authority  to  carry  his  schemes  into  full  effect.      But  the 


"*«^* 


SANTA  BARBAUA. 


207 


latcs,  with  a  voire  ninrc;  powerful  tli:m  that  of  emperors  niul  kiiijjs, 
t((rl)a(l(!  the  haiins;  ;mil  Von  KeMiiioH'  ditd,  on  his  road  to  iMirope,  al 
Krasiioyarsh  in  Siberia  of  a  fall  from  liis  horse,  'rims  al  oiici*  be- 
reaved of  her  lover,  and  disappointed  in  her  hope  of  hecominu;  a  pled<;e 
of  friendship  hctween  Russia  and  Spain,  Donna  Coneeptiim  assumed 
the  hahit,  hut  not,  I  helievi',  the  I'ormal  vows,  ol"  a  nun,  dediealini,'  lier 
life  to  the  instruction  of  the  voun<'  and  the  eimsojaiion  of  the  siek. 
This  little  romance  coidd  not  fail  to  interest  us  ;  and,  nolwiihstandini^ 
die  niiirraeefulness  of  her  eonventiial  costume  ami  the  ravaifes  of  an 
Hiterval  of  time,  which  had  tripled  her  years,  wi;  could  stdl  discover  in 
her  face  and  fijruri!,  in  her  manners  and  e<niversatioi  .  the  remains  of 
those  charms  which  had  won  for  the  yonthiul  heauty  V'on  Uesanoll's 
enthusiastic  love,  and  lianirsdorll's  e(iually  enthusiastic  admiration, 
'i'houfrh  Donna  ('onception  apparently  loved  to  dwell  on  the  siory  of 
iter  blighted  alleetions,  yet,  stranj^c;  to  say,  she  knew  not,  till  we  men- 
tioned it  to  her,  the  imnu'iliate  cause  of  the  chancellor's  sudden  death. 
This  circumstance  niijfht,  in  s(Mne  measure,  be;  explaim.'d  by  the  fact, 
that  Langsdorir's  work  was  not  published  befort;  181  t  ;  but  ev(Mi 
liien,  in  any  other  country  than  California,  a  lady,  who  was  still 
young,  would  surely  have  seen  a  book,  whi.di,  besides  (U.tailitii;  the 
trrand  incident  of  her  life,  presented  so  gratifying  a  portrait  of  her 
charms. 

Santa  Barbara  is  somewhat  larger  than  Monten^y,  containing  about 
nine  hundred  inhabitants,  while  the  one  is  just  as  much  a  maze  with- 
out a  plan  as  the  other.  Here,  however,  anything  of  the  nature  of 
resemblance  ends,  Santa  IJarbara,  in  most  respects,  being  to  Monterey 
what  the  parlor  is  to  the  kitchen. 

The  site  of  the  town  has  doubtless  been  fixed  by  the  position  of  the 
port,  if  port  it  can  be  called.  In  the  ofling,  as  alr(,'ady  stated,  lie  four 
islands,  the  nearest  of  them,  howcner,  l)eing  too  distant  to  all'ord  any 
shelter;  the  bay,  as  the  shore  of  the  niainlanil  may  perhaps  be  termed, 
is  exposed,  at  every  point,  to  the  worst  winds  of  the  worst  season  of 
the  year;  and,  to  crown  all,  the  bottom  is  not  to  be  trusted  in  the 
hour  of  trial,  being  hard  sand  covered  with  seaweed.  Hut  the  port, 
such  as  it  was,  had  been  selected  for  want  of  a  better,  while  the  supe- 
riority of  the  climate,  which  was  at  once  drier  than  that  of  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Monterey,  and  cooler  than  that  of  San  Pedro  and  San  Diego, 
rendered  the  neighborhood  the  favorite  retreat  of  the  more  respectable 
functionaries,  civil  and  military,  of  the  province.  Hence  among  all 
the  settlements,  as  distinguished  from  the  rascally  pueblos,  Santa  IJar- 
l)ara  possesses  the  double  advantage  of  being  both  the  oldest  and  the 
most  aristocratic. 

'I'he  houses  are  not  only  well  finished  at  first,  but  are  throughout 
kept  in  good  order;  and  the  white-washed  adobes  and  the  painted  bal- 
conies and  verandahs  form  a  pleasing  contrast  with  the  overshadowing 
roofs  blackened  by  means  of  bitumen,  the  produce  of  a  neighboring 
spring.  Compared  with  the  slovenly  habitations  of  San  Francisco  and 
Monterey,  the  houses  of  Santa  Barbara  are  built  and  maintained  at  an 
addition  of  cost  the  greater  on  this  account,  that  nearly  the  whole  of 


4 


>, 


'  •'I 


Il      < 


208 


SANTA  BAIIHARA. 


1  1    3|i-,M'" 

-, 

1 

■«  ■ 

''  ill 

1 

'  1  1 

1." 

f  ;:f 

•    .-^ 

';    (.               1 

1    'i'*'" 

'  i'^-'^ 

iiii 

1 

gii. 

flic  (lifTi^rcnco  immrdintrly  resolves  itsrlT  into  llitit  most  oxponsivn  of 
nil  articles  in  this  indolent  eonntry,  the  time  of  hired  l.ihorers  and  nn- 
ohanics.  In  sj)ite  of  the  ahnndanee  and  eheapness  of  most  of  the 
materials,  a  eomforlahle  dwellinir  of  two  stories  cannot  he  erected  Ibr 
less  than  5,000  or  0,000  dollars  in  hard  cash,  while  to  the  interest  ot' 
the  capital,  which  is  thus  already  sunk,  must  he  added  the  annual 
expenditure  in  repairing  the  inroads  n(  wind  and  weather.  Hut  it  is 
internally  that  the  houses  of  Santa  IJarhara  are  seen  to  the  tjreatest 
advantaf^e.  'J'he  rooms  are,  in  (ifencral,  handsomely  furnished,  many 
of  them  with  carpets;  and  indeed  the  saloon  of  Don  Antonio  Ai,niirc 
quite  struck  us  with  surprise,  set  otF,  as  it  was,  hy  the  jirescnee  of  his 
young  wife  and  her  hlack-eyed  heauty  of  a  sister.  In  Santa  Barhara 
as  elsewhere,  the  heds  appear  to  he  the  grand  point  of  attraction,  and 
to  cmhody  all  the  skill  and  taste  of  the  females  of  the  families,  though, 
the  farther  that  one  advances  to  the  south,  the  linen  and  the  lace,  and 
the  damask  and  the  satin,  and  the  cfhihroidery  serve  only  to  enshrine 
more  populous  and  lively  colonics  of  Las  Pulgas, — decidedly  the  hest 
lodged,  and,  as  we  found  to  our  cost,  not  the  worst  fed,  denizens  of 
California. 

Nor  is  the  superiority  of  the  inhabitants  less  striking  than  that  of 
their  houses. 

Of  the  women  with  their  witchery  of  manner  it  is  not  easy,  or  rather 
it  is  not  possible,  for  u  stranger  to  speak  with  impartiality,  inasmuch 
as  our  self-love  is  naturally  enlisted  in  favor  of  those,  who,  in  every 
look,  tone  and  gesture,  have  apparently  no  other  end  in  view  than  the 
pleasure  of  pleasing  us.  With  regard,  however,  to  their  physical 
charms,  as  distinguished  from  the  adventitious  accomplishments  of 
education,  it  is  difficult  even  for  a  willing  pen  to  exaggerate.  Inde- 
pendently of  feeling  or  motion,  their  sparkling  eyes  and  glossy  hair 
are  in  themselves  sufficient  to  negative  the  idea  of  tameness  or  in- 
sipidity ;  while  their  sylph-like  forms  evolve  fresh  graces  at  every  step, 
and  their  eloquent  features  eclipse  their  own  inherent  comeliness  by  the 
higher  beauty  of  expression.  Though  doubtless  fully  conscious  of 
their  attractions,  yet  the  women  of  California,  to  their  credit  be  it 
spoken,  do  not  "before  their  mirrors  count  the  time,"  being,  on  the 
contrary,  by  far  the  more  industrious  half  of  the  population.  In  Cali- 
fornia such  a  thing  as  a  white  servant  is  absolutely  unknown,  inasmuch 
as  neither  man  nor  woman  will  barter  freedom  in  a  country,  where 
provisions  are  actually  a  drug  and  clothes  almost  a  superfluity;  and 
accordingly,  in  the  absence  of  intelligent  assistance,  the  first  ladies  of 
the  province,  more  particularly  when  treated,  as  they  too  seldom  are 
by  native  husbands,  with  kindness  and  consideration,  discharge  all  the 
lighter  duties  of  their  households  with  cheerfulness  and  pride.  Nor 
does  their  plain  and  simple  dress  savor  much  of  the  labor  of  the  toilet. 
They  wear  a  gown  sufficiently  short  to  display  their  neatly  turned  foot 
and  ankle  in  their  white  stockings  and  black  shoes,  while  perversely 
enough  they  bandage  their  heads  in  a  handkerchief  so  as  to  conceal 
all  their  hair  except  a  single  loop  on  either  cheek ;  round  their  shoul- 


SANTA  DARBAUA. 


209 


(lers,  moreover,  they  twist  or  swathe  a  shawl,  throwing  over  all,  when 
they  walk  or  ^o  to  mass,  the  "heautiful  and  mysterious  mantilla.'* 

The  men  are  generally  tall  and  handsonn",  while  their  dress  is  far 
more  showy  and  elahorate  than  that  ol'  the  woniun.  Round  a  hroad- 
hrimmcd  hat  is  tied  a  parti-eolorcd  eord  or  handkerchief;  a  shirt, 
which  is  usually  of  the  finest  lint-n,  displays  on  the  breast  a  profusion 
of  lace  and  embroidery  ;  and  over  the  shirt  is  thrown  a  cotton  or  silk 
jacket  of  the  gayest  hues,  with  frogs  on  the  bark,  and  a  regiment  of 
buttons  on  the  breasts  and  eulfs.  To  come  next  to  the  nether  man, 
the  pantaloons  are  split  on  the  outside  from  the  hip  to  the  foot,  with  a 
row  of  buttons  on  either  edge  of  the  opening,  which  is  laced  together 
nearly  down  to  the  knee;  round  the  waist  is  a  silken  belt,  which,  to 
say  nothing  of  its  value  as  an  ornament,  serves  the  utilitarian  purpose 
of  bracing  up  the  inexpressibles ;  and  underneath,  through  the  gaps 
aforesaid,  there  peer  out  a  |)air  of  full  linen  drawcirs  and  a  boot  of  un- 
tanned  deerskin,  the  boot  on  the  right  leg  invariably  forming  tho  scab- 
bard for  that  constant  companion,  the  knife.  Uut  our  dashing  friend, 
to  be  appreciated  by  the  reader,  must  be  placed  on  horseback,  the 
quadruped  being  generally  as  gay  as  his  master.  Tlie  saddle,  which 
is  encumbered  with  trappings,  rises  both  before  and  behind,  while  at 
either  side  there  swings  a  wooden  shovel  by  way  of  stirrup.  Thus 
comfortably  deposited  on  his  easy  chair  and  pair  of  foot-stools,  the 
human  half  of  the  centaur  propels  the  whole  machine  by  means  of 
enormous  spurs  with  rowels  to  match,  setting  rain  at  defiance  from 
head  to  heel,  without  the  help  of  any  of  your  patent  waterproofs.  To 
say  nothing  of  the  broad-brimmed  hat,  his  legs  are  protected  by  a  pair 
of  goatskins,  which  are  attached  to  the  saddle-bow  and  tied  round  the 
waist,  while  his  body  is  covered  by  a  blanket  of  about  eight  feet  by 
five,  with  a  hole  in  the  centre  for  the  head.  This  blanket  or  scrape 
appears  to  be  to  the  vanity  of  the  men  what  the  bed  is  to  that  of  the 
women.  It  varies  in  price  from  five  dollars  to  a  hundred,  sixty  dollars 
being  the  ordinary  rate  for  a  fine  one;  it  is  made  of  cloth  of  the  most 
showy  colors,  sometimes  trimmed  with  velvet,  and  embroidered  with 
gold.  With  such  painted  and  gilded  horsemen  anything  like  industry 
is,  of  course,  out  of  the  question;  and  accordingly  they  spend  their 
time  from  morning  to  night  in  billiard-playing  and  horse-racing,  aggra- 
vating the  evils  of  idleness  by  ruinously  heavy  bets. 

Implicit  obedience  and  profound  respect  are  shown  by  children,  even 
after  they  are  grown  up,  towards  their  parents.  A  son,  though  himself 
the  head  of  a  family,  never  presumes  to  sit  or  smoke  or  remain  covered 
in  presence  of  his  father;  nor  does  the  daughter,  whether  married  or 
unmarried,  enter  into  too  great  familiarity  with  the  mother.  With  this 
exception  the  Californians  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  restraints  of 
etiquette ;  generally  speaking,  all  classes  associate  together  on  a  footing 
of  equality;  and,  on  particular  occasions,  such  as  the  festival  of  the 
saint  after  whom  one  is  named,  or  the  day  of  one's  marriage,  those 
who  can  afibrd  the  expense,  give  a  grand  ball,  generally  in  the  open 
air,  to  the  whole  of  the  neighboring  community. 

In  such  a  country,  singing  and  dancing  may  be  expected  to  be  as 
PART  I. — 14 


■4.1 


210 


SANTA  UAHnARA. 


cominon  as  ratinir  and  Hhrpinij.  Thr  liallu,  in  fact,  look  morn  lik'*  a 
iiiattrr  of  liuHiiicH.s  than  anytliiiit;  v\hv  tliat  in  done  in  ('alilbrnia.  For 
wliolr  dayn  licfon-liand,  HwrrtnieatM  and  Hitnilar  (l«'lica«*i<'H,  of  wliicli 
tlir*  lair  Hcnora.s  arc  duatinirly  lond,  arc  laborioiiNly  prepared  in  thf 
greatest  variety,  tlii;  litlli*  llotir,  that  can  he  (rot,  heinjr  ahnoNt  exeltii^ivcly 
devoted  to  the  coinpoNitioii  (d'  Niich  daintiet<;  and  from  l)etrinnintr  lo 
end  of  the  I'estivitieH,  which  have  heen  known  to  h»Ht  several  conH<'iMi- 
tive  nights,  so  as  to  iiiak«!  the  pcriornicrs,  alter  wearinir  out  their  piitnpN, 
trip  it  in  sea-hoots,  hoth  intMi  and  women  display  as  inneh  gravity  as  il 
atteiulintr  the  I'tineral  ohseijtiics  of  their  most  intimate  I'riends.  A^aiti, 
with  respect  to  music,  no  one  can  enter  a  house  without  lindini;  ont;  or 
more  ol  the  lamily  playing;  on  the  (ruitar  and  sin^rini^.  From  the  I'athir 
and  mother  down  to  the  vtMintrest  child,  all  are  musicians,  every  one 
strumming;  away  in  turn  till  relieved  hy  another;  and,  thoiijrh  one  may 
have  loo  much  (!ven  of  a  (rood  thinjj,  yet  it  must,  in  justice,  he  owned 
thai  they  jfenerally  possess  correctness  of  ear  and  aw»;etn('ss  of  voice. 
They  play  nothing;  l)ut  national  music,  l\\v  fandangos,  holeros,  ami 
I)arcaroles  of  Old  Spain,  havinj;,  in  this  respect  as  in  almost  every  other, 
had  little  opportunity,  and  perhaps  as  little  inclination,  for  deviating 
from  the  customH  of  their  fathers. 

In  all  hut  the  place  of  their  hirth  the  colonists  of  Spain  have  con- 
tinued to  he  (rcnuinc  Spaniards,  the  same  causes  operatinjr  to  produco 
uniformity  of  character  on  either  side  of  the  water.  Throughout 
Spanish  Anterica  the  temperature  does  not,  in  general,  materially  difl'er 
from  that  of  the  old  country,  while  something  like  the  same  alternation 
of  mountain  and  valley  tends  still  farther  to  make  the  one  a  physical 
counterpart  of  the  other.  Nor  have  moral  iniluences  led  the  two 
branches  of  the  race  in  ditferent  directions.  Spain  and  Spanish  Ame- 
rica, by  the  mildness  of  their  climates  and  the  abundance  of  their  re- 
sources, have  equally  fostered  indolence  and  improvidence;  they  have 
equally  been  the  votaries  of  a  church  which  practically,  if  not  inten- 
tionally, checks  mental  culture  and  impedes  material  improvement; 
they  have  equally  passed  through  the  successive  tyrannies  of  indi- 
vidual despotism  and  popular  licentiousness.  To  bring  all  these  points 
of  resemblance  to  bear  with  greater  weight  on  the  uniformity  of  cha- 
racter, both  Spain  and  Spanish  America  were  studiously  shut  out 
from  the  rest  of  the  world,  almost  as  studiously  as  China  or  Japan, 
this  policy  of  the  government  having  been  seconded  by  the  prejudices 
of  the  people.  In  this  respect,  however,  the  new  country  has  been 
induced,  by  the  necessities  of  its  situation,  to  relax  the  bigotry  and 
pride  of  the  old,  for  it  is  only  by  freely  communicating  with  foreigners 
that  Mexico  and  South  America  can  realize  commercial  prosperity,  the 
main  object  and  principal  fruit  of  all  their  sacrifices  of  property  and 
life,  of  peace  and  order.  In  California  this  tendency  of  the  grand 
revolution  has  been  more  peculiarly  powerful,  inasmuch  as  the  pro- 
vince depends  more  exclusively  than  any  other  portion  of  Spanish 
America  on  extraneous  supplies ;  and  here,  accordingly,  foreigners  and 
natives  cordially  mingle  together  as  members  of  one  and  the  same 
liarmonious  family. 


SANTA  HARnARA. 


211 


In  a  word,  the  ('iUifornianx  an*  <\  li.'ippy  propir,  pos.icssinij  ihr 
incanM  (if  pliysical  pIcaHun*  to  the  full,  atui  kiiowini;  no  liiirliiT  kind  of 
cMJoyincnt.  Tlirir  liap|)in('ss  certainly  i^  not  snclt  in  an  Mn^liMJitnan 
i-:in  <'ov('t,  tliouirli    pcrliapM   a   ( 'alirortiiati    iii:i)   with   rrason   (liMparaifc 

innch  of  what  passes  nnder  the  iiaint     ;i  I'.n^land,  llir  -Minniatinir  of 

wealth  for  its  own  sake,  the  Ininiorini;  of  the  ea|)riers  ot  faMJiion.  and 
ilie  enihitteriny  even  of  tin;  luxuries  (»f  life  hy  lileiided  feeliiiijs  ol  envy 
and  pride.  Hut  whatever  may  he  the  nn'rits  or  the  demerits  of  (':»li- 
fornian  happiness,  the  (rood  lolks  thrive  upon  it.  'I'hey  I've  lonir, 
warding  otf  tho  marks  of  a^re  for  a  period  unusual  ovrn  in  sonre  less 
tryinjT  elimates  ;  and,  with  regard  lo  the  women,  this  is  the  more  re- 
inarkahle,  inasn\ueh  as  they  are  suhjeeted  t(»  the  wearing  elleel  of  early 
wedlock,  Hometim(!s  marryint;  at  thirteen,  and  seldom  remnininif  single 
after  sixte«'n.  In  the  matter  of  good  looks,  hoth  sexes  merely  give 
nature  fair  play,  scouting  as  well  the  can^s  as  the  toils  of  life. 

To  make  these  toils  and  cares,  if  possihlc,  sit  more  lightly  upon 
them,  men  ami  women  have  respectively  their  sworn  allies  under  the 
names  of  compadrcn  and  coiiimatlrrs, — a  custom  which  hases  temporal 
friendship  on  a  s|)iritual  foundation.  The  name  appears  to  he  d(;rived 
from  the  circumstance,  that  the  compudrcH  are  hound  to  stand  godfa- 
thers, and  the  commadres  godmothers,  to  the  children  of  each  other,  so 
as  to  render  the  spiritually  conne<'tetl  ])air,  fellow-fathers,  or  fellow- 
mothers,  of  one  and  the  same  infant,  who  in  turn  is  hound  to  regard 
the  adoptive  parent  and  the  natural  one  with  equal  veneration.  As  he- 
tween  tlie  parties  themselves,  the  engagement  is  a  most  important  and 
tnomentous  one,  each  heing  hound  to  assist  the  other  under  any  cir- 
cumstances and  at  any  inconvenience,  troul)le,  or  expense.  To  men, 
particularly  when  traveling  or  when  borne  down  hy  misfortune,  th(! 
custom  in  question  is  highly  beneficial ;  and  as  to  the  fair  sex,  one  can 
easily  imagine  in  how  many  ways  a  confidant,  pledged  to  lidtdity  hy 
this  holy  alliance,  can  become  useful  and  agreeable.  Perhaps  nothing 
can  give  a  better  idea  of  the  closeness  of  the  connection,  than  that 
brothers  and  sisters  often  sink  their  natural  relation  in  the  conventional 
titles  of  compadrea  and  commadres. 

Among  the  light-hearted  and  easy  tempered  Californians,  the  virtue 
of  hospitality  knows  no  bounds  ;  they  literally  vie  with  each  other  in 
devoting  their  time,  their  homes,  and  their  means,  to  the  entertainment 
of  a  stranger.  This  we  found  to  be  more  particularly  the  case  in  Santa 
Barbara,  where  accommodations  were  pressed  on  our  acceptance  in 
almost  every  house ;  and  as  we  were  unwilling  to  lose  an  hour  of  the 
agreeable  society  of  the  place,  to  say  nothing  of  the  discomfort  of 
embarking  and  disembarking  through  surf  and  shallows  and  sea- 
weed, we  gladly  distributed  ourselves  among  our  friends  for  the  night. 
Next  morning,  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  month,  we  again  met  at  Mrs. 
Wilson's  breakfast-table  ;  and  immediately  afterwards,  having  been  pro- 
vided with  horses  through  the  attention  of  Dr.  Den,  a  true  son  of  Erin, 
we  started  off  for  the  mission  of  Santa  Barbara,  about  a  mile  distant 
from  the  town,  where  the  Bishop  of  the  Californias,  whose  arrival  in 
his  diocese  we  had  already  honored  with  a  salute,  had  taken  up  his  re- 


•n 

■V  ■ 


1  J 
i  • 


212 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


1.1 '<  i 


:■  i 


« m 


:■   i: 


sidencc.  Independently  of  the  central  position  of  this  establishment, 
Father  Garcia  Diego  had  reasons  for  his  choice,  which  were  peculiarly 
creditable  to  the  neighboring  community.  Unlike  the  Vandals  of  San 
Francisco  and  Monterey,  the  inhabitants  of  Santa  Barbara  had  evinced 
something  of  taste  and  feeling  in  sparing  the  buildings  uf  the  mission, 
— a  disposition  which  doubtless  formed  a  stronger  ground  of  the 
bishop's  preference  than  even  the  ready-made  home  which  it  gave  him. 
In  fact,  all  but  the  better  classes  were  unfriendly  to  the  bishop;  the 
provincial  authorities  regarded  him  with  an  eye  of  jealousy,  as  a  crea- 
ture and  partisan  of  the  central  government ;  and  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple dreaded  any  symptom  of  the  revival  of  a  system,  which  had,  in 
their  opinion,  sacrificed  the  temporal  interests  of  the  colonists  to  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  the  aborigines. 

Even  in  this,  his  day  of  small  things,  the  bishop  received  us  with 
much  pomp  and  ceremony,  attended  by  two  monks,  three  or  four  gradu- 
ates, and  a  train  of  servants.  In  addition  to  the  episcopal  costume, 
which,  besides  its  intrinsic  gorgeousness,  doubtless  looked  all  the  belter 
for  being  new,  he  wore,  to  say  nothing  of  more  vulgar  jewels,  a  dia- 
mond ring,  which  had  been  presented  to  him  in  the  name  of  the  pope, 
on  the  occasion  of  his  consecration.  The  churches  of  the  remote  east 
and  west  have  always  been  special  pets  of  the  Roman  see.  The  dis- 
coveries of  Portugal  and  Spain,  the  most  zealous  supporters  of  the 
Catholic  faith,  just  came  in  time  to  console  the  pope  for  the  loss  of  half 
of  Europe,  with  a  far  more  extensive  dominion  in  India  and  America ; 
so  that,  by  the  earlier  part  of  last  century.  His  Holiness,  who  had  just 
grasped  California,  and  still  held  China,  had  made  Rome  the  centre  of 
a  spiritual  empire,  which,  in  the  largest  sense  of  the  expression,  lite- 
rally stretched  from  sea  to  sea.  If  this  dominion  has,  since  that  time, 
seen  its  limits  contracted  and  its  strength  broken,  the  successor  of  St. 
Peter,  of  course,  clings  with  the  greater  tenacity  to  all  that  remains  of 
it,  while  through  the  instrumentality  of  France,  he  is  striving  to  find 
compensation  for  this,  his  second  loss,  in  the  clustering  isles  of  the  Pa- 
cific ocean.  It  is  thus  that  the  erection  of  a  transadantic  bishopric  is 
hailed  at  Rome  as  a  peculiar  triumph  of  the  church ;  and  it  is  a  curious 
fact,  that  the  illustrious  genius  of  Columbus  has  conferred  a  more  dur- 
able authority  in  the  New  World  on  his  own  native  Italy,  than  on  the 
Castile  and  Leon  of  his  royal  mistress,  Isabella.  In  fact,  almost  from 
t!ie  very  beginning,  the  papacy  indirectly  swayed  the  destinies  of  the 
New  World  ;  and  not  only  did  Spain  and  Portugal  vie  with  each  other, 
but  even  France,  with  less  reason  for  gratitude,  rivaled  their  zeal,  in 
establishing  beyond  the  setting  sun,  a  Roman  empire  that  was  to  out- 
live their  own.  Compared  with  England,  those  powers  certainly  made 
far  greater  sacrifices  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  though,  to  place 
the  comparison  on  juster  grounds,  we  should  remember  the  important 
facts,  that  England  herself  had  no  foreign  influence  at  work  to  clothe 
her  in  the  garb  of  piety,  and  that  most  of  her  continental  colonies,  at 
least  as  far  as  religion  was  concerned,  were  the  very  reverse  of  national 
establishments. 

From  the  gate,  where  we  were  received  by  the  bishop,  we  were 


:  ,''*    U. 


# 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


213 


V'lJ 


we  were 


conducted  into  an  apartment  of  ordinary  size,  liffhtcd  by  a  small  grated 
window.  This  room  and  its  contents  presented  a  contrast,  which,  be- 
sides being  agreeable  in  itself,  was  interesting  as  an  evidence  at  once 
of  the  simplicity  of  the  old  fathers,  and  of  the  ostentation  of  their  epis- 
copal successor.  The  walls  were  white-washed,  and  the  ceiling  con- 
sisted of  rafters,  while  articles  of  furniture  that  would  not  have  dis- 
graced a  nobleman's  mansion,  occupied  the  floor.  The  carpet  was  the 
work  of  the  Indians  of  Mexico;  the  table  was  covered  with  crimson 
velvet,  on  which  lay  a  pillow  of  the  same  material,  adorned  with  gold ; 
and  the  sofa  and  chairs  had  seats  of  the  same  costly  and  showy  de- 
scription. But  the  gem  of  the  whole  was  a  throne  witli  three  steps  in 
front  of  it.  It  was  hung  with  crimson  velvet,  which  was  profusely 
trimmed  with  tissue  of  gold;  and  its  back  displayed  an  expensively 
framed  miniature  of  the  reigning  pope,  painted  by  a  princess  and  sent 
by  Gregory  to  the  bishop,  along  with  his  diamond  ring,  as  a  gift.  In 
this,  his  own  chair  of  state,  the  good  prelate  insisted  on  placing  me, 
though  I  am  afraid  that,  in  thus  planting  a  heretic  before  his  most 
highly  valued  memorial  of  his  holiness,  he  must  have  sacrificed,  in 
some  degree,  his  orthodoxy  to  his  politeness. 

Between  the  bishop  and  his  two  monks  there  was  a  contrast  not  less 
striking  than  that  between  the  apartment  and  its  furniture.  While  the 
former  was  overloaded  with  finery,  the  latter  were  arrayed  in  the 
coarse  and  simple  habit  of  their  own  mendicant  order,  even  to  the 
sandals  on  their  feet  and  the  ropes  round  their  waists.  One  of  them, 
Father  Narcisse  Duran,  was  from  Old  Spain,  a  pious  and  laborious 
man,  and  prefect  of  the  missions  ;  and  the  other,  Father  Antonio 
Ximenes,  was  a  Mexican  by  birtii,  who  was  more  a  man  of  the  world 
than  his  companion,  and  endeavored  to  interest  us  in  favor  of  the  mis- 
sions against  the  spoliation  of  the  local  authorities. 

While  we  were  engaged  in  an  agreeable  and  amusing  conversation, 
some  of  the  attendants  brought  in  a  table,  placing  on  it,  among  other 
refreshments,  a  pile  of  cakes,  the  work  of  Donna  Conception.  The 
wine  was  the  produce  of  the  vineyard  of  the  mission,  rather  sweetish, 
but  of  excellent  quality;  the  brandy,  also  home-made,  was  superior  to 
the  wine,  being  flavored  with  fruit  into  a  perfectly  colorless  cordial; 
and  the  cigars,  as  the  bishop  assured  us,  had  been  selected  by  himself 
in  Mexico.  After  our  repast,  which  was  seasoned  and  recommended 
by  the  hospitable  pleasantries  of  the  bishop  and  Fataer  Antonio,  we 
proceeded  to  take  a  view  of  the  establishment. 

We  first  entered  the  vestry,  a  spacious  room  hung  with  pictures  and 
crucifixes,  where  the  good  prelate  took  evident  delight  in  showing  the 
rich  vestments  and  the  massive  plate,  more  particularly  a  pix  of  solid 
gold  for  the  consecrated  host.  From  the  vestry  we  followed  the  bishop 
into  the  church,  crossing  ourselves  and  kneeling,  according  to  his  ex- 
ample, as  we  passed  the  altar.  This  edifice,  which  far  outshone  every- 
thing that  we  had  previously  seen  in  the  country,  was  large  but  well 
proportioned.  The  altar-piece  was  at  once  simple  and  elegant.  A 
pair  of  full  curtains  of  spotless  white,  springing  from  a  crown  of  glory 
over  the  communion-table,   were  held   open  by   two  well   executed 


I 


■■i  V;: 


-m 


-t^tJ- 


m 


214 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


i  .    t 

1  i  * 

'  i 

■  i  i 


statues  of  seraphs,  so  as  to  disclose  a  portrait  of  Santa  Guadalupe, 
cased  in  a  golden  frame.  Encouraged  by  the  admiration,  which  wc 
could  not  refrain  from  expressing,  the  good  bishop  detailed  to  us  such 
a  liistory  of  the  painting  as  convinced  us  that  the  New  World  had  its 
miracles  as  well  as  the  Old.  Upwards  of  three  hundred  years  ago,  the 
Saint  made  her  appearance  in  the  spirit  to  a  Mexican  Indian,  daguerreo- 
typing  on  his  blanket  a  likeness  of  herself,  of  which  the  portrait  before 
us  was  a  copy.  The  blanket  was  forthwith  surrounded  with  a  border 
of  cloth  of  gold,  and  enshrined  in  one  of  the  principal  churches  of  the 
city  of  Mexico ;  and,  though  the  border  has  often  required  to  be  re- 
newed, yet  both  the  representation  of  the  saint,  and  the  fabrics  that  bears 
it,  have  hitherto  triumphed  over  time  with  all  its  moths  and  damps. 
But  the  miraculous  durability  of  the  saint's  work  has  been  subjected  to 
a  peculiarly  severe  test,  a  botUe  of  vitriol  having  been  lately  broken  by 
accident,  so  as  to  soak  the  inestimable  blanket  without  doing  any  in- 
jury. The  good  father,  during  his  recent  visit  to  the  capital,  had  him- 
.self  seen  this  blanket,  and  told  us  with  a  kind  of  whispered  awe  that 
the  impression,  though  it  assumed,  at  a  distance,  the  appearance  of  a 
finished  painting,  yet  presented,  on  closer  examination,  a  number  of 
unmeaning  stains.  To  the  faith  of  our  informant  the  proof  of  the  pro- 
digy was  completed  by  the  fact,  that  the  many  artists  who  had  critically 
examined  the  marks,  had  unanimously  decided  that  they  were  not  the 
work  of  human  skill. 

To  continue  our  survey  of  the  church,  the  walls  were  covered  with 
the  usual  assortment  of  pictures  and  images,  while  from  the  ceiling  were 
suspended  several  bcuUiful  chandeliers,  by  means  of  flags  of  silk  of 
various  colors,  spangled  with  silver  and  gold.  In  the  music-gallery 
there  was  a  small,  but  well  tuned  organ,  on  which  a  native  convert  was 
executing  several  pieces  of  sacred  music  with  considerable  taste,  and 
amongst  them,  to  our  great  surprise,  Martin  Luther's  hymn.  This 
man  was  almost  entirely  self-taught,  possessing,  like  most  of  his  race, 
a  fine  ear  and  great  aptitude ;  and,  though  his  countenance  was  intelli- 
gent enough,  yet  his  dress  was  rather  a  singular  one  for  an  organist  on 
active  service,  consisting  of  a  handkerchief,  that  confined  his  black 
locks,  and  a  shirt  of  rather  scanty  longitude  belted  round  his  waist. 
Besides  the  organ,  the  choir  mustered  several  violins,  violoncellos, 
triangles,  drums,  flutes,  bells,  &c.,  with  a  strong  corps  of  vocalists  ;  and 
had  we  been  able  to  wait  to  the  second  of  February,  we  should  have 
enjoyed  a  grand  treat  in  the  musical  way,  as  the  bishop  was  then  to 
celebrate  pontifical  mass  with  the  full  force  of  voices  and  instruments. 
Immense  preparations  were  making  for  this  religious  festival,  some  ol 
them  being,  according  to  our  notions,  of  a  very  peculiar  kind.  Fire- 
works, for  instance,  were,  if  possible,  to  be  exhibited;  and,  as  gunpow- 
der could  not  be  obtained  for  love  or  money,  either  for  this  purpose  or 
for  the  giving  of  signals,  we  won  the  hearts  of  bishop,  priests,  graduates, 
servants  and  all  by  promising  to  present  them  with  a  barrel  of  the 
needful  from  our  ship.  When  Roger  Bacon  invented  gunpowder,  ho 
little  thought  that  he  was  providing  future  friars  of  his  order  with  an 
engine  for  propagating  the  faith ;  but  whether  the  sublime  or  the  ridi- 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


215 


•m 


culous  predominated  in  the  bishop's  contemplated  show,  he  was  at 
least  making  a  more  innocent  use  of  thj  deadly  composition,  than  many 
zealots  of  orthodoxy  had  made  before  liim,  in  the  cause  of  religion. 

From  the  body  of  the  church  we  ascended  into  the  belfry,  which 
commanded  a  most  extensive  view  of  the  valley  in  which  the  mission 
stood,  running  to  the  sea  from  a  parallel  range  of  rocky  hills  at  the 
distance  of  five  or  six  miles;  while  there  rose  immediately  under  our 
feet  two  elegant  towers,  containing  a  large  peal  of  bells,  the  heaviest 
weighing  about  four  tons  and  a  half. 

The  church  with  its  appendages,  as  just  described,  is  said  to  have 
cost  the  priests  several  years  of  toil  with  about  two  thousand  native 
workmen,  the  fathers  themselves  discharging  the  multifarious  duties, — 
self-taught  in  all, — of  architects,  masons,  bricklayers,  carpenters  and 
laborers.  To  close  the  description  of  the  buildings,  the  dwellings  of 
ihe  natives  and  the  workshops  were,  here  as  well  as  elsewhere,  hasten- 
ing to  decay. 

The  mission  is  plentifully  supplied-  with  excellent  water,  brought 
down  all  the  way  from  the  rocky  hills  already  mentioned,  by  the  labor 
of  the  priests  and  their  converts.  About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
dwellings,  the  grand  reservoir,  which  is  sheltered  from  the  sun  by  an 
edifice  of  stone,  is  fed  by  a  single  conduit,  while  again  it  sends  forth 
two  channels,  the  one  open  and  the  other  covered.  The  open  channel 
flows  into  a  vast  cistern,  about  sixteen  feet  deep  and  about  one  hundred 
feet  square,  which,  as  adobes  cannot  bear  the  wet,  is,  of  course,  built 
of  solid  masonry  ;  and  as  a  crowd  of  natives,  if  left  to  their  own  notions 
of  cleanliness,  would  have  engendered  a  pestilence,  this  cistern  was 
intended  to  afford  them  the  greatest  possible  facilities  for  the  washing 
of  their  clothes  and  their  persons.  The  covered  channel,  which  rests 
partly  on  an  artificial  aqueduct,  terminates  in  front  of  the  church  with 
a  classic  urn  throwing  out  a  numl)er  of  graceful  jets  into  a  circular 
basin  that  surrounds  it ;  this  basin  empties  itself  into  a  second  through 
the  mouth  of  a  grotesque  figure  of  a  man  lying  on  his  belly ;  and  the 
second  again,  through  the  jaws  of  a  lion,  pours  its  waters  into  a  third, 
which,  overflowing  its  brim,  sends  forth  in  every  direction  a  number 
of  rivulets  to  irrigate  the  gardens  and  fields.  In  addition  to  these 
works,  which,  whether  in  point  of  taste  or  of  utility,  misiht  well  be 
deemed  wonderful,  the  fathers  had  brought  from  the  hills  another  stream 
for  the  comparatively  vulgar  purpose  of  driving  the  grist-mill  of  th<^ 
mission.  But  now  the  water  was  stopped  and  the  reservoir  choked 
with  weeds  and  bushes;  while,  to  express  in  one  word,  the  present 
state  of  agriculture,  the  best  use,  which  the  Californians  had  been  able 
fo  find  for  a  ready-made  grist-mill,  was  to  unroof  it.  The  ftithers 
themselves,  loo,  had,  for  a  long  time,  discountenanced  the  introduction 
of  such  machinery,  not  because  they  had  niPwheat  to  grind,  but  be- 
cause, even  without  the  means  of  economizing  lal)or,  they  often  hardly 
knew  how  to  employ  their  proselytes.  This  narrow  policy,  of  course, 
tended  to  defeat  its  own  object,  for  the  mere  drudgery  of  beasts  of 
burden  could  not  teach  human  beings  to  be  spontaneously  industrious. 
It,  in  fact,  lost  sight  of  one  grand  distinction  between  civilization  and 


'I  •■■ 


■kNL 


'■'■  ♦ 


m 


216 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


',;Mi!^:. 


■n 


;,:  !l    ,| 


»    . 


l\ 


barbarism,  the  latter  knowiriff  no  other  expedient  to  lighten  toil  than 
the  ibrced  assistance  of  the  slave,  but  the  former  enlisting  in  its  service 
not  only  the  creatures  of  the  earth  and  air,  but  also  the  very  elements 
themselves. 

The  garden,  which  is  walled  all  round,  consists  of  five  or  six  acres. 
Notwithstanding  the  neglect  of  several  years,  it  contained  figs,  lemons, 
oranges,  pears,  apples,  grapes,  quinces,  raspberries,  strawberries,  me- 
lons, pumpkins,  plums,  prickly  pears  and  whole  avenues  of  olives. 
In  the  days  of  the  priests,  fruits  were  to  be  obtained  here  at  every 
season,  more  particularly  raspberries  and  grapes,  from  the  spring  to 
the  close  of  autumn,  and  strawberries  all  the  year  round.  But,  ever 
since  1836,  not  only  had  the  branches  been  left  unpruned,  but  even 
their  very  produce  had  been  allowed  to  fall  to  the  ground ;  so  that  now 
most  of  the  trees  were  in  a  deteriorated  condition,  and  the  figs  in  par- 
ticular had,  on  the  recent  revival  of  the  mission,  been  cut  down  to  their 
stumps.  Of  esculent  vegetables  there  was  an  almost  endless  variety, 
potatoes,  sweet  and  common,  cabbage,  tomata,  garlic,  onions.  Chili- 
pepper,  and,  of  course,  the  everlasting  frixole,  &c.  Of  plants  and 
flowers,  even  in  the  depth  of  winter,  we  saw  the  following  in  bloom, 
the  jonquille,  the  marigold,  the  lily,  the  wall-flower,  the  violet,  the 
hollyhock,  &c.  The  priests  had  just  begun  to  turn  their  attention  to 
the  garden  after  having  made  the  requisite  preparations  for  accommo- 
dating the  bishop;  and  they  had  accordingly  repaired  the  water- 
trenches,  cleared  away  weeds  and  underwood,  and  pruned  the  trees 
and  vines. 

After  bidding  farewell  to  the  bishop  with  mutual  thanks  and  good 
wishes,  we  were  presented  by  his  priests  with  a  curious  pile,  in  the 
form  of  a  bee-hive,  made  of  the  seeds  of  the  pine,  all  baked  and  ready 
for  eating,  as  a  specimen  of  both  the  food  and  the  ingenuity  of  the 
natives.  With  many  apologies  for  making  so  poor  an  offering,  they 
regretted  that  they  could  no  longer  do  as  they  could  once  have  done,  and 
referred  to  the  old  times  when  they  could  have  supplied  us  with  pro- 
visions, fruit,  wine,  &c.,  for  our  voyage  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  "and 
perhaps,"  added  Father  Antonio,  with  a  good-natured  nod,  "with  more 
than  you  wanted." 

Before  returning  to  the  town,  we  extended  our  ride  through  the 
undulating  and  picturesque  valley.  It  was  carpeted  with  an  unusually 
close  sward,  which  had  undoubtedly  been  owing  to  the  constant  pas- 
turing of  the  cattle;  and  it  displayed  a  great  profusion  of  clover.  Both 
here  and  in  the  garden  the  soil  was  evidently  excellent;  and  the  priests 
had  assured  us  that,  on  the  farm  of  the  mission,  twenty-five  returns  of 
wheat  were  a  poor  crop,  and  eighty  or  a  hundred  by  no  means  un- 
common. 

We  visited  a  villag^lfef  free  Indians,  situated  in  the  valley.  The 
inhabitants  were  the  miserable  remains  of  the  two  thousand  natives 
that  once  swarmed  here ;  and  they  now  found  room  in  eight  or  ten 
hovels  of  bulrushes,  similar  in  every  respect  to  those  which  we  had 
seen  at  Sonoma.  They  appeared,  however,  to  be,  on  the  whole,  more 
comfortable  than  General  Vallego's  serfs,  possessing  enclosures  of  land 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


217 


with  a  few  cattle  and  horses ;  and  yet  they  were  en^a^ed  in  the 
wretched  expedient  of  makins''  bread  of  acorns.  Amon^  them  there 
was  one  woman  so  old  that  she  must  have  been  well  advanced  in  life 
at  the  first  settlement  of  the  upper  province,  and  must  have  seen  the 
missions  rise  and  ripen  and  decay  before  her.  Her  skin  was  shriveled 
so  as  to  look,  in  the  absence  of  other  clothing,  like  a  case  of  parch- 
ment; her  eyes  were  dim  and  sunken;  her  body  was  bent  double; 
but  nevertheless,  amid  all  these  sij^ns  of  age,  her  head,  the  more  hide- 
ous perhaps  on  that  account,  displayed  a  thick  and  tangled  bush  of 
black  hair. 

We  returned  to  Mrs.  Wilson's  in  time  for  dinner,  without  having 
visited,  as  we  had  intended,  the  mineral  springs,  hot  and  cold,  in  the 
neighborhood.  In  the  afternoon  we  were  honored  with  a  visit  by  the 
bishop.  He  was  drawn  by  four  mules  in  an  antique  carriage,  and  was 
attended  by  a  band  of  outriders  in  the  persons  of  Father  Antonio  and 
several  graduates  and  servants.  After  half  an  hour's  chat,  during  which 
he  reiterated  his  professions  of  friendship,  he  again  betook  himself  to 
his  rickety  conveyance  and  rattled  off  with  all  the  pomp  and  circum- 
stance of  episcopal  dignity. 

In  the  evening  we  attended  a  ball  given  on  the  occasion  of  a  wed- 
ding. We  were  highly  amused  with  the  serious  looks  of  the  dancers ; 
nor  were  we  less  highly  gratified  by  their  graceful  movements,  as  they 
went  through  some  of  their  mysterious  figures,  tying  themselves  into  a 
knot,  which  they  again  untied  without  separating  hands.  Previously 
to  our  departure,  the  entertainments  were,  in  compliment  to  us,  varied 
by  a  Scotch  reel,  to  which  the  solemn  gravity  of  the  Californians,  who 
shared  in  it,  gave  additional  zest  in  our  eyes.  After  having  been  grati- 
fied at  Sonoma  with  the  national  song  of  "Auld  Lang  Syne,"  we  were 
the  less  surprised  at  receiving  this  mark  of  attention  from  the  people  of 
Santa  Barbara,  the  head-quarters,  as  it  were,  of  foreign  influence  in  the 
province.  In  fact,  on  account  of  its  central  position,  the  superiority  of 
its  climate  and  the  respectability  of  its  population,  this  little  town  is 
the  favorite  resort  of  the  supercargoes,  captains,  and  owners  on  the 
coast,  many  of  whom,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  cases  of  Mr.  Thompson 
and  Captain  Wilson,  have  selected  it  as  the  permanent  home  of  their 
families. 

Next  morning,  being  the  twenty-sixth  of  the  month,  we  paid  fare- 
well visits  to  our  hospitable  and  agreeable  friends,  and  embarked  on 
board  of  the  Cowlitz  with  the  intention  of  leaving  the  port  immediately. 
In  sleeping  ashore,  by  the  by,  we  had  run  some  risk  of  being  detained 
longer  than  we  could  well  afford  to  stay.  To  the  southerly  winds, 
which  prevail  during  the  winter,  every  point  of  the  bay,  as  I  have  else- 
where stated,  is  a  lee  shore ;  so  that  when  the  push  comes,  the  vessels 
in  port  have  no  other  choice  than  that  of  maldflg  the  best  of  their  way 
past  Point  Conception  into  the  open  ocean,  and  there  remaining  till  the 
storm  has  blown  over. 

Just  as  we  embarked  the  wind  failed  us,  so  that  we  were  unable  to 
move ;  and  to  turn  our  detention  to  the  best  account,  we  went  to  ex- 
amine the  carcase  of  a  right  whale  that  was  floating  near.     It  had  been 


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218 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


killed  by  threshers,  which,  small  as  they  are,  are  more  than  a  match 
for  their  unwieldy  victims,  their  mode  of  operation  being  to  burke  the 
monster  by  pummeling  his  air-holes  with  their  tails,  while  such  ot 
them  as  prefer  the  anatomical  department,  effect  a  diversion  by  nib- 
hlinfT  at  his  belly  from  below.  The  huge  animal  was  weltering  like  a 
small  island  among  the  sea-weed,  being  large  enough  for  five  or  six 
people  to  stand  high  and  dry  on  him,  for,  though  small  of  his  kind,  he 
yet  measured  from  fifty  to  sixty  feet  in  length.  Had  he  been  taken 
alive,  he  would  have  yielded  about  a  hundred  barrels  of  oil;  but  the 
best  of  his  blubber  had  been  carried  oflf  by  the  shark,  the  sword  fish, 
&c.,  while  the  remainder  of  it  was  by  no  means  in  prime  condition. 
Such,  however,  as  he  was,  the  crew  of  the  Julia  Ann  had  made  prize 
of  him,  and  expected  to  wring  about  forty  barrels  out  of  him.  His 
body  was  puffed  up  with  wind,  which  the  stroke  of  a  knife  let  out  with 
a  hissing  noise  and  an  insufferable  smell ;  and,  indeed,  the  whale  has 
been  known  to  burst  among  his  human  persecutors  with  the  report  ol 
a  cannon,  and  almost  to  sufl'ocate  them  with  the  stench. 

Of  fish  for  the  table  there  was  an  abundant  variety  in  our  neighbor- 
hood, though,  for  the  reasons  already  mentioned,  they  were  left  undis- 
turbed in  their  native  element.  Even  the  approach  of  Lent  made  no 
difference  to  them,  beef  being  orthodox  for  both  laity  and  priesthood 
all  the  year  round;  but  taking  pity  on  the  consciences  of  Mrs.  Wilson 
and  Mr.  Scott,  we  sent  each  of  them  a  tierce  of  salted  salmon  from  our 
sea-stores. 

In  the  evening  tlu'  brig  Catilina,  which  we  had  left  alone  at  Mon- 
terey, came  to  anchor.  I  have  been  the  more  particular  in  recording 
the  arrivals  and  departures  of  vessels,  with  the  view  of  explaining  more 
in  detail  the  nature  of  the  trade  in  which  they  are  engaged. 

Early  next  morning  we  received  on  board,  as  a  present  from  the 
bishop,  ii.  barrel  of  wine,  the  produce  of  the  vineyard  of  the  mission. 
Most  of  the  stuff  which  we  had  tasted,  we  should  have  carried  away 
without  compunction,  thinking  that  we  were  doing  the  owners  a  ser- 
vice ;  but  we  were  sorry  to  deprive  the  very  reverend  donor,  in  the 
present  state  of  his  cellar,  of  a  really  good  article,  which  might  have 
been  at  least  as  available  as  our  gunpowder  for  the  festivities  of  Can- 
dlemas day. 

It  was  afternoon  before  the  wind  suited  us  ;  and  then,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  a  fine  breeze,  we  rapidly  made  for  the  island  of  Santa  Cruz, 
leaving  the  little  town  of  Santa  Barbara  behind  us  with  many  recollec- 
tions of  the  kindness  and  hospitality  of  its  inhabitants.  As  the  inter- 
mediate channel,  or  rather,  according  to  the  nomenclature  of  the  whf^!< 
coast,  the  intermediate  canal,  is  only  twenty-five  miles  wide,  we  sooii 
passed  not  only  the  island  just  mentioned,  but  also  that  of  San  Nicho- 
las, on  which  the  Russiths  formerly  killed  vast  numbers  of  sea-otters. 

We  were  now  steering  our  course  for  the  Sandwich  Islands,  though, 
had  we  not  been  very  much  pressed  for  time,  we  should  not  have  hur- 
ried away  from  a  country,  which  had  afforded  us  so  much  interest  and 
;unusement,  without  visiting  the  remaining  ports  of  San  Pedro  and  San 
Diego. 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


219 


San  Pedro  is  an  open  bay,  wliich  lias  no  better  claim  to  the  cliarar- 
ter  of  a  harbor  than  ahnost  any  other  point  on  the  coast,  beinw  (exposed 
to  both  the  prevailing  winds,  and  beinjif  dcstitnte  of  everythinj^  in  the 
shape  of  a  house  or  even  of  a  shed.     Its  oidy  recommendation  is  that 
it  aifords  access  to  the  Pueblo  of  Nuestra  Scnora,  about  eij^htcen  miles 
distant,  which  contains  a  population  of  1500  souls,  and   is  the  noted 
:•'  ode  of  the  lowest  drunkards  and  sjamblcrs  of  the  countrv.     This  den 
of  thieves  is  situated,  as  one  may  expect  from  its  being  almost  twice  as 
populous  as  the  two  other  pueblos  taken  together,  in  one  of  the  loveli- 
est and  most  fertile  districts  of  California  ;  and  being,  therefore,  one  of 
the  best  marts  in   the  province  for  hides  and  tallow,  it  induces  vessels 
to  brave  all  the  inconveniences  and  dangers  of  the  open  and  exposed 
hay  of  San  Pedro.     In  this  village,  the  custom  of  making  the  bull  and 
the  bear  bait  each  other,  though  common  to  the  whole  province,  is  pe- 
(Uliarly  popular  and  fashionable, — a  custom  which,  by  excluding  human 
combatants  from  the  arena,  banishes  entirely  that  higher  interest  which 
arises  from  the  introducingof  "man  and  man's  avenging  arms"  into  the 
national  entertainment  of  the  old  country.     In  Spain,  the  cruel  specta- 
cle involves  the  display  of  dexterity  and  courage,  while,  in  California, 
it  possesses  no  redeeming  quality  to  raise  it  above  the  dignity  of  a 
cock-fight.     Between  the  two  animals  there   is  a  natural   antipathy, 
which  often  leads  them,  even  in  a  state  of  nature,  into  deadly  contests; 
and  in  these  cases  the  bull  is  generally  the  assailant,  for  the  bear,  when 
let  alone,  is  contented  to  carry  on  the  war  only  against  the  calves. 
Ilavii  -  the  advantage  of  choosing  his  time  and  place  of  attack,  the  bull 
often  i  isables  the  bear  at  once;   but  even  when  bruin  is  all  but  gored 
to  death,  he  cunningly  seizes  his  enemy,  while  exulting  in  his  victory, 
by  the  tongue,  or  any  other  tender  part,  and  destroys  him.     When  the 
two  animals,  however,  are  pitted  by  their  common  enemy  against  each 
other,  die  bear,  seeing  no  means  of  escape,  encounters  the  bull  with 
more  determined  front ;   but  even  here  the  terms  are  not  equal,  for 
bruin,  unless  sufficiently  reduced,  as  he  almost  always  is,  by  fatigue 
and  rage,  is  tied  by  the  leg  so  as  to  reach  his  adversary  only  with  his 
claws.     The  savage  sport  ends  only  with  the  death  of  one  or  other  of 
the  combatants,  and  perhaps  of  both.     For  the  tortures,  which,  when  at 
Sonoma,  we  saw  inflicted  by  means  of  the  lasso,  we  could  find  something 
of  an  excuse  in  the  well  founded  pride  of  the  performers  ;  but  we  could 
fancy  no  palliation  for  the  delight  with  which  the  Californians,  on  the 
safe  side  of  an  impassable  barrier,  were  said  to  gloat  on  the  dying 
throes  of  at  least  one  of  two  caged  brutes. 

The  best  evidence  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  village  just  named,  is  to  be  found  in  the  once  flourishing  condition 
of  the  Mission  of  San  Gabriel,  distant  about  eight  miles.  That  estab- 
lishment is  said  to  have  possessed,  in  the  palmy  days  of  its  prosperity, 
the  almost  incredible  number  of  eighty  thousand  catUe,  and  to  have 
lorced  at  once  into  the  market,  on  the  approach  of  evil  times,  nearly 
fifty  thousand  head.  After  making  due  allowance  for  exaggeration, 
the  district  must  be  a  splendid  one  to  have  yielded  pasture  for  such 
multitudes  over  and  above  the  hundreds  of  smaller  herds  belonging  to 


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220 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


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the  pueblo.  The  garden  of  this  mission  was  justly  celebrated  for  the 
excellence  of  its  fruits  and  the  flavor  of  its  wine,  producinjf,  in  th( 
greatest  abundance,  grapes,  oranges,  lemons,  olives,  tigs,  bananas, 
plums,  peaches,  apples,  pears,  pomegranates,  raspberries,  strawberries, 
&c.  &c. ;  while  at  the  Mission  of  Santa  Buenaventura,  not  far  distant, 
there  were,  in  addition,  tobacco,  the  plantain,  the  cocoa  nut,  the 
indigo  plant  and  the  sugar  cane.  In  fact,  there  is  hardly  a  vegetable 
or  fruit,  which  cannot  be  produced  in  California.  Such,  to  give  a  par- 
ticular instance,  is  the  bounty  of  nature,  that,  amid  the  richest  profu- 
sion of  the  ordinary  elements  of  soap,  she  furnishes  a  ready-made  sub- 
stitute in  the  bulbous  root  of  a  certain  plant,  called  the  amole  ;  and 
such  is  the  laziness  of  the  inhabitants  that  they  almost  universally  use 
the  free  gift  of  mother  earth  in  spite  of  its  decided  inferiority.  To 
return  to  San  Gabriel,  this  mission  was  founded  under  circumstances, 
which,  if  they  do  not  involve  a  miracle,  serve  at  least  to  explain  why 
the  Church  of  Rome  is  peculiarly  successful  with  ignorant  savages.  I 
quote  the  words  of  Father  Palou,  the  biographer  of  Father  Junipero 
Serra.  While  Father  Pedro  Cambon  and  Father  Angel  Somera  were 
selecting  a  site  for  the  mission  under  the  safeguard  of  ten  soldiers,  "  :i 
multitude  of  Indians,  all  armed  and  headed  by  two  captains,  presented 
themselves,  setting  up  horrid  yells,  and  seeming  determined  to  oppose 
the  establishment  of  the  mission.  The  fathers,  fearing  that  war  would 
ensue,  took  out  a  piece  of  cloth  with  the  image  of  our  Lady  de  los 
Dolores,  and  held  it  up  to  the  view  of  the  barbarians.  This  was  no 
sooner  done  than  the  whole  were  quiet,  being  subdued  by  the  sight  ot 
this  most  precious  image,  and  throwing  on  the  ground  their  bows  and 
arrows,  the  two  captains  came  running  with  great  haste  to  lay  the 
beads  which  they  brought  about  their  necks  at  the  feet  of  the  sovereign 
queen,  as  a  proof  of  their  entire  regard." 

In  the  neighborhood  of  the  Mission  of  San  Gabriel  commences  the 
valley  which  pours  the  San  Joachin  into  Freshwater  Bay,  the  recep- 
tacle also  of  the  Sacramento.  This  region,  by  far  the  finest  in  the 
province,  is  distinguished  as  theTulares  from  the  number  of  bulrushes, 
called  tide  by  the  natives,  to  be  found  in  its  waters.  Though  it  has 
hardly  been  trodden  by  civilized  man,  yet  it  is  capable  of  supporting 
millions  of  inhabitants.  Its  lakes  and  rivers  all  teem  with  fish,  while 
most  of  them  afford  the  means  of  communicating  with  the  ocean.  Its 
undulating  surface  is  studded  with  forests,  generally  free  from  the 
incumbrance  of  underwood,  of  cedar,  bastard  maple,  mulberry,  ash, 
poplar,  birch,  sycamore,  beech,  plane,  yellow  and  white  pine,  and 
mountain,  live  and  scrub  oak.  The  size  of  trees  in  California,  as  is 
also  the  case  on  the  more  northerly  coast,  is  occasionally  quite  incredi- 
ble. One  tree  is  mentioned  by  Humboldt  as  being  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  feet  in  girth ;  but  this  is  a  walking  stick  to  another  tree  at 
Bodega,  described  to  me  by  Governor  Etholine  of  Sitka  as  being  thirty- 
six  Russian  fathoms  of  seven  feet  each  in  span,  and  seventy-five  in 
length,  so  that,  even  if  it  tapered  into  a  perfect  cone,  it  must  have  con- 
tained nearly  twenty-two  thousand  tons  of  bark  and  timber.  In  addi- 
tion to  more  than  all  the  beasts  of  chase,  which  have  already  been 


m^ 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


221 


enumerated  under  the  head  of  Sonoma,  the  magnificent  valley  of  the 
Tulares  contains  immense  multitudes  of  wild  horses,  which  are  often 
seen  in  bands  of  several  thousands  each.  Enveloped  in  clouds  ol 
dust,  these  enormous  troops  indicate  tlieir  approach  chiefly  by  makintf 
the  ground  tremble  beneath  their  tramp  ;  and,  as  a  proof  of  the  extent 
of  the  tumultuary  columns,  one  person  has  been  known,  while  a  band 
was  galloping  past  him,  to  lasso  and  bind  five  horses  in  succession. 
Nor  are  the  birds  inferior  in  number  and  variety  to  the  quadrupeds. 
In  the  Tulares  there  are  the  eagle,  the  turkey-buzzard,  the  falcon,  the 
goshawk,  the  sparrow-hawk,  the  large  horned  owl,  the  partridge,  the 
crane,  the  heron,  the  goose,  the  duck,  the  pelican,  the  cormorant,  the 
water  hen,  the  humming  bird,  the  golden  crested  wren,  the  wood 
pigeon,  the  plover,  the  snipe,  the  goatsucker,  the  bee  eater,  the  wood- 
pecker, the  crested  quail  and  the  condor.  Though  most  of  these  are 
seen  in  other  portions  of  the  province,  yet  the  condbr'is  said  to  be 
rarely  observed  beyond  the  limits  of  this  teeming  valley,  where  he  has 
been  found  measuring  twelve  feet  in  breadth  between  the  tips  of  his 
wings.  The  crested  quail,  which  is  said  to  be  peculiar  to  California, 
is  delicious  eating.  It  appears  in  flocks  of  two  or  three  hundred  at  a 
time.  It  is  not  unlike  a  small  partridge,  excepting  that  it  has  a  beau- 
tifully spotted  plumage  and  a  tuft  of  feathers  on  its  head,  somewhat 
resembling  a  peacock's  crest.  Some  of  the  larger  birds  are  of  incalcu- 
lable utility  in  devouring  the  myriads  of  carcases,  which  the  farmers 
are  too  lazy  even  to  burn,  and  which,  being  most  numerous  in  the 
hottest  months  of  the  year,  must  otherwise  generate  a  pestilence ;  and 
the  turkey-buzzard  in  particular,  being  so  tame  as  to  be  knocked  down 
with  a  stick  at  the  very  doors  "of  the  houses,  is  familiarly  distinguished 
as  the  "  Police  of  California." 

To  return  to  the  coast,  the  last  of  the  five  ports,  San  Diego,  is,  next 
to  San  Francisco,  the  safest  and  best  harbor  in  the  province,  being 
land-locked,  with  deep  water  and  a  good  bottom.  The  soil  of  the 
neighborhood  is  sandy,  while  its  climate  is  remarkably  dry;  two 
features  which,  as  already  stated,  admirably  fit  it  for  the  curing  of 
hides. 

Thus,  at  its  opposite  extremities.  Upper  California  possesses  two 
of  the  best  ports  on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  while  each  of  them  is  greatly 
enhanced  in  value  by  the  distance  of  any  other  harbors  worthy  of  the 
name,  San  Francisco  being  nearly  a  thousand  miles  from  Port  Dis- 
cov^  to  the  north,  and  San  Diego  being  about  six  hundred  miles  from 
the  my  of  Magdalena  to  the  south. 

What  a  splendid  country,  whether  we  regard  its  internal  resources 
or  its  commercial  capabilities,  to  be  thrown  away  on  its  present  pos- 
sessors— on  men  who  do  not  avail  themselves  of  their  natural  advan- 
tages to  a  much  higher  degree  than  the  savages,  whom  they  have 
displaced,  and  who  are  likely  to  become  less  and  less  energetic  from 
generation  to  generation,  and  from  year  to  year!  Sooner  will  the 
Ethiopian  whiten  his  skin  than  the  Californian  lay  aside  his  indolence ; 
and,  in  fact,  without  such  a  change  of  pursuits  as  he  has  at  present  no 
motive  for  attempting,  he  can  find  no  employment  for  industry  in  the 


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SANTA  BARBARA. 


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possession  of  cattle,  that  need  no  care,  and  of  horses,  that  involve  no 
expense.  The  love  of  labor  must  be  nursed,  as  well  as  acquired,  by 
real  or  imaginary  necessity.  If  Scotchmen  are  industrious,  they  have 
had  to  contend  with  a  rugged  soil  and  an  unfrenial  climate;  and  if 
Dutchmen  are  industrious,  they  have  had  to  pay  a  rent  to  nature  for 
their  country,  in  the  expense  of  embanking  seas  and  rivers:  but  neither 
Dutchmen  nor  Scotchmen  could  retain  their  laborious  habits,  and  still 
less  could  they  communicate  them  to  their  children,  in  California,  were 
it  not  that  they  would  long  continue  to  consider,  as  necessaries  of  life, 
many  other  things  besides  the  daily  supply  of  their  physical  wants. 

The  English  race,  as  I  have  already  hinted,  is  doubtless  destined  to 
add  this  fair  and  fertile  province  to  its  possessioiis  on  this  continent — 
possessions  which,  during  the  last  eighty  years,  have  grown  with  un- 
exampled rapidity.  Previously  to  die  capture  of  Quebec,  Englishmen 
were  confined  to  the  comparatively  narrow  strip  of  land  between  the 
AUantic  and  the  AUjghanies,  being,  in  effect,  surrounded  by  inveterate 
foes,  by  the  Spaniards  towards  the  south,  and  by  the  French  towards 
the  north  and  west.  At  the  peace  of  1763,  they  became  undisputed 
masters  of  Florida,  the  eastern  half  of  Louisiana,  and  the  whole  oi 
Canada,  thus  reaching,  as  if  by  a  single  leap,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  th*- 
Mississippi,  and  the  remotest  sources  of  the  St.  Lawrence;  and,  in 
the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century,  the  younger  branch  of  the  race 
extended  its  dominion  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  while  the  elder,  carry- 
ing its  commerce  across  this  formidable  barrier,  occupied  with  its 
trading  posts  a  country  of  a  thousand  miles  in  length,  as  far  as  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  In  this  state  of  things,  tho  south  alone 
remained  to  its  ancient  possessors ;  and,  as  Texas  has  boeu  wrested 
from  Mexico  on  the  one  side  of  the  continent,  so  will  California  be 
speedily  lost  to  her  on  the  other,  either  province,  too,  being  only  the  first 
step  in  a  march,  of  which  the  rate  of  progress  appears  to  be  merely  a 
question  of  time. 

The  only  doubt  is,  whether  California  is  to  fall  to  the  British  or  to 
the  Americans.  The  latter,  whether  one  looks  at  their  seizure  of  Texas 
or  at  their  pretensions  to  the  Oregon,  have  clearly  the  advantage  in  an 
unscrupulous  choice  of  weapons,  being  altogether  too  ready  to  forget 
that  the  fulfilment  of  even  the  most  palpable  decrees  of  Providence 
will  not  justify  in  man  the  employment  of  unrighteous  means.  But, 
though  England  cannot  afford  to  acquire  additional  territory  by  such 
measures  as  would  shake  that  reputation  for  integrity  on  whicj^her 
empire  is  founded,  yet  she  has  one  road  open  to  her  by  which  sh^iay 
bring  California  under  her  sway  without  either  force  or  fraud,  without 
either  the  violence  of  marauders  or  the  effrontery  of  diplomatists. 

Mexico  owes  to  British  subjects  a  public  debt  of  more  than  fifty 
millions  of  dollars,  which,  though  never  formally  repudiated  by  her, 
is  a  burden  far  too  heavy  for  her  to  bear.  By  assuming  a  share  of  this 
debt,  on  consideration  of  being  put  in  possession  of  California,  Eng- 
land would  at  once  relieve  the  republic  and  benefit  the  creditors,  while 
the  Californians  themselves  would  eagerly  prefer  this  course  to  the 


SANTA  BARBARA. 


iivolvc  no 
riiured,  by 
they  have 
tc;  and  it' 
nature  for 
tut  neither 
),  and  still 
miia,  were 
ics  of  life, 
wants, 
lestined  to 
)ntinent — 

with  un- 
nglishmen 
tween  the 
inveterate 
h  towards 
indisputcd 

whole  ol 
exico,  th'- 
e;  and,  in 
)f  the  race 
Jer,  carry- 
1  with  its 
far  as  the 
>uth  alone 
1  wrested 
ifornia  be 
y  the  first 

merely  a 


only  other  possible  alternative  of  seeing  their  country  follow  in  the 
wake  of  Texas. 

In  fact  under  the  treaty  of  1700,  which  has  been  already  cited,  Eng- 
land is  even  now  entitled  to  colonize  a  considerable  portion  of  the  upper 
province.  As  America  has  renounced  everything  that  lies  below  the 
parallel  of  forty-two  degrees,  England  and  INIexico,  as  the  successors  of 
Spain,  are  regulated  in  their  reciprocal  relations  to  the  southward  by 
the  stipulations  of  the  international  compact  aforesaid  ;  so  that  England, 
without  being  questioned  by  any  one,  may  immediately  occupy  the 
coast  from  the  forty-second  parallel  of  latitude  down  to  the  due  range 
of  the  settlement  of  San  Francisco.  Now  the  due  range  of  a  settlement 
varies  in  direction  according  to  its  position.  If  unconnected,  like 
Monterey,  with  the  interior,  a  settlement  must  be  presumed  to  be  likely 
to  spread  along  the  coast,  while  if  situated,  like  San  Francisco,  at  the 
outlet  of  many  navigable  waters,  it  will,  in  all  probability,  creep  along 
the  shores  of  its  lakes  and  rivers.  Neither  on  principle,  therefore, 
nor  in  fact,  does  San  Francisco  extend  many  miles  to  the  northward 
of  the  mouth  of  its  harbor;  so  that,  to  take  an  instance,  England  may 
to-morrow  justifiably  occupy  the  valley  of  Santa  Rosa,  which  opens 
into  Bodega  Bay. 

To  return  to  my  narrative,  which  left  us  on  the  twenty-seventh  of 
the  month  making  our  way  from  Santa  Barbara  to  the  southward,  we 
soon  lost  sight  of  California  and  its  adjacent  islands,  while  a  fine  breeze 
from  the  northwest  carried  us  in  three  or  four  days  into  the  region  of 
the  northeast  trades. 


I 


itish  or  to 
of  Texas 
age  in  an 

to  forget 

rovidence 

ns.     But, 

T  by  such 

hicjkher 

sh^^ay 

,  without 

ists. 

than  fifty 

by  her, 
re  of  this 
aia,  Eng- 
trs,  while 
56  to  the 


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224 


.'V 


fv 


CHAPTER  X. 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  KTC. 


Our  course  from  Santa  IJarbara  had  been  ho  nearly  due  south,  that. 
on  catching  the  trades  in  about  Lat.  27°,  we  were  only  in  about  I<oii<:. 
llS",  rather  to  tlic  east  tlian  otherwise  of  tiie  meridian  of  our  point  oi 
departure  ;  and  as  between  our  present  position  and  the  port  of  Hone- 
iulu  the  difference  of  hititude  was  barely  six  degrees,  while  the  diller- 
encc  of  longitude  amounted  to  forty,  we  now  steered  VV.  S.  W.,  under 
all  our  canvas,  on  a  voyage  of  fully  2,300  miles.  This  immense  dis- 
tance we  accomplished  pretty  much  in  the  line  of  the  crow's  flight,  for, 
during  the  twelve  days  of  our  run,  our  breeze,  though  it  ranged  from 
N.  E.  to  E.  S.  E.,  was  yet  uniformly  fair ;  and  so  equable  was  the 
weather,  that  we  never  took  in  either  studding-sail  or  sky-sail,  during 
the  whole  of  our  course.  The  only  thing  that  broke  that  monotony 
of  progress,  which  becomes  almost  tiresome  in  the  swiftest  steamships, 
was  the  circumstance,  that  our  rate  of  sailiiig  varied  from  six  to  eleven 
knots  an  hour. 

If  it  was  under  similar  circumstances,  as  is  said  to  have  been  the 
case,  that  Magellan,  the  first  European  that  traversed  this  ocean,  and 
probably  the  flrst  navigator  that  spanned  it  at  a  stretch,  made  his  way 
from  South  America  to  the  Philippines,  he  could  not  possibly  have  be- 
stowed  on  it,  so  far  as  his  own  knowledge  went,  a  name  at  once  so 
appropriate  and  so  expressive,  as  that  of  the  Pacific.  Nor  did  his  in- 
dividual experience  differ  from  the  general  fact.  Excepting  in  its  more 
northerly  and  more  southerly  latitudes,  this  boundless  sea,  embracing,  as 
it  does,  as  much  of  the  equator  as  all  the  rest  of  the  world  put  together, 
is  ordinarily  so  calm,  that  open  boats  may  cross  it  with  safety ;  and, 
in  fact,  its  least  sheltered  portion,  lying  between  the  Polynesian  Islands 
and  Spanish  America,  and  almost  equaling  the  breadth  of  the  Atlantic, 
has  actually  been  so  traversed.  Captain  Hinckley,  whom  we  met  at 
San  Francisco,  having  carried  a  number  of  horses,  rather  ugly  custom- 
ers, by  the  by,  for  the  occasion,  in  an  undecked  vessel,  from  Califor- 
nia to  Woahoo.  It  is  doubtless  this  characteristic  tranquillity  of  die 
Pacific  Ocean,  which  has  been  the  means,  under  Providence,  of  peo- 
pling almost  every  islet  that  floats  on  its  bosom, — a  fact  which  appears 
to  be  in  itself  truly  remarkable,  without  reference  to  the  times  and 
modes  of  its  gradual  accomplishment. 

As  we  edged  away  towards  the  south,  the  heat  became  more  oppres- 
sive from  day  to  day.  The  skies  were  usually  a  little  overcast,  coming 
down  upon  us  now  and  then,  with  a  flying  shower;  so  that,  even 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  KTC. 


225 


-iM 


wlirn  our  hrovr.c  wn«  at  its  fVrshcst,  tlir  air  frit  closr  and  stiltry.  lii 
tin*  vf»ry  (Iriilt,  that  vciitilaicd  tin*  raltiti,  tlir  thornuwnctcr  raiijrfil  from 
"70^  to  71"  ol"  l-'alirnilifit,  srldorn  sliowiiig  a  diflrniicr'  ol"  mor**  than 
our  ilrjrrcc  brtwrru  day  and  uiylit. 

Of  tin*  liiiuy  rrratiircjt  we  Haw  vrry  f<'W,  not  a  wlialo,  not  a  »hark, 
not  a  d(d|)liin, — the  liottlf-ioHcd  porpoise  and  tlio  llyinij-fisli  alo!ir  slu»\v- 
injr  thrnisclvcs.  The  livi  i  of  the  forrnrr  is  said  to  he  vrry  good  caiiriij, 
and  ihf  lattor  to  ho  a  delicacy,  cxccptin^f  that  it  partakes  of  the  dryness 
and  insipidity  of  tho  ch'ep  sea  trihes.  All  this,  however,  wo  wero 
ohliijed  to  take  on  trust,  for  wo  eauirht  neither  tho  one  species  nor  the 
other;  nor  would  the  llyinj;-fish,  whiU;  it  whiskc'd  through  the  air,  per- 
haps a  furlontr  at  a  time,  condescend  to  heighten  our  amusement  by 
lallinj?  exhausted  on  our  dock. 

AnuuifT  the  tenants  of  air  wo  had  no  companions  save  tho  albatross 
:.nd  the  tropic-bird.  The  latter  is  ilw  rnosi  elejrant  creature  of  theso 
regions  ;  it  is  beaiitifidly  white  with  a  dash  of  pink,  anil,  as  it  m'tierally 
soars  hiji^h  in  tho  heavens,  it  looks  almost  transparent  in  the  sunshine, 
li,dittering  like  a  speck  of  silver  or  a  flake  of  snow,  'i'ho  albatross 
again  is  of  variotis  colors,  brown,  gray,  and  speckled,  the  largest  mea- 
suring eight  or  nine  feet  between  the  tips  of  the  wings  ;  though,  in  tho 
►Southern  Pacific,  it  is  sometimes  found  broader  by  half,  and  as  while 
as  snow.  When  skimming  the  surface  of  the  water  with  expanded 
pinions,  it  surpasses  the  swan  in  grac(>fulness  ;  but  on  tlu;  deck  of  a 
vessel  it  is  a  mere  waddler,  besides  that  it  becomes  sea-sick  and  pumps 
up  a  most  unromantic  cascade  of  yellow  oil.  Hut  this  curious  bird 
would  not  come  to  our  relief  any  more  than  the  flying-fish  ;  and,  in 
fact,  excepting  within  ten  degrees  of  Cape  Horn,  where  it  has  keen  air 
and  short  commons,  it  is  too  dainty  to  be  hooked  by  means  of  a  bait. 

In  such  a  state  of  afl'airs,  books  were  our  best  auxiliaries  in  the 
grand  business  of  killing  time ;  and,  during  these  my  wanderings,  I 
have  often  felt  that  an  amphibious  voyage  possesses  this  singular  ad- 
vantage, that  the  leisure  of  the  water,  besides  being  itself  beguiled  by 
the  task,  prepares  one,  by  means  of  reading,  to  profit  by  what  one  may 
see  and  hear  on  the  land. 

On  the  evening  of  the  ninth  of  February,  wc  felt  tolerably  certain 
that  the  next  day's  sun  would  find  us  within  the  visual  range  of  Ha- 
waii, though,  as  nothing  but  the  clearest  atmosphere  could  serve  our 
purpose,  we  were  rather  likely  than  otherwise  to  be  prevented  from 
actually  seeing  it.  In  the  morning,  however,  this  last  anticipation  was 
agreeably  disappointed.  At  a  distance  of  a  hundred  and  ten  miles,  we 
descried  the  snowy  summit  of  Mouna  Kea,  ihe  nearer,  as  well  as  the 
loftier  of  the  two  volcanic  mountains,  whi*:i,  with  the  table  land  be- 
tween them,  occupy  the  entire  centre  of  the  island.  Its  height  is 
variously  estimated  from  about  14,000  to  about  16,000  feet,  a  calcula- 
tion which,  independently  of  other  modes  of  measurement,  tallies  pretty 
accurately  with  the  fact,  that  it  has  been  distinctly  seen  from  positions 
more  remote  than  our  own  by  a  score  of  miles ;  so  that  in  the  extent 
of  visible  horizon,  Mouna  Kea  falls  very  little  short  of  the  stupendous 
St.  Elias  on  the  northwest  coast,  which  Vancouver  continued  to  see  in 

PART   I. — 15 


^i 


Wl 


226 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  ETC. 


1^  Hi' 


.  !"  1 


J^ 


ll     f 


his  wake,  still  "  like  a  lofty  mountain,"  at  a  distance  of  fifty  nautical 
leagues.  For  several  hours  we  discerned  no  other  symptom  of  land 
than  Mouna  Kea,  swelling,  as  if  a  solitary  iceberg,  in  breadth  and 
height  out  of  the  blue  ocean  :  not  a  single  winged  messenger  came  to 
salute  us  ;  and  our  oidy  companions  on  the  borders  of  this  archipelago 
were  the  albatrosses  and  tropic  birds  that  had  followed  us  all  the  way 
from  California. 

Mouna  Loa,  the  more  distant  of  the  two  central  mountains  of  Ha- 
waii, is  very  little  inferior  in  height  to  Mouna  Kea,  being,  according  to 
most  calculations  on  the  subject,  more  tiian  13,000  feet  above  the  level 
of  theusea.  Its  visible  horizon,  therefore,  must  have  reached,  if  it  did 
not  overleap,  the  track  of  the  galleons  running  before  the  trade-wind 
from  Acapulco  to  Manilla;  and  the  chances  of  its  being  seen  by  the 
Spaniards  in  early  times  were  considerably  intrreased,  if  the  crater  on 
its  summit,  as  was  most  probably  the  case,  was  then  in  a  state  of 
activity.  Even  if  there  were  no  direct  evidence  of  the  discovery,  the 
contrary  supposition  would  be  all  but  incredible,  for  the  mere  silence 
of  a  jealous  people  with  respect  to  islands,  which,  though  useless  to 
Spain,  might  yet  have  furnished  an  impregnable  shelter  to  the  plun- 
derers of  her  commerce,  would  not  have  even  a  negative  bearing  on 
the  fact.  To  give  an  analogous  example,  Nootka  Sound  had,  in  all 
probability,  been  known  to  the  Spaniards  before  it  was  discovered  by 
Cook ;  and  it  was  perhaps  the  same  nervous  dislike  of  publicity  that 
enabled  Americus  Vespucius,  as  the  first  person  who  detailed  the  won- 
ders of  the  New  World  to  the  Old,  to  usurp  what  would  have  been 
Columbus's  richest  reward. 

But  there  is  ample  proof  of  a  general  description,  that  the  Sandwich 
Islands  had  been  seen,  and  visited  too,  by  the  Spaniards  in  the  six- 
teenth century  or,  at  the  latest,  in  the  seventeenth.  Among  the  natives 
there  have  been  found  to  exist  traditions  of  the  occasional  appearance 
among  them  of  a  race  difl'erent  from  their  own,  too  numerous  and  too 
circumstantial  to  be  explained  by  anything  but  their  essential  truth ; 
and  perhaps  such  traditions  carry  more  of  verisimilitude  in  them  on 
this  account,  that  they  almost  exclusively  refer  to  Hawaii,  the  very 
island  which,  as  being  at  once  the  largest  and  the  loftiest  and  the  most 
southerly  of  the  group,  was  the  most  likely  to  attract  the  notice  of  the 
Spaniards.  Again  the  Spanish  charts,  however  carefully  they  were 
kept  out  of  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  contained  still  more  positive,  if  not 
more  interesting,  proof  of  the  hypothesis,  one  chart  in  particular, 
which  was  found  by  Anson  on  board  of  his  great  prize,  having  been 
the  means  of  revealing  for  the  first  time  to  the  world  at  large  a  cluster 
of  islands  in  the  latitude,  and,  considering  the  instruments  and  the 
science  of  the  times,  pretty  correctly  in  the  longitude,  of  the  Hawaiian 
group ;  and  of  this  cluster,  by  the  by,  one  island  was  distinguished  as 
La  Mesa  or  The  Table,  the  most  natural  and  appropriate  of  all  names 
for  the  truncated  summit  of  Mount  Loa,  the  first,  and  for  hours  the 
only,  landmark  to  a  vessel  approaching  from  the  south.  Moreover, 
besides  such  charts  and  traditions,  circumstances,  more  conclusive  in 
their  nature,  so  far  as  their  number  goes,  confirm  the  same  view.     The 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  ETC. 


227 


helmets  and  cloaks  of  the  natives  rcsrml)le  those  of  the  Spaniards; 
their  military  tactics,  as  compared  witli  those  of  the  other  savajres  of 
Polynesia,  bore  the  impress  of  civilized  instruction;  and  perhaps  in  the 
Hawaiian  language  a  careful  investigation  might  delect  many  words  of 
Spanish  origin. 

Though  Cook  must  have  been  acquainted  with  Anson's  chart,  yet 
he  would  appear  to  have  discovered  the  Sandwich  Islands  without 
reference  to  its  information.  As  the  error  in  the  longitude  on  the  part 
of  the  Spaniards,  which  has  been  already  mentioned,  placed  the  group 
considerably  too  far  to  the  east,  our  celebrated  navigator,  if  he  liad  been 
looking  for  La  Mesa,  would  have  kept  so  mudi  to  the  wiM(h>»ard  of 
Hawaii  as  most  prol)ably  not  to  be  within  the  visual  range  of  ei'her  of 
its  landn  irks,  while,  in  reality,  he  had  beat  his  course  so  far  to  the 
west,  that  he  barely  descried  the  island  which  terminates,  in  that  direc- 
tion, a  group  occupying  nearly  three  degrees  and  a  half  of  latitude  and 
fully  five  degrees  and  a  half  of  longitude. 

In  fact,  though  neither  Cook  nor  the  Spaniards  had  discovered  the 
archipelago,  some  vessel  or  other  must  soon  have  stumbled  on  it. 
Each  of  the  four  principal  islands,  Hawaii,  Mowee,  Woahoo  and  Kauai, 
presents  points  high  enough  to  prevent  any  seamen  from  passing, 
in  clear  weather,  between  any  two  without  seeing  at  least  one  of  them ; 
so  that,  generally  speaking,  tlie  group,  as  a  whole,  was  as  little  likely 
to  remain  hid  as  an  ordinarily  level  country  of  the  size  of  Great  Hritain 
would  have  been  to  remain  so  in  the  same  neighborhood. 

Next  morning,  the  elevend)  of  the  month,  gave  us  a  full  view  of 
Mowee  with  its  rugged  hills  of  about  eleven  thousand  feet  in  height, 
this  island  ranking  next  to  Hawaii  as  well  in  elevation  as  in  extent  and 
position,— a  remark  which  may  also  be  applied  to  Woahoo  with  respect 
to  Mowee  and  to  Kauai  with  respect  to  Woahoo.  In  fact,  the  whole 
group  appears  to  have  been  thrown  up  from  the  deep  by  volcanic 
action  advancing  from  the  northwest  to  the  southeast  and  increasing  in 
force  as  it  advanced ;  so  that,  while  island  rose  after  island,  each  grew 
at  once  in  height  and  in  breadth  according  to  the  intensity  of  the  [Ifcwer 
that  heaved  it  upwards  from  the  waters.  Thus  Bird  Island,  a  barren 
rock  taking  its  name  from  its  only  inhabitants,  and  lying  about  as  far 
to  the  northwest  of  Kauai  as  Kauai  lies  of  Woahoo,  must  be  considered 
as  the  germ  of  the  archipelago,  as  the  nrst  fruits  of  a  submarine  energy 
that  was  here  only  kindling  its  fires  ;  while  the  other  main  links  in  the 
chain,  Kauai,  Woahoo,  Mowee  and  Hawaii,  not  only  differ,  as  I  have 
just  mentioned,  at  once  in  extent  and  in  elevation,  but  also  present,  as 
they  proceed,  less  and  less  evidence  of  antiquity  in  their  gradually 
diminishing  proportions  of  land  capable  of  cultivation, — a  proof  the 
more  conclusive  inasmuch  as  the  soil  of  the  whole  group  undeniably 
consists  of  the  successive  gifts  of  years  and  ages  and  centuries.  More- 
over, the  visible  laboratories  of  the  subterranean  fire,  which  are  scat- 
tered over  the  archipelago,  confirm  the  same  view  :  the  craters  are  all 
extinct,  excepting  on  Hawaii ;  and,  even  on  Hawaii,  Mouna  Loa,  the 
most  southeasterly  of  its  three  great  safety-valves,  alone  bears  living 
testimony  to  the  creative  impulse  that  has  called  the  whole  chain  into 


-,.  Iff 


'ffi 


»■' 


f -■ 


228 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  ETC. 


li:f:C'' ' 


existence,  and  bears  it,  too,  only  throiiffh  its  lateral  volcano  of  Kilauea, 
which,  besides  itself  looking  to  the  east,  appears,  by  the  gradual  ad- 
vance of  subsidiary  outlets  down  its  eastern  declivities,  to  be  rolling 
the  hidden  sources  of  its  strength, — peradventure  there  to  forge  fresh 
islands, — under  the  bed  of  the  ocean.  But  in  whatever  order  or  at 
whatever  times  the  Sandwich  Islands  came  into  being,  they  must,  in 
all  probability,  have  sprung  from  the  ocean.  Coral  and  shells  are  said 
to  have  been  found  on  some  of  the  mountains  of  Kauai ;  and  the  whole 
group  is  known,  from  a  careful  comparison  of  minute  changes  in  dif- 
ferent localities,  to  be  slowly  but  surely  continuing  to  rise,  to  be  still, 
as  it  were,  in  the  throes  of  creation. 

It  is  a  curious  coincidence,  which  it  would  be  unphilosophical  to 
ascribe  to  chance,  that  the  direction  of  volcanic  agency,  as  just  de- 
scribed, has,  generally  speaking,  been  one  and  the  same  in  this  archipe- 
lago, and  on  the  neighboring  continent.  The  general  line  of  the  western 
shore  of  America,  from  Beering's  Straits  to  the  equator,  is,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  parallel  with  the  chain  of  the  Sandwich  Islands — the  opposite 
coast  of  Asia,  by  the  by,  running  with  a  similar  inclination  to  the 
southern  extremity  of  Malacca,  so  as  to  complete  an  isosceles  triangle 
with  half  the  circumference  of  the  earth  as  its  base ;  and,  on  the  said 
western  shore  of  America,  volcanic  agency  appears  to  have  traveled 
from  the  northwest  to  the  southeast,  for  Mount  Edgecombe,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Sitka,  and  Saddle  Hill,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia, 
have  exhausted  themselves,  and  the  craters  of  California  are  diminish- 
ing in  activity,  while  the  more  southerly  fires  continue  to  blaze  as 
fiercely  as  ever. 

In  corroboration,  or  at  least  in  illustration  of  the  last  two  paragraphs, 
may  be  cited  other  physical  phenomena  from  the  history  of  the  Sand- 
wich Islands.  Inundations  of  the  sea,  as  if  the  water  periodically  strug- 
gled to  recover  the  land,  annually  escaping  from  its  grasp,  have  often 
flooded  the  lower  shores  of  the  group,  flowing  and  ebbing  with  a  force 
that  seemed  to  concentrate  into  a  few  minutes  the  tides  of  a  week ;  and, 
on  one  of  those  occasions,  which  caused  a  heavy  loss  of  property  and 
life,  the  great  volcano  of  Kilauea — for  great  it  confessedly  is  with  what- 
ever other  volcano  on  the  earth's  surface  it  may  be  compared — palpably 
exhibited  a  sympathy  with  the  ocean  in  a  fiery  inundation  of  more 
than  ordinary  magnitude.  Now,  the  very  last  instance  of  the  kind 
happened  just  about  nine  months  before  our  arrival;  and  we  afterwards 
ascertained  that  an  almost  simultaneous  flood  had  assailed  the  shores  of 
Kamschatka,  a  country  whose  southern  extremity  is  situated  in  a  line 
with  the  general  direction  of  the  Hawaiian  Archipelago  and  its  volcanic 
agency.  Here,  again,  it  would  be  by  no  means  philosophical  to  con- 
sider the  coincidence  as  fortuitous. 

To  return  to  Mowee,  Lahaina,  on  the  leeward  side  of  its  western 
extremity,  has  been,  for  a  considerable  time,  the  residence  of  the  king. 
In  the  days  of  Cook,  as  all  the  world  knows,  each  island,  or  at  least 
each  of  the  four  principal  islands,  with  its  adjacent  islets,  had  its  own 
king,  who  would  appear,  however,  rather  to  have  been  the  lord  para- 
mount of  the  chiefs,  than  the  immediate  sovereign  of  the  people.    After 


western 
le  king, 
at  least 
its  own 
•d  para- 
After 


VISIT  TO  HONOL    LU,  ETC. 


229 


a  lapse  of  thirteen  years,  Vancouver  found  the  political  condition  of  the 
Archipelago  to  be  pretty  nearly  the  same,  excepting  that  the  King  of 
Hawaii  was  obviously  on  the  point  of  becoming  the  master  of  the  whole 
group.  His  island  was  about  twice  as  extensive,  and,  perhaps,  also, 
twice  as  populous,  as  all  the  other  islands, large  and  small,  put  together; 
he  had  the  whole  force  of  his  little  monarchy  at  his  disposal,  for  he 
held  Hawaii  at  once  by  inheritance  and  by  conquest,  having  vanquished 
and  slain,  in  self-defence,  the  rightful  occupant  of  the  throne,  whose 
heir  he  was,  and  having  subsequenUy  crushed  the  rebellions  of  various 
chiefs,  who  envied  his  elevation ;  and,  though  last  not  least,  he  had 
earned  the  sympathy  and  assistance  of  foreigners,  by  ihe  humanity 
and  integrity,  which,  in  spite  of  the  example  of  the  other  kings,  and  of 
the  suggestions  of  his  own  chiefs,  he  had  uniformly  displayed  in  his 
intercourse  with  them.  Accordingly,  in  1795,  the  very  year  after  Van- 
couver's final  departure,  Kamehameha  acquired,  by  force  of  arms,  per- 
manent possession  of  Mowee  and  Woahoo,  while  he  soon  after  received 
the  voluntary  submissions  of  his  royal  brother  of  Kauai.  But  Hawaii, 
as  has  often  happened  elsewhere,  gradually  became  a  dependency  o( 
its  own  conquests.  Its  victorious  chief  removed  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment to  Honolulu  in  Woahoo,  which,  on  account  of  the  superiority  of 
its  harbor,  was  the  favorite  resort  of  foreign  vessels ;  and,  though  he 
did  pass  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  in  his  native  island,  yet  neither 
of  his  successors  has  imitated  this  his  later  example.  Honolulu  was, 
indeed,  speedily  found  to  be  too  troublesome  a  home  for  youths,  who, 
being  destitute  of  their  father's  commanding  character,  wished  to  escape 
from  the  importunities  and  assumptions  of  white  residents  and  white 
visitors ;  and  at  last  Lahaina  was  selected  as  the  ordinary  abode  of 
Hawaiian  majesty,  affording,  perhaps,  the  most  central  position  in  the 
Archipelago,  with  Mowee  and  Hawaii  to  the  east,  and  Woahoo  and 
Kauai  to  the  west. 

As  we  proceeded  on  our  voyage,  we  had  in  sight,  at  one  and  the 
same  time,  the  four  islands  of  Mowee,  Lanai,  Molokoi  and  Woahoo, 
the  first  three  on  our  left  and  the  last  on  our  right.  We  were,  in  fact, 
now  sailing  along  one  of  the  eight  seas,  as  the  native  ditties  designate 
the  channels  of  various  width,  which  separate  the  islands  from  each 
other, — a  form  of  expression  which,  even  if  it  stood  alone,  would  in- 
dicate not  merely  that  the  islanders  knew  the  extent  of  their  secluded 
group,  but  also  that  they  were  habitually  impressed  with  a  sense  of 
common  nationality.  In  the  case  of  this  archipelago,  mutual  conunu- 
nication  was  doubdess  facilitated  by  the  circumstance,  that  the  north- 
cast  trades,  falling  pretty  nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  general  direction 
of  the  group,  seldom  presented  to  the  voyager  the  obstacle  of  a  head- 
wind, whether  he  was  running  to  the  northwest  or  to  the  southeast; 
and  even  in  the  case  of  such  other  archipelagos  of  the  Pacific,  as  pos- 
sessed not  the  same  advantage,  mutual  communication  between  island 
and  island  seems  to  have  been  maintained,  if  not  with  equal  ease,  at 
least  to.  such  an  extent  as  evinced  considerable  skill  and  boldness  in 
navigation.  In  all  probability,  the  gregarious  disposition,  if  one  may 
so  speak,  of  the  Polynesian  isles,  has  been  an  instrument  in  the  hands 


mi 


1    "■"■  I 


230 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  ETC. 


•■\U    ■ 


It,  :'/ 
■1  .  •'■■; 


'■<ti* 


of  Providence,  for  iho  peopling  of  tliig  vast  ocean.  IJcsides  rendcrinff 
the  natives  all  but  anij)hil)i{)iiH,  it  mnltiplied,  to  an  infinite  degree,  the 
chances  of  their  being  involuntarily  carried  to  neighboring  clusters, 
and  that,  too,  while  transporting  from  one  islnnd  to  another,  the  I'ruit.s 
and  the  animals  of  their  original  homes.  Whether  Polynesia,  as  a 
whole,  has  derived  the  germs  of  its  population  from  Asia  or  from  Ame- 
rica, its  parts  are  demonstrably  proved,  by  points  of  identity  which 
may  hereafter  be  noticed,  to  have  been  colonized  from  each  other  by 
successive  families  of  one  and  the  same  race, — families  which  must 
often  have  accomplished  voyages  fully  as  long  as  the  voyage  of  Co- 
lumbus from  the  Azores  to  the  Bahamas.  As  an  instance  of  this,  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  according  to  the  traditionary  belief  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, were  peopled  from  Tahiti,  distant  from  the  most  southerly  ex- 
tremity of  Hawaii  upwards  of  thirty-six  degrees  of  latitude;  and, 
whether  this  traditionary  belief  be  correct  or  incorrect,  the  rude  min- 
strelsy of  the  group,  certainly  more  ancient  than  the  visits  of  civilized 
navigators,  makes  household  words  not  merely  of  Tahiti,  but  also  of 
Nuhahira  of  the  Marquesas,  as  well  as  of  the  names  of  other  islands  of 
other  groups.  But  the  mere  accomplishment  of  long  voyages  was  not 
the  most  wonderful  feature  in  the  grand  scheme  of  colonizing  the  Poly- 
nesian Isles.  Their  successful  result,  as  I  have  already  hinted  in  a 
former  passage,  appears  to  be  far  more  wonderful.  When  we  consider 
how  many  civilized  mariners,  with  all  the  light  of  science  and  experi- 
ence to  guide  them,  traversed  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Pacific 
before  each  of  the  now  known  groups  was  revealed  to  the  world, — 
when,  for  instance,  we  reflect  that  one  section  of  the  Marquesas  was 
visited  in  1595,  and  the  other,  sometimes  distinguished  as  the  Wash- 
ington Islands,  only  in  1791, — how  marvelous,  or  rather  how  miracu- 
lous, that  ignorant  savages,  with  their  frail  and  tiny  barks,  should  have  so 
uniformly  reached  the  same  goals,  forestalling,  as  it  were,  those  honors 
which  are  deemed  worthy  of  being  a  bone  of  contention  between  the 
rival  navigators  and  rival  nations  of  modern  times.  Either  the  prime- 
val adventurers  must  have  possessed  a  secret,  which  is  now  lost,  for 
u.. seeming  some  symptoms  or  other  of  distant  land,  or  they  must  often 
have  perished  miserably  in  their  blind  pursuit  of  unknown  shores,  or, 
what  is  far  more  probable  than  either  supposition,  they  must  have  been 
led  by  a  special  providence  to  their  respective  havens,  through  means 
as  unerring,  though  not  so  palpable,  as  a  pillar  of  cloud  or  of  fire.  To 
give  a  definite  form  to  this  last  hypothesis,  might  not  birds,  while  re- 
tracing their  flight  to  clusters  previously  visited,  have  lent  the  pilotage 
of  their  own  mysterious  instinct  across  the  trackless  waste  of  waters  f 
In  the  channel  between  Molokoi  and  Woahoo  we  were  joined  by 
the  American  brig  Joseph  Peabody,  bound  for  Honolulu  from  Mazatlaii, 
— a  vcsse'  which,  carrying  on  trade  between  Mexico  and  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  brought  under  our  notice  one  instance  more  of  the  ubiquity  of 
the  English  race  in  the  very  ocean  which  was  once  closed  against  il 
as  an  inland  lake  of  the  Spanish  Indies.  In  company  with  this  ship 
we  passed  the  southeastern  point  of  Woahoo,  forming,  of  course,  the 
boundary  between  the  windward  and  the  leeward  coasts  of  the  island. 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  ETC. 


231 


In  our  present  position,  Woahoo  hore  a  remarkably  sterile  and  nursed 
nspect,  exhibiting,  at  lenst  to  o\ir  comparatively  distant  view,  noiliiiifr 
but  desolate  rocks,  which  varied  in  form,  and  in  form  only,  between 
the  truncated  crater  and  the  towering  peak, — the  sandal-wood,  which 
once  cloth'  d  them,  havinff  been  literally  extirpated.  Of  the  craters 
the  most  perfect  and  conspicuous  was  the  headland,  which  bounded 
our  prospect  of  the  coast  towards  the  west.  It  W!is  distinguished  by 
the  natives  as  Leahi,  which  was  merely  translated  into  Diamond  Hill, 
from  a  notion  that  it  contained,  or  had  once  contained,  precious  stones. 
On  rounding  this  cape,  we  saw  immediately  before  us  a  belt  of  level 
ground,  washed  in  front  by  the  sea  and  skirted  in  rear  by  the  continu- 
ation of  the  mountains,  of  which,  however,  the  lower  slopes  partook, 
in  some  measure,  of  the  verdure  of  the  plain  below.  This  belt  ap- 
peared to  extend  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  and  was  studded  with 
clumps  and  groves  of  trees,  among  which  the  tall  and  straight  stem  of 
the  cocoa-nut  could  not  be  mistaken;  and  this  noble  palm,  to  me  the 
first  peculiar  symptom  of  a  tropical  climate,  electrified  me,  as  it  were, 
with  the  consciousness  of  having  now  entered  a  new  world,  of  being 
now  surrounded  by  a  hitherto  unknown  creation.  At  its  nearer  extre- 
mity, just  within  the  promontory,  lay  the  village  of  Waikiki,  while,  at 
a  distance  of  about  six  miles,  the  town  of  Honolulu  presented  a  strange 
admixture  of  the  savage  and  the  civilized,  stacks  of  warehouses 
rising  amid  straw  huts,  and  the  whitewashed  mariner's  chapel  with  its 
stunted   tower,  overtopped  by  still  remaining  specimens  of  primeval 


vegetation. 


Waikiki  Bay  used  to  be  a  favorite  place  of  resort  among  the  earlier 
voyagers,  possessing  the  only  essential  requisites  for  a  port  of  refuge 
and  refreshment,  shelter  from  the  trade-winds,  a  beach  that  would 
allbrd  a  landing,  and  ground  that  would  hold  an  anchor.  In  1701, 
however,  Waikiki  Bay  was  supplanted,  in  common  with  most  of  the 
frequented  anchorages  in  the  gro  ip,  though,  of  course,  more  completely 
titan  any  of  the  others,  by  the  dock-like  harbor  of  Honolulu,  which 
was,  in  that  year,  entered  and  surveyed  by  an  English  skipper  of  the 
name  of  Brown  ;  so  that,  so  far  as  the  right  of  discovery  went,  not 
only  the  whole  group,  but  also  its  most  valuable  part,  had  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  our  country.  Within  a  few  months  Brown  met  the  same  fate  as 
Cook,  without  having,  like  his  more  distinguished  predecessor,  done 
anything  to  provoke  it,  being  murdered,  for  the  sake  of  booty,  by  the 
savage  tenants  of  the  very  spot  which  he  had  fitted  to  be  not  only  the 
metropolis  of  Polynesia,  but  also  the  emporium  of  the  Pacific.  Hap- 
pily Brown's  death  was  the  last  act  of  blood-thirsty  treachery  that  dis- 
graced the  shores  of  Woahoo,  for  in  1795,  the  very  year  in  which  our 
countryman  fell,  Kamehameha,  the  friend  of  the  whites,  became,  as  I 
have  already  mentioned,  the  undisputed  lord  of  the  island. 

On  coming  in  sight  of  Honolulu,  we  had  made  signals  for  a  pilot  by 
hoisting  our  colors  and  firing  two  guns,  our  companion  having  done 
the  same ;  and  very  shortly  two  came  off  to  us,  Reynolds,  an  Ameri- 
fan,  boarding  the  Joseph  Peabody,  and  "  Old  Adams,"  an  English  tar 
who  has  lived  on  the  island  these  thirty  or  forty  years,  and  appears  to 


M 


•^ 


<  ■  *i 

■4.'  ■ 


'i-VS-i 


232 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  ETC. 


l::if'X  ' 


■1 1 


have  been  appointed  to  his  post  by  a  Britisli  man-of-war,  taking  the  Cow- 
litz under  liis  churj^c.  "  Old  Adams,"  who  Jinows  his  woric  well,  is 
very  tenacious  of  his  official  dij^nity;  and  we  were  told  that  when  he 
was  last  autumn  piloting  the  V^iucennes,  he  flared  up  at  some  interfer- 
ence or  other  on  the  part  of  Commodore  Wilkes,  called  his  boat  along- 
side, and  left  the  vessel,  and  her  commander's  superior  judgment  to 
boot,  in  the  lurch. 

The  harbor,  which  is  capable  of  containing  about  forty  vessels,  ap- 
pears to  owe  its  existence  to  the  peculiar  habits  oi  the  lithophyte.  The 
coral  reefs,  such  as  generally  gird  the  Polynesian  Islands,  though  they 
are  less  continuous  in  this  group  than  elsewhere,  form  a  natural  break- 
water, while  a  gap  in  the  work  of  the  submarine  architects  is  wide 
enough  for  the  passage  of  ships  without  being  so  wide  as  materially  to 
diminish  the  amount  and  value  of  the  shelter.  Generally,  though,  as 
Sir  Edward  Belcher  has  shown,  not  universally,  such  openings  are  to 
be  found  only  on  the  leeward  sides  of  the  islands,  while  their  precise 
position  on  the  same  is  said  to  be  commonly,  if  not  exclusively,  oppo- 
site to  the  mouths  of  streams,  the  temperature  of  the  fresh  water  being 
supposed  to  be  too  low  for  the  taste  and  health  of  the  little  builders. 
With  both  these  conditions  the  harbor  of  Honolulu  literally  complies. 
To  say  nothing  of  its  being  on  the  southerly  coast  of  the  island,  it  re- 
ceives a  brook  that  has  just  escaped  from  the  almost  frigid  atmosphere 
of  the  mountains,  formed,  as  it  is,  from  the  numberless  cascades  which 
rush  down  the  sides  of  the  valley  of  Nuanau,  or  Great  Cold,  in  the 
very  rear  of  the  town.  Whether  or  not  the  proximity  of  cold  water 
satisfactorily  explains  the  phenomenon  in  question,  the  antipathy  of  the 
insect  to  that  element  seems  to  be  a  matter  of  fact  beyond  denial  or 
doubt.  It  is  almost  entirely  within  thirty  degrees  of  latitude  on  either 
side  of  the  equator,  within  the  range,  in  fact,  of  the  trade-winds,  that  the 
labors  of  the  lithophyte  abound;  while,  even  within  such  assigned  limits, 
they  are  far  more  widely  spread  in  the  Asiatic  section  of  the  ocean,  on 
which  the  current  flows  from  the  south,  than  on  its  American  section, 
on  which  the  current  comes  down  from  the  arctic  seas. 

As  the  entrance  of  the  basin  is  too  intricate  to  be  attempted  with 
anything  but  a  fair  wind,  we  were  reluctantly  obliged  to  wait  for  the 
sea  breeze,  which  generally  blows  in  the  morning  from  a  litde  before 
sunrise  to  about  nine  o'clock ;  and  we  accordingly  anchored  for  the 
night  in  the  outer  roads,  where  we  were  soon  visited  by  Mr.  Pelly, 
The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  agent  in  the  Archipelago,  and  Mr. 
Allan,  an  officer  in  our  regular  service.  We  had  met  pilots  who  spoke 
our  language  as  their  vernacular  tongue;  we  now  enjoyed  the  society 
of  English  visitors ;  and,  as  if  still  farther  to  remind  us  of  home, 
and  also  to  make  amends  for  our  not  landing  at  once,  we  were  favored 
by  Captain  Dominis,  of  the  American  brig  which  was  in  'ompany,  with 
several  English  and  American  newspapers,  bringing  intelligence  down 
to  the  month  of  December.  These  journals  were  an  inestimable  treat 
to  wanderers,  who  had  received  no  tidings  from  the  civilized  world  of 
more  recent  date  than  April;  and  we  '.?ard  with  much  interest  of  the 
burning  of  the  Tower  of  London,  of  the  accession  of  the  Conservatives 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  KTC. 


233 


to  power,  of  the  birlli  of  the  l*riiiPO  of  Wales,  nnd  of  a  thousarul  tojtics 
more,  of  wliieh  even  the  least  important  yiehletl  a  peculiar  pleasure, 
which  "srentleinen  of  England,  who  live  at  home  at  ease,"  can  never 
appreciate,  when  communicated  to  U)>,  in  our  own  idiom,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  nearly  half  the  globe  from  our  native  land.  What  a  contrast 
between  our  own  time  and  the  days  of  the  discoverers  ol'  this  group! 
"  Whilst  we  were  at  dinner,"  (says  Captain  King,  the  friend  and  com- 
panion of  Cook,)  "  in  this  miserahle  hut,  on  the  banks  of  the  Kiver 
Awatska,  the  guests  of  a  people  with  whose  existence  we  had  before 
been  scarce  acquainted,  and  at  the  extremity  of  the  habitable  glol)e,  a 
solitary,  half-worn  pewter  spoon,  whose  shape  was  familiar  to  us,  at- 
tracted our  attention;  and,  on  examination,  we  found  it  stamped  oi' 
'he  back  with  the  word  London.  I  cannot  pass  over  this  circumstance 
in  .silence,  out  of  gratitude  for  tlie  many  pleasant  thoughts,  the  anxious 
hopes,  and  tender  remembrances,  it  excited  in  us.  Those  who  have 
experienced  the  etFects  that  long  absence  and  extreme  distance  from 
their  native  country  produce  on  the  mind,  will  readily  conceive  the 
l)leasure  such  a  trilling  incident  can  give."  But  the  personal  contrast, 
if  1  may  presume  so  to  speak,  between  us  and  our  celebrated  navigator 
himself,  was  still  more  striking.  We  had  just  anchored  in  front  of  a 
large  and  flourishing  town,  into  which  the  enterprise  of  the  English 
race  had  attracted  upwards  of  eight  thousand  comparatively  civilized  na- 
tives; and,  on  the  self-same  day,  the  eleventh  of  February,  in  the  year 
1779,  did  Cook  return  to  Kalaikeakua  Bay,  after  what  had  appeared 
to  be  his  final  departure,  to  seal,  ere  half  a  week  should  have  elapsed, 
his  discovery  with  his  blood. 

On  the  morning  of  the  twelfth,  we  were  all  stirring  betimes.  While 
the  vessel  was  preparing  to  enter  the  harl)or  bel'ore  a  fair  wind,  we 
took  a  more  careful  look  of  the  town,  observing  in  particular  a  fort 
well  provided,  to  all  appearance,  with  guns,  and  admirably  situated  for 
commanding  the  narrow  and  intricate  passage;  and,  in  the  event  of 
hostilities,  we  could  not  help  thinking  that  even  the  most  formidable 
visitor  would  be  wise,  while  on  the  safe  side  of  the  reef,  to  begin  by 
smashing  so  ugly  a  customer  into  silence.  But  the  harbor  is  said  to 
have  worse  enemies  to  dread  than  shot  and  shells.  In  consequence  of 
the  gradual  rising  of  the  islands,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  the 
opening  in  the  reef  is  supposed  to  be  diminishing  in  depth,  a  difference 
of  three  feet  having  been  actually  observed  and  ascertained  about  fifteen 
or  sixteen  years  after  Brown's  exploration;  while  the  very  brook,  to 
which,  in  all  probability,  the  gap  in  the  lithophyte's  labor  is  owing,  is 
generally  believed  to  be,  to  a  certain  extent,  neutralizing  its  own  work 
Ijy  washing  down  mud  to  elevate  the  bottom  of  the  basin.  To  provide 
against  the  possible  results  of  such  causes,  the  basin  might  easily  be 
dredged,  and  the  reef  might,  by  some  means  or  other,  be  cut  to  a  sufficient 
depth;  and,  at  all  events,  there  has  been  found,  at  a  distance  of  a  few 
miles  to  the  westward,  a  harbor  equal  to  that  of  Honolulu,  though  its 
shores  are  by  no  means  so  well  fitted  to  be  the  site  of  a  town.  It 
seems  hardly  worth  while  to  mention  another  candidate  for  future 
honors  in  a  convenient  basin  with  a  beautiful  country  round  it,  situated 


-  1^ 


'^:i 


•■I.'  . 


:   .1 


'♦•;} 


;  K 


-ui 


:<-• 


234 


VISIT   TO  HONOLULU,  ETC. 


"1,     ■  ■    ■ 

I'  i^.U 


:iit. 


<  y 


1:  !  ■  '-I  ii** 


on  the  windward  side  of  Woahoo,  for  its  rcpf,  which  has  only  nine  ni- 
ton fcot  of  water  on  tlio  opcnini^,  wouhl  requirr  far  more  cutting  at  the 
very  outset  than  that  of  llonohihi  woidd  require  for  ai^es  yet  to  come. 

On  eiitcriui?  tlie  channel,  whose  breadth  did  not  exceed  twice  the 
lenijth  of  the  Cowlitz,  we  could  almost  have  touched  with  an  oar  a 
crowd  of  natives,  who  were  elhowinj?  each  other  on  the  reef  up  to 
their  middles  in  water,  all  the  while  jahherinjr,  and  shouting,  and  bel- 
lowing in  their  outlandish  tongue,  which,  by  reason  of  the  numericsil 
superiority  of  its  vowels,  and  the  softness  and  indistinctness  of  its 
consonants,  resembled  rather  a  continuous  howl  than  an  articulate  lan- 
guage. On  our  handing  out  a  hawser  to  these  fellows,  who,  if  siitll- 
ciently  numerous,  could,  I  verily  believe,  tow  a  vessel  swimming,  we 
were  speedily  hauled  close  to  the  wharf;  and,  after  mooring  our  ship 
and  saluting  the  town,  we  prepared  to  go  ashore. 

On  landing  we  immediately  proceeded  to  pay  our  respects  to  several 
of  the  inhabitants,  begintiing,  as  in  duty  bound,  with  Governor  Keku- 
anaoa,  one  of  the  natives  who  accompanied  the  late  king  and  queen  to 
England;  we  were  much  pleased  with  the  shrewdness  of  this  old  gen- 
tleman, who,  in  fact  has,  by  his  official  ability,  raised  himself  from  the 
rank  of  a  subordinate  chief  to  be  one  of  the  principal  rulers  of  the 
archipelago.  We  next  called  in  succession,  for  etiquette  of  that  kind 
is  requisite  in  Honolulu,  on  the  British,  French,  and  American  con- 
suls, and  some  of  the  principal  residents. 

Mr.  Pelly,  being  aware  beforehand  of  the  probability  of  our  arrivinff 
about  this  time,  had  procured  a  house  for  accommodating  us  durinir 
our  visit,  being  nothing  less  than  a  royal  palace.  It  had  been  originally 
built  by  the  king,  Kauikeaouli,  or  Kamehameha  III.  for  his  own  use; 
and  when  his  majesty,  for  the  sake  of  retirement,  removed  his  court 
from  Honolulu  to  Lahaina,  it  was  transferred  to  Haalilio,  who,  like 
Kekuanaoa,  has  risen  in  the  world  by  his  talents,  till  at  last,  after  Haa- 
lilio, in  his  capacity  of  secretary,  followed  his  master  to  Mowee,  it 
was  reserved  as  a  kind  of  caravansera  for  receiving  such  of  the  prin- 
cipal chiefs  as  might  visit  Honolulu.  The  lower  Hat,  however,  hatl 
been  devoted  to  vulgar  and  utilitarian  purposes,  being  occupied  as  a 
store;  and  the  upper  (lat,  which,  in  addition,  of  course,  to  kitchen, 
outhouses,  yard,  &c.,  was  our  share  of  the  palace,  consisted  of  four 
apartments,  two  larger  and  two  smaller. 

Having  collected  together  furniture,  &c.  &c,,  we  established  our- 
selves in  our  new  domicile.  The  walls  of  the  rooms  were  hung  witli 
several  good  engravings  of  the  American  Declaration  of  Independence, 
a  portrait  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  badly  executed  in  oil,  and  various 
daubs  of  colored  engravings.  These  paltry  embellishments,  however, 
were  an  evidence  not  of  savage  but  of  civilized  taste,  for  they  had 
been  presented,  always  excepting,  of  course,  the  symbols  of  demo- 
cracy, by  his  Prussian  majesty,  who  must  have  borrowed  his  idea  of 
the  Kamehamehas  from  the  good  old  times  when  a  gallon  of  beads 
would  have  bought  up  half  the  hogs  of  a  whole  valley.  This  gift 
from  one  king  to  another  could  not  have  damaged  the  donor  much 
beyond  five  pounds  sterling. 


ly  nine  or 
tinf^  at  tin- 
to  CO  inc. 
twico  the 
an  oar  a 
reef  \ip  tti 
r,  and  l)('l- 
nnmorical 
less  of  ils 
culate  lan- 
lO,  if  .suHi- 
iunin<r,  \v(! 
f  our  ship 

to  several 
nor  Keku- 
[1  queen  to 
is  old  geu- 
f  from  the 
ers  of  the 
f  that  kind 
irican  con- 

ur  arrivinsr 

us  during 

originally 

own  use; 

his  court 

who,  likt! 

after  Haa- 

Mowec,  it 

f  the  prin- 

.vever,  had 

ipied  as  a 

o  kitchen. 

ed  of  foui- 

ished  our- 
hung  witli 
spendencc, 
id  variou-' 
however, 
they  ha<l 
of  demo- 
is  idea  of 
of  beads 
This  gilt 
lor  much 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  KTC. 


235 


In  this  temporary  home  we  received  visits  from  all  the  missionaries 
and  foreign  residents  in  the  town. 

Honolulu  contains  a  population  of  a!)out  OOOO  souls,  nearly  1000  per- 
haps, consisting  of  pretty  e(jual  proportions  of  fureiiriu'rs  and  lialf-hrceds. 
It  is  about  half  a  mile  long  and  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  broad  ;  and 
it  consists  of  one  good  street,  which,  having  been  but  recently  opened. 
is  only  half  finished,  with  a  number  of  narrow  and  irregular  alleys. 
Most  of  the  houses  are  built  in  the  native  fashion,  which  will  be  de- 
Hcribed  at  large  in  the  sequel ;  but  there  are  also  many  substantial 
edifices,  some  of  them  of  two  stories,  of  wood,  adobes,  coral,  and 
stone,  with  tinned  roofs,  which,  generally  speaking,  are  finished  with 
balconies,  verandahs  and  jalousies,  and  enclosed  within  small  gardens 
of  ornamental  plants,  indigenous  and  exotic. 

But  already  has  this  incipient  metropolis  begun,  like  its  older  models, 
to  go  out  of  town.  'I'he  more  respectable  of  the  foreign  residents  have 
llieir  rural  boxes  up  the  adjacent  valleys,  but  more  particularly  up  the 
valley  elsewhere  mentioned,  of  Nuanau  or  (Jreat  Cold,  as  being  the 
nearest  and  most  accessible. 

The  very  name  of  this  principal  retreat  of  the  Polynesian  cockneys 
explains  the  matter  at  once;  they  find  their  city  too  hot  to  hold  them, 
not  because  the  heat  is  very  intense  but  because  it  is  tolerably  uniform 
and  constant,  with  little  or  no  regard  to  the  distinctions  of  day  and  night, 
or  of  summer  and  winter.  This  cannot  be  made  clearer  than  by  bor- 
rowing from  the  Hawaiian  Spectator  a  table  of  the  average  tempera- 
tures at  Honolulu  of  every  month  of  two  successive  years,  expressed 
decimally  in  degrees  of  Fahrenheit. 

Month. 

January, 

February, 

March,    -         -         - 

April,      -        -        . 

May, 

June,       .        -        - 

July, 

August,    -        -        - 

September, 

October, 

November, 

December, 

Average  of  year. 

These  temperatures,  besides  being  almost  as  regular  as  clock  work, 
are  decidedly  low  for  a  place  which  is  fully  two  degrees  within  the 
tropics;  both  their  lowness  and  their  regularity  being  caused  chiefly  by 
the  trade-winds,  which,  blowing  over  so  little  land  on  even  the  broadest 
of  the  islands,  sweep  the  leeward  coasts  with  the  same  purity  and 
coolness,  generally  speaking,  as  they  have  brought  from  the  ocean  to 


7  A  !sr. 

2  P.  M. 

10  1'.  M. 

T-^:}?       lt<P 

Teii?       Irti?. 

'if'.n 

lK}-< 

67-9  09-3 

76-6  75-6 

71-3 

71-5 

711  71-2 

77-7  75-3 

72-7 

72- 1 

69-6  720 

7G-6  75-1 

72-4 

72-5 

72- 1  71-5 

78-4  76-7 

737 

72-8 

73-4  73-2 

80-2  80-3 

75-0 

75-5 

761  75-5 

81-9  81'7 

77-5 

77- 1 

76-4  76-4 

81 -5  82-5 

77-3 

77-9 

76-9  77-2 

82-8  83-2 

78-1 

78.4 

76-5  76-7 

83-0  82-6 

77-0 

78*4 

74-8  75-0 

80-6  80-1 

76-0 

76-9 

72-7  72-3 

77-9  76-6 

73-8 

73-7 

09-9  71-5 

76-5  76-3 
79-5  78-8 

71-1 

74-8 

73-3 

73-1  73-5 

751 

■m 


i'll 


1 


1-% 


m  i 


236 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  ETC. 


mr> 


the  windward  shores.  If,  at  any  point  to  tlie  leeward,  the  temperature 
is  materially  higher  than  at  the  corresponding  point  to  windward,  the 
difference  may  be  traced  to  the  fact,  that  there  the  wall  of  mountains 
is  at  once  so  near  and  so  continuous,  as  to  screen  from  the  trad>wind.s 
all  that  lies  between  it  and  the  sea,  with  occasionally  a  belt  of  the  sea 
itself  into  the  bargain.  This  is  more  or  less  the  case  at  Lahaina : 
whereas  at  Honolulu,  on  the  contrary,  the  valley  of  Nuanau,  which 
opens  directly  on  the  town,  forms  a  natural  funnel  for  the  free  and  easy 
passage  of  the  northeast  gales. 

To  return  to  the  suburban  villas,  the  diminution  of  heat  has  its  .:  • 
companying  drawbacks,  which  make  it  cost  fully  as  much  perhaps  as 
it  is  worth.  The  change  is  too  sudden  to  be  agreeable,  for  a  walk  ol 
three  or  four  miles  up  the  gentle  ascent  of  the  valleys  makes  one  glad 
to  substitute  thick  woollens  lor  the  lightest  and  scantiest  covering,  merely 
jacket,  and  shirt,  and  trowsers  of  grass-cloth;  and  this  change  is  en- 
tirely owing  to  the  abruptness  with  which  one  rises  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  for  the  city  of  Mexico,  which  is  nearly  in  the  latitude  of 
Woahoo  and  almost  twice  as  high  as  its  loftiest  peaks,  enjoys  on  her 
inland  table-land,  at  least  the  average  temperature  of  the  very  shores  ot 
that  island.  But  the  suddenness  of  the  change  in  question  is  less  ob- 
jectionable than  the  rains,  which  so  frequently  drench  the  valleys. 
Being  intercepted  at  almost  every  point  by  the  mountains,  the  clouds, 
which  have  been  wafted  hither  on  the  wings  of  the  trade-winds,  exhaust 
themselves  on  the  windward  side  and  central  region  of  each  island, 
leaving  little  for  the  leeward  coast,  but  a  few  flying  drizzles,  so  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Honolulu  are  frequently  tantalized  by  the  sight  of  showers 
advancing  down  Nuanau,  but  arresting  their  course  on  the  very  vergt 
of  the  parched  plain  of  the  town.  It  is  chiefly  dui  ng  the  winter,  the 
months  of  February,  March,  and  April,  when  the  trades  are  either  in- 
terrupted by  calms  or  supplanted  by  breezes  from  the  south  and  west, 
that  the  southwestern  shores  receive  their  share  of  rain,  while,  in  pro- 
portion as  the  leeward  coast,  thus  becomes  the  windward,  the  wind- 
ward also  becomes  the  leeward  coast.  But,  disagreeable  as  is  the 
drought  of  summer  'it  Honolulu,  the  moisture  of  the  winter  is  still 
more  so;  and,  in  fact,  so  much  is  the  wet  disliked,  that  throughout  the 
whole  group,  even  the  native  villages  have  always  been  more  numerous 
to  leeward  than  to  windward,  thus,  for  the  sake  of  a  pleasanter  atmo- 
sphere, sacrificing  productiveness  of  soil  and  submitting  to  the  labor  ol 
irrigation.  The  leeward  side,  it  is  true,  possesses  the  advantage  ol' 
more  favorable  shelter  for  its  fishing  grounds;  and  perhaps  the  cir- 
cumstance is  worthy  of  notice,  that  this  very  advantage  of  Kameha- 
meha's  District  of  Kona,  by  exciting  the  cupidity  of  some  rival  chiefs, 
led  to  the  war  in  which  that  truly  magnanimous  savage  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  his  supremacy. 

The  name  of  this  first  and  best  monarch  of  the  archipelago  leads 
me,  in  concluding  my  general  account  of  Honolulu,  to  notice,  that  the 
valley  of  Nuanau  is  classic,  nay  sacred,  ground  in  the  annahi  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  as  having  been  the  theatre  of  the  decisive  battle,  in 
which  civilization  actually  achieved  its  real  triumph  over  barbarism. 


VISIT  TO  HONOLULU,  KTC. 


237 


K;michanu:ha  was  here  opposed  l)y  his  own  lieutenant  Kiana,  who  ha<l 
traitorously  united  his  division  of  the  army  with  th(!  forees  of  Woalioo, 
— a  ehief  who  had  visited  the  civilized  world,  and  was  the  prand  patron 
of  the  phinderinif  and  murderin>j  policy,  which,  if  successfid,  wouhl 
have  rendered  the  islands  not  a  hlcssinjr  but  a  curse  to  the  trade  of  the 
world  ;  and  the  first  shoton  Kainehanieha's  side,lired,  too, by  an  Knj^lish 
tar  in  the  person  of  the  well-known  John  Younj?,  laid  Kiana  prostrate 
with  all  his  schemes  of  massacre  ami  spoliation.  P'rom  that  day  for- 
ward, the  whole  group,  with  one  exception  in  Kauai,  which,  as  that 
island  was  still  independent,  only  confirmed  the  rule,  aflbrded  greater 
security  to  foreigners  than  most  countries  in  C/hristendom;  and  Hono- 
lulu in  particular  is  more  deeply  indebted  for  its  wealth  and  prosperity 
to  the  victory,  which  protected  its  civilized  visitors  from  treachery  and 
violence,  than  to  the  discovery,  which  sheltered  them  from  the  perils 
of  the  ocean.  If  Young  had  not,  under  the  auspices  of  the  only  sincere 
friend  of  the  whites,  rid  the  island  of  Kiana,  Brown's  Harbor  would 
have  continued  to  be  rather  a  snare  than  a  refuge  to  strangers. 


^ 


I 


** 


vi 


**1 


!^' 


238 


rilAPTRR  XI. 


IH 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

As  our  visit  tool;  ])laco  in  tlio  dull  «oa.soii,  for  tli(?  wlinlcrs  hail  not 
begun  to  arrive  on  tluiir  way  from  the  winter  fu'liinif  of  the  Houtli  to 
the  summer  lishin;;  of  the  north,  so  small  a  town  aM  Honolulu  (;oul(| 
hardly  yield  a  suflicient  number  of  incidents  to  vary  the  daily  entrits 
of  a  month's  residence ;  and  I,  therefore,  abandoned,  during  my  stay, 
the  form  of  a  journal,  merely  reeording,  from  time  to  time,  my  irnpres*- 
sions  of  what  I  saw  and  heard.  These  impre.ssions  I  propose  to  ar- 
range in  this  and  the  next  cinsuing  chapter ;  and,  for  this  purpose,  I 
shall  separate,  though  without  aiming  at  extreme  accuracy  of  <'lassifi- 
cation,  all  that  relates  to  the  people  in  their  individual  capacities  from 
all  that  distinguishes  them,  if  I  may  so  speak,  as  a  body  politic. 

'J'o  begin  with  the  beginning,  1  shall  in  the  first  place  consider  tlir 
interesting,  though  purely  speculative  question,  as  to  the  original  source 
of  the  native  population. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  HAWAIIAN  NATION. 

All  the  Polynesians,  as  I  have  already  stated,  have  clearly  had  one 
and  the  same  parentage.  Though  their  general  resemblance  in  man- 
ners and  customs,  in  religion  and  government,  in  appearance  and  dress, 
might  be  made  to  fill  volumes,  yet  they  would,  one  and  all  of  them,  be 
less  conclusive  on  the  point  than  the  fundamental  correspondence  both 
in  the  words  and  in  the  structure  of  their  languages.  With  but  little 
difficulty,  and  in  some  of  the  instances  with  none  at  all,  Tahitians, 
Marquesans,  Samoans,  Tongans,  New  Zealanders,  and  Hawaiians,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  less  known  groups,  can  render  themselves  intelligi- 
ble to  each  other;  and  of  this  similarity  of  dialects  the  strongest,  as 
well  as  the  most  gratifying  proof,  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  native 
converts  of  one  archipelago  have  sometimes  gone  forth  as  missionaries, 
to  communicate  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  another.  Thus,  a  chief, 
who  accompanied  Mr.  Ellis  from  Tahiti  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  often 
addressed  the  natives  with  effect;  and  Sir  Edward  Belcher  found  a 
little  colony  of  Samoan  teachers  laboring,  or  rather  wishing  to  labor, 
among  the  savages  of  the  New  Hebrides.  To  offer  more  specific  evi- 
dence of  the  fundamental  correspondence  in  question,  the  subjoined 
table  is  quite  decisive,  at  least  with  respect  to  words,  for  the  identical 
meanings  of  six  nearly  identical  sounds  in  three  different  dialects,  can- 
not possibly  be  accidental. 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


239 


Tnhitinn. 

lliiwniinn. 

.MnniurKan. 

KnuliKh, 

Ovai 

(hvai 

Ovai 

Wli 

Evan 

I'iwahi 

Hvau 

KiKht 

Kiva 

I'iiNva 

Kiva 

Miu! 

Vahinr 

Waliiiic 

Valiino 

Woman 

Mailai 

Maitni 

IMaitai 

(iotul 

'I'aum 

Tatou 

Tatcu 

Taloo 

Perhaps  a  rarct'ul  rxamiiiation  of  diirrrci  \  dialccfs  miiflit  wnmicst 
^oinc  hiiilH  as  lo  their  comparalivt'  aiili()uity.     As  the  ireneral  leruhiicy 
(if  hiiii^iia}f(!  to  hj'comc  sol'ier  hy  chanyc;  w.'.ild  derive  special   I'orec 
Iroiu  the  leehle,  and  ahnost  ehiUhsh,  orfjans  of  tht;  race  under  considera- 
lion,  any  dialeet   nii^hl  reasonably  he  deemed  more   reecnl  in  propor- 
tion  as   itH   alphabet  and   pronuneiation   uiii>'ht  bo   more  niea^r*'   and 
t'lleminate.      JN'ow,   tlie    common   huimia},'e   of    the    Polynesian    Isles 
iippears  to  have  traveled  from   the  west   towards  the  oast,     'i'hus  the 
llawaiians,  and  apparently  the  'I'ahitians   also,  abhor  a  eoneoiirse   of 
lonsonants,  while  the   New  llcbriiles  have  their  I'lrromanga,  the;  Fec- 
jfcs  their  IJanj^a,  and  the  Friendly  Islands  their  'I'oiif^a,  or,  to  use  the 
i)etter  known  nanu;,  their  'l'onjj;ataboo.     If  an  Hawaiian  were  desired 
to  pronounce  any  one  of  these  tliree  words,  he  would  either  insert  a 
vowel  between  the  two  consonants  or  omit  the  harsher  consonant;  and 
he  would  most  probably  adopt  tin;  latter  course  just  as  he  would  trans- 
form England  into  Englani.     In  all  probability,  Tonga  and  Tona  or 
Kona,  the  name  of  a  district  already  mentioned  of  Hawaii,  art;  one 
and  the  same  word  ;  and,  to  give  an  instance  of  which  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  tangata,  the  Samoan  for  man,  has  l)cen  softened  into  the  Ha- 
waiian tanala  or  Kanaka.     Aj^ain  the  very  name  of  Samoa,  the  chief 
of  the  Navigator  Isles,  involves  the  letter  a',  which   the   Hawaiians,  as 
also,  I  believe,  the  Tahitians,  altogether  reject,  as  being  too  much  for 
their  powers  of  utterance.     Thus  they  change /«."</r/o/tJ!(  into  hatcnu,  or 
jiakmu,  missionary,  into  milinary  or  mikinary,  and  consul  into  tona- 
tele  or  Konakele.       Finally  the    Marqucsan  and    Tahitian  dialects, 
iliough  they  partake,  in   an   eminent  degree,  of  the  softness  of  the 
Hawaiian,  having  yet  retained  at  least  one  consonant,  namely/,  which 
it  has  discarded.     Thus   Fulidva,  one  of  the   Marqucsan  Isles,  and 
Paofai,  a  chief  of   Tahiti,  would,  in  the  mouth  of  an   Hawaiian, 
respectively   become  Puluiwa  and  Paopai ;  while  there   can  be  no 
mistake  as  to  the  original  orthography,  inasmuch  as  the  /  is  distin- 
}fuished,  in  the  one  word,  from  v,  and,  in  the  otlier,  from  p.     Might 
not  a  similar  application  be  made  of  the  foregoing  table,  with  respect 
to  these  three  dialects  ?     In  the  first  four  of  its  six  words,  the  v  of  the 
Tahitians   and  Marquesans  becomes  the  w  of  the  Hawaiians, — the 
former  being,  of  course,  a  consonant,  but  the  latter,  however  it  may 
be  classed  by  grammarians,  being  really  oo  sounded  as  quickly  as 
possible.     If  there  be  any  truth  in  these  desultory  and  incomplete 
suggestions,  then  must  this  archipelago  have  been  peopled  after  the 
Marquesans  and  the  Society  Islands,  and  they  again  after  the  more 
westerly  groups. 


rf 


i 


240 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


m-' 


u 

i 


•r^ 


This  result,  wliicli,  so  far  as  the  Sandwich  Islands  are  concerned, 
ajrrees  with  the  traditionary  lore  of  the  archipelago,  and  is  consistent  with 
nearly  all  the  arguments  which  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  subject. 
Looking  on  the  map,  at  the  tolerably  continuous  chain  of  islands  and 
groups  of  islands  from  Sumatra  to  the  Marquesas,  and  at  the  com- 
paratively open  ocean  between  this  its  last  link  and  the  American 
Continent,  a  plain  man  would  instinctively  infer,  at  least  in  the  absence 
of  evidence  to  the  contrary,  that  Polynesia,  as  certainly  as  Australasia 
itself,  must  have  been  peopled  not  from  the  New  World  but  from  the 
Old;  and  he  would  find  his  inference  materially  confirmed  by  the  fact, 
that,  on  any  and  every  conceivable  hypothesis,  the  isles  of  the  Pacific 
could  have  been  colonized  from  the  westward  long  before  the  eastern 
shores  of  that  ocean  contained  a  single  family  of  human  beings,  while, 
on  farther  investigation,  he  would  confessedly  discover  vastly  more 
numerous  traces  of  Asia  than  of  America  in  the  ethnographic  cha- 
racteristics of  the  Polynesian  Isles. 

The  single,  absolutely  the  only  answer,  to  all  this,  is  the  physical 
fact,  that  the  trade-wind  blows  from  the  east  along  the  whole  breadtli 
of  the  route,  which  has  just  been  chalked  out  for  the  primeval  colo- 
nists of  the  islets  of  this  greatest  of  all  seas.  Now,  in  the  face  of  so 
much  direct  proof  of  an  Asiatic  origin,  the  evidence  in  question  of  an 
American  origin  amounts  to  nothing,  unless  the  difficulty  of  advancing 
from  west  to  east,  in  spite  of  the  trade-wind,  actually  amounts  to  an 
impossibility. 

But,  so  far  from  amounting  to  an  impossibility,  the  difficulty  itself, 
strictly  so  called,  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  existed,  as  the  trades, 
even  at  their  steadiest,  take  to  themselves  a  few  points  of  elbow-room, 
having  ranged,  for  instance,  in  our  own  case,  as  already  mentioned, 
between  N.  E.  and  E.  S.  E.  The  Polynesian  groups,  occupying  about 
fifty  degrees  of  latitude,  might  all  be  intersected  without  any  formidable 
intervention  of  a  foul  wii  d,  by  one  and  the  same  track  starting  from 
the  westward ;  and,  even  independently  of  this  constant  oscillation  of 
the  ordinary  current  of  air,  the  same  result  could  be  still  more  easily 
and  more  directly  attained  with  the  aid  of  the  opposite  monsoons, 
which  blow,  with  greater  or  less  regularity,  during  two  or  three  suc- 
cessive months  of  the  year.  Moreover,  on  such  a  point,  one  fact  is 
more  conclusive  than  a  score  of  arguments ;  and,  unfortunately  for  the 
partisans  of  the  east  wind,  all  the  facts  are  stubborn  supporters  of  the 
other  side  of  the  question.  The  inhabitants  of  each  group,  in  whatever 
direction  their  ancestors  reached  it,  thmk  nothing  of  sailing  from  its 
westerly  to  its  easterly  islands;  and  Captain  Beechey  fell  in  with 
several  men  and  women,  who  had  drifted  600  miles  with  a  large  canoe 
in  the  very  teeth  of  the  general  direction  of  the  prevailing  trades.  But, 
even  if  the  alleged  difficulty  amounted  to  an  actual  impossibility,  the 
claims  of  Asia  to  be  the  cradle  of  the  Polynesians,  though  they  miglit 
he  weakened,  would  yet  not  be  disproved.  The  westerly  gales,'which 
generally  blow  on  either  side  of  the  region  of  the  trades,  might  carry 
vessels  far  enough  to  the  eastward  to  make  the  tropical  breeze  a  fair 
wind  to  the  westward,  more  particularly  if  they  had  started  from  the 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


241 


more  northerly  coasts  of  Asia;  and,  in  fact,  one  Japanese  junk,  in 
December,  1832,  was  driven  to  Woahoo  with  four  men  alive  out  of 
her  crew  of  nine,  while  again,  in  1839,  another  was  found  drifting 
about  half  way  on  the  same  involuntary  voyage  with  several  individuals 
on  board,  the  same  whom  we  afterwards  saw  at  Ochotsk,  which  they 
had  reached  immediately  from  Kamschatka,  on  their  homeward  route 
from  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

Farther,  if  the  trade-winds  had  really  rendered  a  voyage  from  west 
to  east  impracticable,  Polynesia  would,  in  all  probability,  never  have 
been  peopled.  There  is  not  the  least  evidence  for  believing,  there  is 
not  the  slightest  reason  for  supposing,  that  the  aborigines  of  America 
ever  possessed  a  canoe  or  any  other  vessel,  stout  enough  to  survive  the 
dangers  of  the  intervening  iicean  during  a  voyage,  which  could  not, 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  occupy  less  than  three  or  four 
weeks.  All  the  obstacles  of  the  trade-wind  notwithstanding,  I  should 
more  readily  conclude  that  the  Marquesas  colonized  Southern  Amerif^a 
than  that  Southern  America  colonized  the  Marquesas, — so  far  at  least 
as  the  mere  question  of  navigation  might  be  concerned. 

From  what  country,  then,  of  Asia  did  the  Polynesians  spring?  Al- 
most to  a  moral  certainty  from  some  point  or  rather  points  between 
the  southern  extremity  of  Malacca  and  the  northern  limits  of  Japan, — 
an  answer  which  appears  to  be  corroborated  by  that  most  conclusive 
of  all  features  of  resemblance,  the  similarity  of  language.  Premising 
that,  in  such  a  case,  nothing  like  identity  is  necessarily  to  be  expected, 
for,  according  to  general  experience,  the  human  race  was  diffused  over 
the  globe  rather  by  the  migration  of  whole  tribes  than  by  the  emigra- 
tion of  parts  of  them,  there  seems  to  be  no  ground  for  doubting,  that 
the  dialects  of  Polynesia  are  connected  with  the  languages  of  the  adja- 
cent coasts  of  Asia.  To  say  nothing  of  the  admitted  fact,  that  the 
Chinese  residents  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  pick  up  the  Hawaiian 
with  great  facility  in  a  short  time,  the  Malayan  tongue  is  universally 
allowed  to  bear  a  striking  analogy  to  the  languages  of  the  groups  of 
the  Pacific.  To  the  eye,  indeed,  and  perhaps  also  to  the  ear,  there  is 
said  to  be  a  staggering  difference  in  the  predominance  of  vowels  on 
the  part  of  the  latter  and  of  consonants  on  the  part  of  the  former.  This 
difference,  hov/ever,  is  susceptible  of  a  satisfactory  ex{4iui2tion.  The 
concourse  ri  consonants  in  the  Malayan  arises,  in  a  great  measure, 
from  an  admixture  of  the  Arabic,  which,  to  a  moral  certainty,  must 
have  taken  place  long  after  Polynesia  began  to  be  peopled ;  and,  eyen 
if  the  admixture  in  question  had  been  anterior  to  the  colonization  of 
any  of  the  islands,  the  concourse  of  consonants,  just  mentioned,  would, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  have  been  nominal,  iuastuiuch  as  the  short 
vowels  of  the  Arabic  are  sounded  without  being  written.  But,  farther, 
the  0culiarity  under  consideration  of  the  language  of  Malacca,  sup- 
posing it  to  have  been  both  original  and  real,  would  tend  rather  to 
support,  than  to  inipugn,  the  foregoing  views.  The  Hawaiian  has 
been  shown  to  embody  fewer  consonants  than  the  Marquesan  or  the 
Tahiiian,  and  the  Tahitian  and  the  Marquesan  again  to  embody  fhwer 
than  the  Samoan  or  the  Feejeean,  or  the  Tongan,  or  the  dialect  of  the 
FART  I.— 16 


■.II..M 


';s  III 


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¥. 

ilnv''^ 

•  'y 

'  I 

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i       I 

I 

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: «     •'• 

nti      ^ 

*fi| "    ' 

'V    ', 

w    /* 


242 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


New  Hebrides,  the  taboo  of  the  eastern  groups,  to  add  another  instance 
to  the  instances  already  cited,  assuming  the  form  of  tamboo  to  the 
westward.  Now,  on  the  very  same  principle,  one  ought  not  to  be 
surprised  to  find  that  the  consonants  become  more  numerous  and  more 
harsh  as  one  approaches  to  the  native  seats  of  a  language  so  widely 
diffused. 

To  conclude  this  head  with  one  remark  more,  if  any  ethnographic 
similitudes  do  exist  between  America  and  Polynesia,  they  may  be 
safely  considered  as  common  results  of  one  and  the  same  cause. 
Though  the  New  World  must  have  received  inhabitants  from  the  Old 
across  the  strait  which  separates  them,  just  as  certainly  as  if  the  two 
were  connected  by  an  isthmus,  yet  it  might,  in  all  probability,  have 
received  others,  and  those,  too,  in  more  regular  and  continuous  streams, 
along  the  chain  of  stepping  stones,  which  extend  from  China  to  the 
northwest  coast,  comprehending  Japan,  the  Kurile  Islands  and  the 
Aleutian  Archipelagos;  and,  to  show  that  this  supposition  id  far  within 
the  limits  both  of  possibility  and  of  probability,  a  Japanese  junk,  such 
as  has  been  used  since  the  first  settlement  of  the  country,  lately  found 
its  way  to  the  western  shores  of  the  new  continent,  with  a  living  crew 
onboard,  and  without  the  aid  of  any  intermediate  place  of  refreshment, 
or  of  rest.  In  a  word,  America  and  Polynesia  appear  to  have  been 
chiefly,  if  not  solely,  colonized  from  one  and  the  same  general  region 
of  eastern  Asia. 


AMOUNT   OF    POPULATION. 

But  the  origin  of  the  nation  has  in  it  less  to  interest  us  than  that 
sentence  of  death  which  seems  to  be  hanging  over  it,  in  common  with 
many  other  aboriginal  tribes  of  Polynesia  and  America. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  group  were  estimated  by  Cook  to  be  about 
400,000  in  number.  But  this  calculation,  besides  being  at  best  a  guess, 
was  inevitably  based  on  incomplete  and  erroneous  grounds.  At  each 
of  the  few  points  which  he  visited,  Cook,  as  an  object  not  merely  of 
curiosity,  but,  also,  literally  of  worship,  must  have  seen  crowds  that 
formed  no  part  of  its  permanent  population,  while  he  could  hardly  have 
been  aware  oLthe  comparatively  scanty  extent  of  land  capable  of  sus- 
taining humaflnff ;  and,  independently  of  such  extraneous  causes  of 
exaggeration,  WB.  must  naturally  have  been  disposed  rather  to  overrate 
than  otherwise  tfie  value  of  his  discovery.  In  all  probability,  the  actual 
population  of  the  whole  archipelago,  when  Cook  visited  it  in  1778  and 
1779,  did  not  exceed  the  half  of  his  vague  estimate.  In  1792,  Van- 
couver, whd  had  accompanied  Cook  on  his  last  voyage,  was  led  to  con- 
clude* that  the  number  of  inhabitants  bad  been  greatly  diminished  during 
the  interval  of  thirteen  years,  more  particularly  in  Hawaii,  the  island  to 
which,  hitherto,  Kamehameha's  wars  had  been  confined ;  but,  tkpugh 
a  considerable  diminution  had  most  probably  taken  place,  yet  much  of 
the  apparent  difference  must  have  arisen  from  the  circumstance,  that 
ships  were  no  longer  regarded  as  the  floating  temples  of  a  race  ol 
gods: 

In  1832  the  first  census  was  taken ;  and  since  then  a  second  in  1836. 


^4^ 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


243 


i^ii; 


I  subjoin  the  results 
each  of  the  inhabited 
square  miles : 


in  connection  with  the  dimensions  and  area  of 
islands,  expressed  respectively  in  running  and 


Popu 

ation. 

Dimensions. 

Area. 

1 

> , 

1^32 

1836 

88  by  73 

4,000 

45,792 

39^64 

48  by  30 

620 

35,062 

2mM 

17  by     9 

100 

1,600 

1,200 

40  by     7 

190 

6,000 

6,000 

11  by     8 

60 

80 

80 

46  .by  25 

530 

29,755 

27,809 

24  by  22 

500 

10,977 

8,934 

20  by     7 

90 
6,090 

1,047 

993 

130,313 

108,579 

Names. 

Hawaii,   -         -         -         - 

TMowee,  -        -        -        - 

J  Lanai,      ...         - 

j  Molokoi,  ... 

[_Kakoolawe,      ... 

Woahoo,  ... 

(Kauai,  .... 
(Niihau,    .... 

Whole  group,   .        -        - 

In  or  about  1840  a  third  census,  I  believe,  was  taken,  which,  though 
I  have  not  seen  the  whole  of  the  official  returns,  is  yet  generally  con- 
sidered to  have  reduced  the  population  to  aboiTt  88,000, — a  number 
which,  from  such  partial  information  as  I  have  been  able  to  procure,  I 
have  no  reason  to  regard  as  less  than  the  truth.  Kauai,  the  most  level 
and  productive  l".  nd  in  the  group,  is  divided  into  four  districts,  in 
every  one  of  wh*"'  i-  the  following  short  table  will  show,  the  young 
of  both  sexes  un  <'  .ghteen  years  of  age  complete  amounted,  accord- 
ing to  the  census  in  question,  to  something  less  than  a  fourth  part  of 
the  whole  population : 


Boys  and  Girls, 
All  others, 

Totals, 


706   309 
2,229  1,043 


372   685 
1,178  2,134 


2,935  1,352  1,550  2,819 


Here  was  an  average  of  one  person  under  eighteen  to  rather  more 
than  three  above  it, — a  state  of  things  which  would  carry  depopulation 
written  on  its  very  face,  unless  every  creature  without  exception  were 
to  attain  the  good  old  age  of  seventy-five.  But  the  disproportion  be- 
tween progeny  and  parents  would  become  still  greater  on  taking  into 
account  the  fact,  that  many  of  the  "boys  and  girls"  must  have  had 
"boys  and  girls"  of  their  own,  so  as  to  leave  perhaps  hardly  half  a 
child  to  each  couple  of  those  who  were  classed  as  men  and  women  in 
the  census.  One  district  in  Woahoo  afforded  the  only  instance  in 
which  the  disproportion  in  question  was  materially  lessened,  the  inhabit- 
ants under  eighteen  and  those  above  it  respectively  amounting  to  809 
and  1,983  ;  but  even  there  the  fatal  destiny  of  the  people  was  rapidly 
accomplishing,  the  births  for  the  year  then  last  past  having  been  61 
and  the  deaths  132,  so  that,  if  all  the  61  infants  had  swelled  the  list  of 
deaths  as  well  as  births,  still  71  individuals  more  must  have  perished, — 
a  deficiency  about  one-sixth  greater  than  all  the  infants,  if  strong  and 
healthy,  could  ever  have  supplied.  To  conclude  this  notice  of  the 
census  of  1840  with  one  fact  more,  the  most  populous  three  districts 


i 


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i 


■}:,f 


244 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


f 


t  ■ 


lit  ;■ 


of  Kauai,  containing  between  them  5,541  adults,  possessed  only  68 
men  and  65  women,  who  had  more  than  two  children  each,  in  the 
face,  too,  of  the  bribe  offered  to  all  such  in  the  shape  of  an  exemption 
from  certain  taxes. 

Of  the  only  two  modes  in  which  depopulation  can  be  doing  its  work, 
deficiency  of  births  is  shown  by  these  details  to  be  far  more  influential 
than  excess  of  deaths;  in  other  words,  a  nation  is  rapidly  vanishing 
from  the  face  of  the  earth,  because  its  ordinary  degree  of  tear  and  wear 
is  not  recruited  from  the  ranks  of  a  rising  generation.  Till  lately,  it 
is  true,  this  was  not  so  decidedly  the  case,  temporary  causes  having 
operated  for  a  long  time  after  the  date  of  the  discovery,  to  carry  off  the 
old  perhaps  in  a  greater  ratio  than  the  young.  Kamehameha's  wars, 
conducted  as  they  were  on  an  unusually  extensive  scale,  and  rendered 
more  fatal  by  the  use  of  fire-arms,  destroyed  thousands  in  battle,  while 
through  the  famine  and  pestilence  which  followed  in  their  train,  they 
indirectly  more  than  doubled  the  slaughter.  Again,  these  wars  were 
almost  immediately  succeeded  by  a  still  heavier  scourge,  in  the  prose- 
cution of  a  trade,  which,  by  a  mysterious  dispensation  of  Providence, 
virtually  sacrificed  to  the  idols  of  a  foreign  land  a  far  greater  number  of 
human  victims  than  had  ever  been  actually  consumed  on  the  blood- 
stained altars  of  the  group.  Sandal  wood,  in  which  the  islands 
abounded,  was  known  to  bring  high  prices  in  China,  where  it  was 
burnt  as  a  fragrant  offering  before  the  images  of  the  gods  ;  and  being, 
therefore,  found  to  furnish  the  best  means  of  supplying  those  artificial 
wants,  which  occasional  glimpses  of  civilization  had  created,  it  was 
sold  in  such  quantities  as,  in  one  particular  year,  to  have  yielded  about 
400,000  dollars.  The  procuring  of  this  lucrative  medium  of  exchange 
caused,  in  various  ways,  an  enormous  waste  of  life.  As  the  sandal 
wood  grew  chiefly  on  rugged  and  almost  inaccessible  heights,  the 
natives,  accustomed  as  they  were  on  the  coasts  to  a  temperature  ap- 
proaching more  nearly  to  perfection,  both  in  degree  and  in  steadiness, 
than  perhaps  any  gdhj^r  in  the  world,  were  doomed  to  endure  the  chTlly 
air  of  the  mount^ns  without  shelter  and  without  clothing,  the  cold  of 
the  night  being  aggravated  by  the  toil  of  the  day  ;  and  when  they  had 
accomplished  their  tasks  with  bodies  enfeebled  by  these  constant  pri- 
vations, and  not  uncommonly  also  by  want  of  food,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  transport  the  whole  on  naked  shoulders  to  the  beach,  by  paths 
hardly  practicable,  in  many  places,  to  an  unburdened  passenger.  As 
a  matter  of  course,  many  of  the  poor  wretches  died  in  their  harness, 
while  many  more  of  them  prematurely  sank  under  the  corroding  effects 
of  exposure  and  exhaustion.  During  the  reign  of  Kamehameha,  who 
monopolized  the  trade  in  question,  such  evils  were  in  a  considerable 
degree  checked  by  his  comparatively  enlightened  policy;  but  no  sooner 
was  he  succeeded,  in  1819,  by  Liho  Liho,  than  they  were  not  only 
systematized  in  the  most  cruel  manner,  but  accompanied  by  incidental 
evils  fully  as  fatal  as  themselves.  That  thoughtless  and  dissipated 
youth  surrendered  his  father's  monopoly  to  individual  chiefs,  who 
knew  as  little  of  wisdom  as  they  did  of  mercy,  to  hard-hearted  oli- 
garchs, in  whose  eyes  satins  and  velvets,  china  and  plate,  wines  and 


^-n 


■% 


,? 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


245 


only  68 
h,  in  the 
cemption 

its  work, 
ifluential 
vanishing 
md  wear 
lately,  it 
s  having 
y  off  the 
a's  wars, 
rendered 
tie,  while 
ain,  they 
ars  were 
he  prose- 
jvidence, 
umber  of 
he  blood- 
i   islands 
•e  it  was 
id  being, 
artificial 
d,  it  was 
led  about 
exchange 
le  sandal 
rhts,  the 
ature  ap- 
eadiness, 
he  chTlly 
e  cold  of 
they  had 
5tant  pri- 
3re  coin- 
by  paths 
rer.     As 
harness, 
ig  effects 
?ha,  who 
iderablc 
o  sooner 
lot  only 
icidental 
issipated 
>rs,   who 
rted  oli- 
ines  and 


sweWneats,  M'ere  infinitely  more  precious  commodities  than  the  lives 
of  serfc.  Under  the  new  order  of  things,  the  men  were  driven  like 
cattle  tVj  the  nills,  to  every  cleft  in  the  rocks  that  contained  a  sapling 
of  the  sacred  fuel,  while,  through  the  consequent  neglect  of  agriculture 
and  the  fisheries,  the  women  and  children,  without  the  controlling 
power  either  of  social  decencies  or  of  domestic  aflections,  were  left  to 
snatch  from  each  other,  the  strong  from  the  weak  and  the  weak  from 
the  helpless,  such  miserable  pittances  as  rapacious  tyrants  and  hungry 
thralls  were  likely  to  spare  for  idle  mouths.  Never  was  the  force  of 
the  Psalmist's  curse,  "Set  thou  an  ungodly  man  to  be  ruler  over  him," 
more  clearly  illustrated. 

Happily,  however,  the  calamities  which  once  so  fearfully  thinned 
the  adult  population,  contained  in  themselves  the  seeds  of  their  own 
cure.  Kamehameha's  wars  established  universal  and  perpetual  peace  ; 
and  the  almost  utter  extirpation  of  the  sandal  wood,  divested  the  chiefs 
of  their  principal  motive  for  withdrawing  their  vassals  from  the  ordi- 
nary tasks  of  procuring  and  preparing  the  means  of  human  subsistence. 

To  return  to  the  consideration  of  the  present  time,  there  are  two 
causes  which  still  continue,  though  in  very  unequal  proportions,  to 
poison  the  sources  of  national  life — a  spirit,  or  at  least  a  practice,  of 
emigration  among  the  men,  and  the  depravity  of  the  women.  With 
regard  to  the  first  point,  about  a  thousand  males  in  the  very  prime  of 
life  are  estimated  annually  to  leave  the  islands,  some  going  to  Califor- 
nia, others  to  the  Columbia,  and  many  on  long  and  dangerous  voyages, 
particularly  in  whaling  vessels,  while  a  considerable  portion  of  them 
are  said  to  be  permanently  lost  to  their  country,  either  dying  during 
their  engagements,  or  settling  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  Though 
this  constant  drain  doubtless  has,  and,  in  fact,  must  have,  an  unfavorable 
influence  on  the  annual  increase  of  the  people,  yet,  as  it  diminishes  the 
number  of  adults  at  least  as  certainly,  if  not  so  extensively,  as  of  chil- 
dren, it  accounts,  only  in  a  very  trifling  degree,  for  the  disproportion 
between  the  old  and  the  young ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  census  of 
1840  shows  either  that  the  cause  is  exaggerated,  or  that  its  effects  are 
overrated,  for,  in  the  four  districts  aforesaid  of  Kauai,  the  taxable  men, 
as  distinguished  from  old  men,  and  the  taxable  women,  as  similarly 
distinguished,  were  respectively  2784  and  2213,  the  former  bearing  to 
the  latter  a  ratio  somewhat  higher  than  that  of  five  to  four.  On  the 
second,  therefore,  of  the  two  causes  mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  this 
paragraph,  the  depravity  of  the  women,  must  mainly  rest  the  blame  of 
poisoning  the  sources  of  national  life;  and  unfortunately  it  is  but  too 
able  to  bear  the  burden.  Speaking  of  the  mass,  the  females  of  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  are  w*orthy  representatives  of  those  of  their  sex,  who,  after 
Cook's  death,  witnessed  with  indifference,  from  the  ships,  the  slaughter 
of  their  countrymen  and  friends,  while,  as  if  still  more  unequivocally 
to  evince  their  want  of  feeling,  they  pronounced  the  conflagration  of 
the  neighboring  village  to  be  "  a  very  fine  sight."  In  fact,  this  com- 
parison, so  far  as  the  story  has  just  been  told,  involves  a  libel  on  the 
dead,  for,  as  they  were  not  necessarily  the  mothers  of  any  of  those 
whose  miseries  they  mocked,  they  might  still  have  possessed,  when 


I!'   I' ■'■'•}, 


1i 


>'  .'■,'4i 


i. 


r.*i 


4  >i 


»^ 


246 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


A" 


Mil  J... 


m 


a.*  ♦ 


occasion  should  draw  it  forth,  that  maternal  love  which  palpably  finds 
no  home  in  the  bosoms  of  their  descendants.  To  say  nothing  of  such 
things  as  infanticide,  and  that,  too,  in  its  most  appalling  form  of  living 
burial,  or  of  artificial  abortion,  with  its  consequent  sterility,  the  mothers 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands  indulge  in  the  lesser  abominations  of  ex- 
changing children,  and  of  allowing  pet  puppies  to  share  nature's  food 
with  the  oiTspring  of  their  own  wombs — the  latter  habit  strongly  contrast- 
ing in  motiv"  with  an  incident  of  the  kind  mentioned  by  Baron  Wrangell 
in  the  case  of  an  aboriginal  woman  of  Siberia,  who,  after  a  season  of 
great  mortality  among  the  sledge-dogs,  suckled  two  young  ones,  the 
sole  remains  of  her  husband's  team,  to  be  the  germ  of  a  new  stock. 
So  far  from  wondering  at  the  numerical  deficiency  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion, we  ought  rather  to  be  surprised  that  there  is  a  rising  generation 
at  all  in  a  country  where  women  regard  their  own  infants  and  those  of 
others  with  equal  affection,  and  lavish  on  either  far  less  of  their  fond- 
ness, than  on  the  progeny  of  one  of  the  lower  animals. 

Previously  to  the  discovery,  it  is  true,  the  women  (the  fair  reader 
must  really  pardon  the  expression),  were  the  same  devils  in  human 
shape;  and  yet  the  work  of  depopulation  had  not  then  begun.  Down 
to  that  epoch,  however,  the  disposition  of  the  sex  was  controlled,  sin- 
gularly enough,  by  a  state  of  war,  as  it  has,  since  that  time,  been  de- 
veloped, at  least  as  singularly,  by  the  beginnings  of  civilization. 

As  there  were  constant  rivalries,  not  only  between  the  different 
islands,  but,  also,  between  the  different  sections  of  each  island,  every 
chief  had  a  direct  interest  in  increasing  the  number  of  his  dependents, 
and  in  maintaining  them  in  a  condition  fit  for  service ;  and  he  had, 
therefore,  a  motive,  such  as  was  level  to  the  most  untutored  capacity, 
for  generally  acting  as  the  father  of  his  people.  If  his  vassals  were 
made  to  labor,  they  produced  or  collected  the  necessaries  of  life,  the 
only  wealth  then  known ;  if  he  exacted  from  them  a  share  of  the  fruits 
of  their  toil,  he  kept  open  hospitality  for  all  comers.  In  a  word,  each 
little  community  had  for  its  common  object  the  supply  of  the  common 
wants.  This  state  of  things,  now  so  obsolete  as  to  look  like  a  romance, 
is  shadowed  forth  in  the  following  short  specimen  of  the  ancient  songs, 
a  funeral  wail  for  a  departed  leader : 

Alas!  alas!  dead  is  my  chief, 

Dead  is  my  lord  and  my  friend ; 

My  friend  in  the  season  of  famine, 

My  friend  in  the  time  of  drought, 

My  friend  in  jjoverty, 
C'  My  friend  in  the  rain  and  the  wind. 

My  friend  in  the  heat  and  the  sim, 

My  friend  in  the  cold  from  the  mountains, 
■  My  friend  in  the  storm. 

My  friend  in  the  calm, 
,  ,    My  frieud  in  the  eight  seas; 

Alas!  alas!  gone  is  my  friend, 

And  no  more  will  return. 

In  those  times,  the  influence  of  the  chief  was,  of  course,  powerfully 
directed  towards  the  rearing  of  children,  while  the  abundance  of  food 


i*fef> 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


247 


was  such  as  seldom  to  bring  the  mother's  personal  convenience  into 
collision  with  her  feudal  duty.  Soon,  however,  peace  and  commerce, 
which  casually  came  hand  in  hand,  wrought  a  change  somewhat  analo- 
gous to  that  which  similar  causes  gradually  produced  in  the  wilder 
parts  of  Scotland.  The  rank  and  safety  of  the  chief  no  longer  depended 
on  the  number  and  efficiency  of  his  followers,  while,  in  order  to  pur- 
chase the  luxuries  of  civilization,  he  filched  from  them  their  necessaries 
of  life,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  the  sandal  wood,  screwed  out  of  them  that 
labor  which  ought  to  have  supplied  the  simple  wants  of  themselves 
and  their  families.  In  the  consequent  struggle  for  food,  women,  if  they 
had  failed  to  stifle  life  in  their  wombs,  regarded  their  infants  as  intrud- 
ers ;  arid,  without  waiting  for  that  extremity  of  famine  whi'  ^'  "-^re  than 
once  made  the  daughters  of  the  most  enlightened  city  o.  .iie  times, 
devour  their  own  offspring,  they  deliberately  and  systematically  got  rid 
of  their  unbidden  guests,  merely  as  a  matter  of  general  precaution,  while, 
in  the  taxation  of  every  head  on  the  part  of  the  merciless  oligarchs, 
fathers  as  well  as  mothers,  were  furnished  with  a  still  more  definite 
motive  for  regarding  their  little  ones  as  natural  enemies.  But  the  result, 
as  stated  bv  one  of  the  missionaries,  is  far  more  conclusive  than  anv 
language  of  mine.  In  1824,  Mr.  Stewart  wrote  thus:  "We  have  the 
clearest  proof,  that  in  those  parts  cf  the  islands  where  the  influence  of 
the  mission  has  not  yet  extended,  two-thirds  of  the  infants  born,  perish 
by  the  hands  of  their  own  parents,  before  attaining  the  first  or  second 
year  of  their  affe."  Since  that  time,  it  is  true,  the  tyranny  of  the  chiefs 
has  been  limited  and  mitigated  by  law,  though,  perhaps,  more  decidedly 
in  theory  than  in  practice;  but  still  the  taxation,  which  will  be  detailed 
hereafter,  is  high  enough  to  leave  parent  and  child  at  issue  in  the  grand 
business  of  keeping  body  and  soul  together;  and,  even  without  refer- 
ence to  any  public  exactions,  the  general  difi'usion  of  a  taste  for  foreign 
finery  brings  the  infant  into  competition,  too  often,  I  fear,  into  hopeless 
competition,  with  such  merely  external  symbols  of  civilization  as  shoes, 
and  gowns,  and  bonnets.  But,  in  addition  to  all  this,  civilization  has 
an  account  of  much  longer  standing  to  settle.  The  original  discoverers 
introduced  a  certain  malady,  which,  though  prevented  by  the  matchless 
salubrity  of  the  climate  from  destroying  adults,  tends  to  poison  the 
springs  of  life  almost  as  effectually  as  the  system  of  artificial  abortion. 
If  the  latter  permanently  incapacitates  a  woman  for  becoming  a  mother, 
the  former  brings  the  infant  into  the  world  with  its  sentence  of  speedy 
death  engraven  in  its  very  constitution. 

Viewed,  therefore,  by  itself,  civilization  has  been,  and  still  continues 
to  be,  a  canker-worm  to  prey  on  the  population  of  the  group.  When 
a  superior  race,  without  fraud  or  violence,  plants  its  thousands  where 
an  inferior  race  could  hardly  maintain  its  hundreds,  nothing  but  the 
mere  mawkishness  of  sentimentality  could  attempt  to  avert  or  retard 
the  change ;  but  there  is  something  truly  deplorable  in  the  reflection, 
that,  in  this  archipelago,  civilization  is  sweeping  the  aborigines  from 
the  land  of  their  fathers  without  placing  in  their  stead  others  better 
than  themselves.  If  there  be  any  truth  in  the  preceding  paragraphs, 
which  the  parapiount  importance  of  the  subject  has  induced  me  to 


,^.fi. 


m 


W' 

1 

Is 

i 

'i 

■'  f 

^' 

.4 

^ 

248 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


mr  *% 


extend  far  beyond  my  original  inU  ntion,  the  principal  measure  for  pre- 
serving the  native  population, — indispensable  even  to  the  white  colo- 
nist as  the  only  means  of  supplying  him  with  laborers,  appears  to  be 
the  elevation  of  the  female  character.  Now  there  are  only  two  instru- 
ments by  which  this  elevation  can  possibly  be  effected,  Christianity 
and  public  opinion, — the  attempt,  such  as  has  been  made,  to  enlist 
pecuniary  penalties  in  so  sacred  a  cause  involving  not  merely  a  blun- 
der, but  a  crime.  In  a  climate,  which  ripens  girls  of  eight  or  nine  into 
womanhood,  how  cruel,  how  preposterous,  how  futile  to  expect  from 
the  terrors  of  the  law  any  other  fruits  than  the  engrafting  of  hypocrisy 
on  licentiousne^,  the  stilling  of  evidence  by  such  means  as  may  almost 
be  said  to  anticipate  puberty  by  barrenness.  But  the  penal  regulations 
against  that  interclluf'se  between  the  sexes,  which  has  been  so  com- 
mon that  chastity  has  no  name  in  the  language,  are,  in  themselves,  as 
repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  as  they  are,  in  their  conse- 
quences just  mentioned,  subversive  of  the  influence  of  public  opinion. 
Consideriifg  the  gross ««torance  of  the  people,  there  can  be  but  little 
doubt  that  the  practice  /f  exacting  money  for  offences,  which  Chris- 
tianity alone  has,  in  their  notions,  created  and  defined,  has  the  same 
practical  tendency  al  that  system  of  indulgences  which  Luther  repro- 
bated ;  in  a  word,  ifie  seventh  commandment  and  its  human  sanctions 
are  doubtless  blj^nded  together  by  the  islanders  into  something  very 
different  from  the  peremptory  simplicity  aad  conscious  dignity  of  the 
divine  command,  "  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery — at  least  without 
paying  down  so  many  pieces  of  silver," — a  precept,  which,  whether 
viewed  as  a  license  or  as  a  threat,  degrades  religion  without  even  the 
poor  pretext  of  rendering  it  popular.  This  desecration  of  the  deca- 
logue, strange  to  say,  was  virtually  the  work  of  the  earlier  missionaries, 
however  ingeniously  they  played  the  part  of  special  pleaders  in  refut- 
ing the  accusation.  If  they  did  not  frame  the  absurd  laws  in  question, 
they  sanctioned  them,  when  framed;  if  they  did  not  dictate  the  words, 
they  inculcated  the  principles ;  if  they  did  not  mould  the  letter,  they 
.sugijested  the  spirit.  The  sooner  the  missionaries  get  rid  of  such 
doubtful  aids,  so  much  the  better  for  the  cause,  to  which  they  are,  I 
lirmly  believe,  most  zealously  devoted ;  and,  even  without  reference  to 
religion,  they  ought,  on  the  mere  score  of  morality,  to  discountenance 
a  penal  system,  in  spite  of  which,  or,  as  many  assert,  in  consequence 
of  which,  infanticide,  at  least  in  the  same  proporUon.  in  wvliich  it  may 
itself  have  been  diminished,  has  been  succeeded  by  that  surer  mode  of 
cheating  the  treasury  which,  in  destroying  the  life  of  one  child,  pre- 
vents the  birth  of  others  by  undermining  the  mother's  constitution. 

If  it  be  true, — and  it  appears  to  be  undeniably  so, — that  Hhe  depopu- 
lation of  the  group  is  mainly  to  be  imputed  to  physical  privations  acting 
on  moral  depravity,  the  enforcing  of  the  seventh  commanilment  by 
means  of  extortioii  could  hardly  fail  to  aggravate  the  evil  which  it  pre- 
tended to  remedy.  With  respect  to  moral  dep(avit)s  the  law,  as  we 
have  seen,  has  rather  altered  its  direction  th an" i*s "essence;  while,  with 
regard  to  physical  privations,  it  exposes,  at  a  moderate  computation, 
more  than  half  the  islanders  of  either  sex  to  th%»  chance. of  paying,  in  a 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


249 


month,  as  many  finns  as  may  be  Rqiiivalont  in  amount  to  the  tnxes  of 
a  year.  Instead  of  thus  rmbitteriufr  the  mahidy,  which  is  eatinjj  its 
way  into  the  very  existence  of  the  people,  let  the  missionaries  weary 
their  zeal  in  kindling;  the  flame  of  pure  and  undcfiled  religion  in  the 
female  heart,  in  humaniziuj;,  by  means  of  the  (Jospel,  the  tlispositions 
of  those,  who  may  be  said,  in  a  8\il)ordinate  sense,  to  control  the  issues 
of  national  life  and  death.  If  many  of  the  transgressors  are  too  youna^ 
to  be  permanendy  affected  by  merely  spiritual  considerations,  let  the 
women  of  maturer  ajre  be  taught  to  bring  to  bear  on  youthful  females  in 
general,  and  on  their  own  daughters  in  particular,  the  influence  of  edu- 
cation and  example.  In  a  word,  let  the  reign  of  terror  pass  away ;  and 
let  "persuasion  do  the  work  of  fear." 

On  this  point,  the  past  experience  of  the  mission  is  full  of  hope  for 
the  future.  Though  the  women,  as  being,  of  course,  the  grand  agents 
in  the  systematic  work  of  quenching  infant  lives,  are  naturally  more 
callous  and  obdurate  than  the  men,  yet  they  have  exhibited  far  brighter 
and  more  numerous  proofs  of  that  change  of  heart,  which  is  the  single 
end  and  aim  of  pure  Christianity.  To  say  nothing  of  such  female 
chiefs  as  possessed  political  power,  inasmuch  as  their  religious  zeal 
was  more  or  less  liable  to  the  suspicion  of  being  a  political  instrument, 
Kekupuohe,  who,  in  Cook's  days,  was  one  of  the  wives  of  the  King  of 
Hawaii,  and  who  was  subsequently  made  captive  by  Kamehameha, 
evinced  the  sincerity  of  her  conversion,  which  took  place  in  1828,  by 
learning  to  read  under  the  weight  of  more  than  fourscore  years,  and  by 
inditing  hymns  in  honor  of  the  God  of  her  old  age.  I  subjoin  a  ver- 
sion of  her  ode  on  the  creation  : 

Gotl  breathed  into  the  empty  space, 
And  widely  sjiread  his  power  Ibrtli, 
The  spirit  flying  hovered  o'er ; 

Ilis  power  grasped  the  movable,  it  was  f;ist, 

The  earth  Ix-eame  embodied. 

The  islands  also  rose. 

(fiKl  made  this  wide  extended  heaven. 

He  made  the  heavens  long,  long  ago; 

He  dwelt  alone,  Jehovah  by  himself. 

The  Spirit  with  him. 

He  fixed  the  sun  his  place, 

But  tlie  islands  moved,  moved  the  islands, 

With  sudden,  noiseless,  silent  speed ; 

We  see  not  his  skilful  work,  ^ 

God  is  the  great  support  that  holds  the  earth.  "^ 

LANGUAGE. 

Perhaps  as  good  a  specimen  of  the  native  tongue,  as  I  can  produce, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  following  effusion  of  the  venerable  poetess  just 
mentioned : 

Ahiai  no  o  ikea  ka  mea  nani. 

He  mea  kupanaha,  he  hemolele  wale  no. 

He  mohala  ka  nani,  he  mal  ole  ke  ano ; 

He  hao  ke  kumu,  he  milione,  he  hookuhi :  *S. 

Huokahi  no  kumu  naina  maoli,  O  ka  ha  ku.  ^""."^■^: 


1    -M 


"'If 

'4 


:f^, 


I 


250 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


•«■■ 


te'/v: 


'f' 


■s  f 


O  kn  lain  c  pilinnn  in  iu,  im  him  io, 
Uii  liiiii  hoi  kn  hiin,  he  maikui 
Nalnila  ki-  aix*  c  akaka  ai, 

O  ka  lala  e  liookaniakaiiiaiii  ana  coki  a  ku, 
()  laiilau  licwa  ]u:  kniriii, 
O  kaiiiiiaha  hi^wu  wale  hoi  in  ia. 

Oiico  only  hath  that  appoarod  which  is  glorious; 
It  is  woikIitIiiI,  it  is  aitojiotiior  lioly; 
It  in  a  l)l(M)ininK  glory;  its  nature  is  uinvithcriiig; 
Raro  is  its  stock,  most  singular,  unrivaled, 
One  only  true  vine.     It  is  the  Lord. 

The  hraiicli  that  adheres  to  it  b(>ooinns  fruitful, 
The  fruit  comes  forth  fruit;  it  is  good  fruit, 
Whence  its  (diaractcr  is  clearly  made  known. 

Let  the  branch  merely  making  fair  show  bo  rut  off, 
Lest  the  stix'k  should  be  injuriously  encumbered. 
Lest  it  be  also  by  it  wrongfully  burdened. 

The  characteristic  feature  of  these  verses,  and,  in  fact,  of  all  the  poe- 
try and  prose  in  the  lan«riiage,  is  a  childish  taste  for  the  repeatinj^  of 
the  same  thought  in  nearly  the  same  words,  a  taste  which  appears, 
moreover,  to  have  exercised  a  powerful  influence  over  the  forms  of 
very  many  individual  words.  Thus  palapala,  books  ;  lumeeltimee,  to 
shampoo ;  mukeemvkee,  love ;  loiilou,  a  trial  of  strength  by  hooking 
the  fingers:  Kulakulai,  wresUing  in  the  sea;  honuhonu,  swimming 
with  the  hands  alone.  Whether  the  halves  of  these  double  words  are 
generally  significant  themselves,  or  whether,  in  such  cases,  the  wholes 
generally  derive  their  meaning  from  the  parts,  I  cannot  say, — my  only 
elements  of  knowledge  in  the  matter  being,  that  while  moku  is  an 
island,  or  a  ship,  or  a  canoe,  mokiimoku  is  pugilism,  that  while  la  is 
the  sun,  lala  is  a  branch,  and  that  while  kamehameha  is  the  lonely 
one,  KAMEHAMALU  is  the  shade  of  the  lonely  one.  Portions  of  words, 
too,  often  present  similar  repetitions:  thus,  Honolulu  and  several 
instances  in  the  foregoing  hymn. 

Perhaps  this  immediate  recurrence  of  the  same  sounds  may  be 
pardy  owing  to  the  poverty  of  the  alphabet,  which  contains  only  twelve 
letters,  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  h,  k,  or  t,  1,  or  r,  m,  n,  p,  w,  the  vowels  being 
sounded  not  as  in  the  English,  but  as  in  the  Italian;  while  it  may  also 
be,  in  some  measure,  ascribed  to  the  paucity  of  combinations  arising 
from  the  inadmissibility  of  two  consonants  in  succession,  and  from  the 
necessity  of  terminating  every  word  with  a  vowel. 

The  various  peculiarities  of  this  last  paragraph,  some  of  which  have 
been  noticed  under  a  former  head,  may  be  best  illustrated  by  the  na- 
tive forms  of  such  European  words  as  have  been  adopted  into  the 
language.  Thus  hymn, /«'mam  ;  Britzin,  Beritane;  pray, /)i//e;  school, 
kula;  in  addition  to  others  already  mentioned,  such  as  fashion,  pakena, 
missionary,  mikaneri,  and  consul,  konakele.  Though  these  examples 
are  sufllicient  to  show  how  glibly  the  alleged  prevalence,  as  formerly 
noticed,  of  consonants  in  much  of  the  Malayan  tongue  may  have  been 
softened  down,  yet  others  of  a  more  decisive  character  may  be  cited 


m- 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


251 


with  more  pjirtirular  roforonco  to  that  point.  Thus  riiigland  has  he- 
(•ome  /Jnelani,  lh(!  proportion  of  consonants  hoini;  diininishrtl  nioro 
than  threefohl ;  antl  French  has  been  disjjnisrd  into  l*uluniy  the  pro- 
portion of  consonants  being  diminished  precisely  livefbld. 

If  foreign  words  were  largely  incorporated,  tlifrercnt  originals  wonld 
evidently  produce  confnsion  by  running  into  one  and  the  same  native 
version.  Of  this  possibility,  in  fact,  an  amusing  instance  has  already 
actually  occurred.  Brandy,  as  well  as  Fn-nch,  has  been  leiritimately 
rendered  into  pulani,  so  that  French  brandy,  by  the  by,  would  be  cha- 
racteristically expressed,  on  the  principle  of  repetition,  by  Pulani 
puliini.  Now  brandy,  and  Catholicism,  known  as  the  I'Vench  reli- 
gion, or  pule  /'w/ani,  happened  to  be  forced  on  the  islands  by  a  ship  of 
war  on  one  and  the  same  occasion;  and  the  missionaries,  who^ were 
as  hostile  to^the  one  as  to  the  other,  were  not  a  little  delighlcnl  to  find, 
that  pojfbry  and  intentperanc?  ^vere  one  and  the  same  thing  in  the 
mouths  of  the  people. 

Considering  the  harlequin-like  transmutations  of  adopted  words,  and 
considering  also  the  mutuaU-convertibility  of  k  and  t,  and  of  /  and  r, 
an  inexhaustible  field  is  laid  open  for* the  speculations  of  any  curious 
linguist.  Even  without  looking  below  the  surface,  several  obvious 
resemblances  between  the  Hawaiian  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Latin 
and  the  Greek  q\\  the  other, l^ve  been  suggested  to  me.  Thus  motina, 
a  mountain,  from  mons ;  pari,  a  wall-like  precipice,  from  paries; 
hala,  a  house,  from  aula;  pons,  good,  from  bonus:  and  thus  also 
mele,  a.  song,  from  juj^oj;  urolia,  love,  from  f^a«;  arii,  a  war-chief, 
from  A^rjii  pili,  close  adhering  as  a  friend,  from  t'"-*";  Pde,  goddess 
of  the  great  volcano,  from  nv^,  precisely  in  the  same  way  as  konaKV.\.v. 
from  consuL ;  ua,  rain,  from  vw;  and  rani,  the  heavens,  from  ov^ovoj. 
One  of  ,'rtiese  eleveri\3xamjjlQS,  namely,  hula,  n\ay,  perhaps,  i)e  n^e 
directly  cfiferiveeJTrtjm  our  vernacular  hall,  while  to  the  saiire  Ifcutomc 
origin  may  also  f>e  referred  kai  or  tai,  the  sea,  from  sea,  and  m^hina, 
the  moon,  from  moon,  a  term  which,  besides  being  traccjible  eastward, 
in  some  of  the  oriei^al  languages-,  occurs^ also,  with  the  correlative  sig- 
nification of  month,  in  the  Greek  ni^v,  and  the  tjatfn  mensis. 

To  jeturn  to  the  general  characteristics  of  the  language,  tlie  indis- 
tinctness imd  confusyaa,  which,  arise  from  the  scantiness  of  its  elements 
and  its  consequent  repetition  of  the  same  sounds,  are  considerably  ag- 
gravated by. the  copiousness  of  the  vocabulary, — a  copiousness  which 
is  said  to  have  been,  ih  a.great  measure,  caused  by  the  pride  and  policy 
of  the  chiefs,  who  habituaily  invented  new  words  for  their  own  pecu- 
liar use,  and  constantly  replaced  them,  as  soon  as  they  became  familiar 
to  the  people,  with  other  novelties  of  the  same  kind.  Under  all  these 
circumstances,  to  say  nathing  of  the  intricacy  and  precision  of  the 
grammar,  a  foreigner  can  never  hope  entirely  to  masted  the  tongue  ; 
and  even  the  missionaries,  in  spite  of  all  their  industry  and  zeal,  often 
find  their  ears  at  fiiult,  more  particularly  when  the  natives,  as  is  their 
cusfwri'  in  cracking  their  jokes  at  the  expense  o^  strang<||'s,  clj^nt  their 
barely  articulate  strings  of  vowels  in  a  quick  and  monotonous  strain*.' 
A^  to  the  mercantile  residents,  they  are  sometimes  mortified  to  find 


^Mf: 


I 


i-*:^! 


i^i^K' 


252 


RANDWICII  ISLANDS. 


ImH'^' 

^ttlM' 

Blf 

fl'  P '"' 

Bj' 

•••  »: 


their  most  clcjfnnl  Hawaiian  rrccivnd  by  the  natives  as  pure  English. 
Even  amon^  iheinselves,  the  natives,  1  apprehend,  must  experience  an 
occasional  (hnin.  ty  in  iinderMtandin;;  each  other,  for,  to  take,  as  an 
instance,  a  word  containing  both  the  ituiefitiitc  consonants,  one  person 
may  say  kalo,  another  karo,  a  third  Into  and  a  fourth  taro^  while  a  fifth 
and  a  sixth  may  straddle  the  fence,  as  Jonathan  says,  so  nicely  between 
k  and  /  and  between  /  and  r  as  to  set  all  civilized  orthof^raphy  at  defi- 
ance. Hence  tlw^  various  forms  of  almost  every  native  name,  as  put 
into  shape  by  voyajjcrs  and  others,  such  as  Titerce  and  Kahek'di, 
Timoree  and  Kaumnalii,  Tcrenoui  and  Keuliihonui.  The  missiona- 
ries indeed  have  introduced  ^methin^  tike  a  uniform  standard  into 
their  printed  books,  preferring  k  io  t  and  /  to  r;  but  most  of  the  natives, 
if  they  can  be  supposed  to  aim  at  this  standard  at  all,  resemble,  in  their 
efforts,  so  many  prattling  children  of  two  years  of  age. 

With  respect  to  the  formation  of  compounds,  the  Hawaiian  appears 
to  be  nearly  as  flexible  as  the  (ircek, — a  property  of  which  the  names 


of^the  chiefs  furnish  inaiiy  ppifosite  exampl6^  Thus  h'eopuolani,  the 
gathermg  of  t lie  hetukni;^  AV//}fWlfti«  the  caf^{v^  of  heaven  ;  Kuahu- 
mnnu,  the  feather  mantle;  Kalakua,  the  wai^  oflhc't^of^f  Lealempka, 


the  necklace  of  starn  ;  Kamehumalu,the  shme  of  the  lonely  one^  Hy 
the  by,  Kamehameha,  of  which  the  IJ^ mentioned  example  is  a  com- 
pound, suggests  a  curious  coincidencehretweem  the  ntm;i^nd  the  des- 
tiny of  the  great  king  of  the  islands.  It  may  have  been  applied\o  him 
on  account  of  sorpe  pc<:uliarity  in  his  condition,  such  as  his  being  an 
only  clriidi-or  jy^only  survi-vin^  child, — a  sense  in  which,  unfortunately, 
at  the  present  time,  the^ouf  contains  many  a  " lonely  one;"  but,  had 
not  the  name  been  recorded  as  far  back  as  the  days  of  Cook,  it  might 
have  been  supposed  to  have  been  assumed,  in  consequence  of  his  con- 
quests, to  embody  the  fact  that  he  was  monarch  or  sole  ruler  of  all  he 
surveyed,  that  ho  had  raised  himself  above  all  equality,  that  he  stood 
alone  in  his  own  little  world.  In  a  better  sense,  too,  than  that  of  war- 
like renown  or  politicaf  supremacy,  K;lm(|hameha  was  "the  lonely 
one"  of  his  country,  having,  s^vwe  have  4alrea(fy  seen,  been  the  single 
savage  of  the  group,  who,  in  his  intercourse  with  strangers,  abjured 
the  falsehood,  the  treachery  and  the  cruelty  of  his  race.  If  any  indi- 
vidual be  disposed  to  charge  me  with  too  frequently  dwelling  on  the 
merits  of  this  gallant^and  sagacious  barbarian,  let  him  first  reflect  how 
few  members  of  civilized  society  overcome;  or  attempt  to  overcome, 
the  prejudices,  whether  political  or  religious,  of  early  education. 

To  return  to  the  language,  it  may,  on  the  whole,  be  considered  as 
pleasing  and  agreeable  to  the  ear  after  a  time,  though  at  first  it  sounds 
childish,  indistinct  and  insipid.  It  lacks,  as  a  matter  of  course,  every- 
thing like  force  or  expression ;  and  though  tlie  natives,  both  men  and 
women,  are  fond  of  "speechifying,"  and  even  of  preaching,  yet  they 
are  by  no  means  to  be  compared,  as  orators,  with  the  aborigines  of 
North  America.  While  the  natives  of  the  continent,  more  particularly 
on  the  east  side  of  the  mountains,  pour  forth  their  very  hearts  in  im- 
petuous torrents  of  natural  eloquence,  the  islanders  may  be  said  rather 
lb  chatter  with  their  lips ;  and  while  the  former  are  so  famous  for  the 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


253 


boldncnfl  of  iheir  mRtapliora,  tho  latter,  evrn  in  their  attempts  at  poetry, 
speak  Hober  prose,  without  knowing;  it,  from  bi'iriiiriin^  to  end.  In 
iihort,  tho  liingiinire  iH  not  (>:ip;il)l(>  of  rearhini;  the  lolly  Htrain  of  the 
Hlaekfcet,  the  Crccs  or  tho  Saulteaux,  hut  lh)WH  on  in  a  nitHilhiouH 
fcohhMiess,  whicrh,  though  it  never  olfcntlii  the  car,  alwayH  leaves  it 
unsatisfied. 

Hut  the  Hawaiian  is  no  lonfjor  the  exehisive  lanpuagc  of  the  natives. 
English  is  daily  beeoming  more  familiar  to  them,  being  partly  aetiuired 
in  conversation  and  partly  taught  in  sehools.  It  is,  in  faet,  destined 
ere  long  to  bo  tho  vernacular  tonifue  of  the  group.  It  must  advance  as 
civilization  advances  ;  and  the  more  rapidly  the  better,  for  nothing  elso 
is  so  likely  to  promote  that  amalgamation  of  tlu;  Kuropcan  and  {Poly- 
nesian races,  which  can  alone  prevent  the  aborigines,  if  they  are  at  all 
rescued  from  the  decay  that  threatens  them,  from  sinking  into  the  con- 
dition of  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water.  At  tirsf,  lerh  tps,  tho 
missionaries  could  not  avoid  adopting  the  Hawaiian  language ;  hut,  m 
their  exclusive  use  of  it,  they  have,  in  the  ojjinion  of  most  of  the  roreig*^! 
residents,  done  more  harm  than  g»od.  In  the  almost  utter  absence  of 
native  literature,  the  missionaries  have  operated  on  the  national  mmd 
only  through  the  medium  of  laborious  and  expensive  translations, — a 
system  which  has  doubtless  hajl  this  recommendation  in  their  eyes, 
that  it  enabled  them  to  exercise  a  censorship,  such  as  neither  pop'  :">• 
emperor  ever  exercised,  over  the  studies  of  their  neophytes.  Wf  eihc;* 
they  have  ever  abused  this  power,  either  in  politics  or  in  religiu  ,  I  at 
present  offer  no  opinion;  but  its  mere  existence  assimilates  the  Pro- 
testantism of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  at  least  in  kind  if  not  in  degree,  to 
that  very  Catholicism  of  California  which  the  missionaries  of  the  group 
are  so  ready  to  decry, — the  proselytes  in  either  ease  being  subject  to 
a  tutelage,  which  does  not  even  j)rofcs;s  to  train  them  to  think  for 
themselves.  But  it  is  not  the  studies  oidy  of  the  islanders  that  have 
been  placed  under  clerical  censorship, — their  food,  their  customs,  their 
amusements,  &c.,  having  all  shared  the  same  fate. 

„  FOOD. 

Under  the  old  heathenism  of  the  islands,  the  la"'  «'<  eating  was  a 
most  complex  and  important  affair.  To  say  nothing oi  occasional  and 
temporary  prohibitions,  it  reserved  the  best  of  everything  for  the  chiefs, 
as  distinguished  from  the  people,  and  for  the  m  s'es,  as  distinguished 
from  the  females ;  and  it,  moreover,  extend'^t:  the  privileges  of  its 
favorites  to  the  very  places  where  they  ate.  Of  the  law  in  question 
every  violation  was  a  capital  crime.  It  was  death  for  a  commoner  to 
drink  awa,  or  for  a  woman  to  taste  ?»  cocoa  nut;  it  was  death  for  a  serf 
to  intrude  on  the  banquet  of  his  lord,  or  for  a  wife  to  enter  her  hus- 
band's dining  room.  A  system,  which  thus  proscribed  females  in  a 
country  where  they  were  as  competent  as  males  to  be  chiefs  in  their 
own  right,  could  not  long  withstand  the  light  of  civilization.  Accord- 
ingly, soon  after  the  discovery,  the  taboos  in  question  began  to  be  re- 
laxed and  slighted ;  families  gradually  presumed  to  take  their  meals 
together ;  and  women  plucked  up  courage  to  nibble  at  cocoa  nuts.     Still 


i 


:V' 


>'     i 


*\\ 


254 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


if  I 


■  if- 

% ;;. 


the  law  remained  in  force,  for  Kamehameha  could  not  think  of  deserting, 
in  his  old  age,  the  gods  who  had  crowned  his  youth  with  victory,  and 
so  late  as  1819,  the  last  year  of  his  reign,  a  woman  was  c-tually  put 
to  death  for  invading  the  sanctity  of  her  husband's  eating  house.  In 
the  very  first  year,  however,  after  his  death,  the  taboos  on  eating  were 
abolished,  chiefly  through  the  instrumentality,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, of  a  female  chief.  Kaahumanu,  the  conqueror's  favorite  wife, 
having  been  left  as  a  kind  of  guardian  or  co-regent  of  Liho  Liho,  gave 
the  young  king  no  peace,  till  he  annulled  the  religion  of  his  fathers  by 
publicly  eating  with  his  queens ;  the  ricketty  machines  of  the  national 
idolatry  falling  to  pieces  on  the  removal  of  a  single  peg. 

Practically,  however,  the  common  people  did  not  find  that  food  was 
free,  for,  though  superstition  was  no  longer  the  pretext,  yet  they  were 
still  stinted  and  starved  as  before  by  the  tyranny  of  their  chiefs.  In 
process  of  time,  moreover,  a  new  taboo  was  invented  by  the  mission- 
aries, and  that,  too,  on  grounds  almost  as  absurd  and  untenable  as  those 
on  which  the  old  taboo  had  rested.  Laying  down  religious  rules,  of 
which  the  inspired  volume  knew  as  little  as  it  knew  of  the  traditions  of 
Catholicism  which  they  delighted  to  revile,  the  earlier  missionaries 
denounced  cofl'ee,  put  a  stopper  on  tobacco,  and  carried  on  a  holy  war 
against  cooking  on  Sunday,  and  against  all  the  aiders  and  abettors  of 
the  same.  Such  arbitrary  doctrines  were,  of  course,  set  at  nought  by 
the  foreign  residents.  But  the  police,  who  were  not  allowed,  like  the 
cooks  and  scuIHoiik.,  to  enjoy  a  day  of  rest,  were  sometimes  too  vigi- 
lant for  the  white  law  breakers;  and,  on  one  occasion,  the  British  consiU 
found,  on  his  return  from  church,  that  the  enemy  had  seized  and  con- 
fiscated everything  that  was  guilty  of  being  hot  in  his  kitchen.  Still 
public  opinion  and  common  sense  triumphed  at  last  in  favor  of  folks 
of  every  color. 

The  principal  food  of  the  lower  class  of  the  population,  and,  in  fact, 
the  favorite  food  of  all  classes,  is  poi,  which  deserves  especial  notice, 
as  exacting  from  the  natives,  in  its  preparation,  a  degree  of  labor,  atten- 
tion, and  diligence  which  would  alone  entitle  them  to  be  reckoned  as 
industrious.  It  is  a  sort  of  paste  made  from  the  root  of  the  kalo  (arum 
eaculentum),  a  water  plant  cultivated  to  a  great  extent  throughout  all 
the  islands.  The  root  in  question  much  resembles  the  beet,  excepting 
that  it  is  not  red  but  brown.  It  is  reared  in  small  inclosures,  which, 
with  great  care  and  labor,  are  embanked  all  round  and  constantly 
covered  with  six  or  eight  inches  of  water,  for  like  rice,  the  kalo  will 
not  flourish  on  dry  land.  To  insure  a  regular  supply  of  the  requisite 
element,  streams  are  brought  in  aqueducts  from  the  hills  and  subdivided 
into  a  variety  of  tiny  canals,  while  each  canal  feeds  a  certain  number 
of  patches  communicating  with  each  other  by  means  of  sluices.  On 
certain  days,  perhaps  once  or  twice  a  week,  the  sluices  are  opened  and 
the  patches  of  the  system  are  overflown,  so  that  the  water  is  prevented 
from  becoming  stagnant,  a  precaution  which,  besides  its  fertilizing 
eflfects,  is  necessary  for  warding  ofl"  fevers  and  other  maladies  in  a  cli- 
mate so  warm  and  so  free  from  storms.  But  not  contented  with  mere 
utility,  the  natives  after  all  the  labor  of  a  cultivation  and  irrigation,  often 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


255 


In 


contrive  to  render  the  patches  in  question  ornamental.  In  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Ilonoluki,  where  the  kalo  is  grown  to  a  great  extent,  the 
patches  are  surrounded  by  a  low  wall,  wiiich  is  lined  with  various 
shrubs  and  trees,  such  as  the  sugar  cane,  the  banana  and  the  drooping 
pandanus,  which  thrive  well  in  so  cool  and  moist  a  situation,  while  the 
broad  arrow-headed  leaves^of  the  kalo  are  in  themselves  not  unpleasing 
to  the  eye. 

The  kalo  is  much  used  by  the  foreign  residents  as  a  substitute  for 
potatoes,  or  rather  for  bread,  being  for  this  purpose  either  boiled  or 
fried.  But  in  this  case,  as  in  most  cases  of  the  kind,  the  native 
method  of  proceeding  is  the  best.  A  hole  dug  in  the  ground  receives 
first  some  red-hot  stones,  then  a  covering  of  leaves  of  the  plant,  thirdly 
the  root  in  layers,  fourthly  another  covering  of  leaves,  and  lasUy  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  earth  to  exclude  the  air  and  confine  the  steam. 
After  a  few  hours  your  kalo  is  baked  and  may  either  be  eaten  whole, 
just  as  if  fried  or  boiled,  or  elaborated  into  poi.  The  preparation  of 
this  dish  exacts  fully  as  much  care  and  toil  as  the  growth  of  the  raw 
material.  After  being  cooked  in  the  way  just  described,  the  root  is 
beaten  into  a  paste  with  such  an  expenditure  of  labor,  that  the  task  is 
always  assigned  to  the  men.  This  paste,  which  is  of  a  bluish  color, 
is  invariably  put  aside  to  ferment.  When  it  has  become  sour,  it  is 
then  fit  for  use ;  and  then  to  see  the  natives  eat  it,  or  to  hear  them 
speak  of  it,  one  cannot  but  conclude  that,  in  their  estimation,  it  is  the 
greatest  luxury  in  the  world.  The  passion  for  poi  pervades  all  classes 
from  the  king  downwards ;  and  the  chiefs  make  no  secret  of  the  fact, 
that,  after  dining  with  foreigners  on  the  collected  dainties  of  both 
hemispheres,  they  take  a  litde  poi  at  home,  by  way,  as  they  express 
it,  of  filling  up  the  corners.  Nor  is  the  taste  for  this  delicacy  altoge- 
ther peculiar  to  the  native.  Though  white  papas  and  mammas  rather 
frown  upon  it  as  something  naughty  and  barbarous,  yet  white  masters 
and  misses  are  generally  wayward  enough  to  exhibit  an  extraordinary 
love  for  the  forbidden  fruit,  wherever  and  whenever  it  falls  in  their 
way. 

At  regular  meals,  however,  poi  is  never  eaten  alone,  at  least  when 
the  party  interested  can  afford  any  addition.  Happy  as  an  emperor  is 
he  who  can  flank  his  gourd  of  poi  with  a  bone  of  pork.  Squatting 
himself  between  the  two  candidates  for  his  favor  with  as  much  glee  as 
if  the  whole  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  were  his  private 
property,  he  seizes  the  bone  with  one  hand  and  makes  ready  the 
other  for  an  attack  on  the  gourd.  With  a  dexterity  which  ought 
to  put  civilization,  with  all  its  clumsy  equipage  of  knives  and  spoons, 
to  the  blush,  our  enviable  friend  bites  oif  the  smallest  possible  flavor 
of  the  pork,  and  then,  plunging  two  fingers  into  the  /joi,  juggles,  as  it 
were,  into  his  mouth,  by  means  of  a  knowing  jerk  of  the  wrist,  as 
much  sour  paste  as  would  make  three  or  four  spoonfuls  «n'en  lor  the 
hungriest  European.  Another  bite  and  another  gulp;  and  "again, 
again,  again,  and  the  havoc  does  not  slack,"  till  tlie  performor  is  con- 
strained by  dire  necessity  to  desist  for  want  ol  room,  and  to  resign  him- 


•'■'■', ' 


m 


; 


LI-  * 


f^ 


fr    J 


256 


i/ 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


self,  like  the  boa  constrictor  after  dining  on  a  bullock,  into  the  arms  of 
Morpheus. 

But  poi  and  pork  are  not  the  only  food  of  the  natives.  Of  vegeta- 
bles and  fruits  there  are  yams,  sweet  potatoes,  sugar  cane,  cocoa  nuts, 
bananas,  &c.;  of  these,  the  more  palatable  are  devoured  in  great 
quantities  by  those  who  can  get  them  between  meals,  and  appear,  in 
fact,  to  go  for  nothing  in  the  grand  business  of  cramming.  Then  of 
the  creatures  of  the  deep,  there  are  the  turtle,  the  dolphin,  the  flying 
fish,  the  mullet,  the  rock  cod,  the  bonetta,  the  snapper,  the  cray-fish, 
the  pearl  oyster,  the  shark,  &c.  These  the  natives  prefer  in  a  raw 
state,  on  the  ground  that  they  lose  their  flavor  in  cooking,  considerinif 
it  as  the  richest  possible  treat,  when  on  their  aquatic  excursions,  m 
haul  a  fish  from  the  water  and  literally  eat  it  to  death ;  but  as  to  our- 
selves, we  profited  to  the  utmost  by  M'Intyre's  culinary  talents,  feasting 
almost  constanUy  on  as  much  turtle  as  would  have  made  a  holiday  for 
the  whole  court  of  aldermen.  Like  the  cultivation  and  preparation  ol 
the  kalo,  the  procurinj^  of  an  adequate  supply  of  fish  has  tended  to 
train  the  people  to  haoits  of  industry,  the  smaller  kinds  being  kept 
near  the  villages  in  ponds  constructed  and  protected  with  great  dili- 
gence and  ingenuity.  Like  the  kalo  patches,  these  artificial  inclosures 
are  small,  being  separated  from  each  other  by  embankments,  and  sup- 
plied with  water  from  a  running  stream.  Towards  Waikiki  the  road 
winds  for  nearly  a  mile  among  the  remains  of  fish  ponds  now  neglected 
and  dilapidated ;  but  though  there  abandoned,  yet  such  works  are  still 
maintained  at  Honolulu,  regularly  furnishing  its  market  with  fresh- 
water mullet.  In  addition  to  vegetables,  fruits  and  fish,  there  are  goats' 
flesh,  dog,  hog,  poultry  and  beef — the  beef  of  Kauai,  according  to  Sir 
Edward  Belcher,  being  superior  to  anything  of  the  kind  that  he  had 
seen  out  of  England. 

As  Honolulu  contains,  of  course,  far  more  consumers  than  producers, 
its  necessary  wants  are  supplied  from  the  neighborhood,  in  a  way  to 
be  hereafter  noticed.     The  ordinary  prices  may  be  quoted  as  follows : 

Beef,       3(1.  to  4d.  per  lb.  Fowls,  Is.  each. 

Mutton,  5(/.  to  Q(l.       "  Turkeys,  2s.  to  is.  each. 

Pork,      Id.  to  2d,       "  Salted  salmon,  50*.  per  bbl. 

Sugar,    2d.  to  2hd.     "  Flour,  60s.  per  200  lbs. 

Fish  variable,  but  always  moderate. 

Over  and  above  what  may  Ic  considered  as  necessaries  for  the  table, 
the  group  in  general,  and  Honolulu  in  particular,  is  supplied,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  with  nearly  all  the  luxuries  of  every  clime.  At  the 
feasts  of  the  foreign  residents,  champagne  and  claret  flow  with  lavish 
hospitality,  while  the  lighter  and  rarer  viands  of  every  name  are 
brought  direct  from  the  richest  countries  on  the  globe,  from  England 
and  France,  from  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  from  Peru  and  Chili, 
from  India  and  China.  In  fact,  such  sumptuousness  of  living,  as  we 
experienced,  day  after  day,  from  our  numerous  friends,  is  perhaps  ni>t 
to  be  found  anywhere  out  of  London,  and  even  there  is  seldom  found 
in  all  its  unadulterated  genuineness. 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


257 


le  arms  of 

3f  vegeta- 
ocoa  nuts, 

in  great 
appear,  in 

Then  of 
the  flying 
cray-fish, 
r  in  a  raw 
)nsiderinir 
irsions,  to 
Jis  to  our- 
s,  feasting 
oliday  for 
aration  of 
tended  to 
>eing  kept 
?reat  dili- 
inclosures 
and  sup- 

the  road 
neglected 
s  are  still 
ith  fresh- 
are  goats' 
ing  to  Sir 
It  he  had 

roducers, 
a  way  to 
follows : 

h. 
bbl. 


the  table, 
i(\,  in  an 
At  the 
th  lavish 
ame  are 
England 
nd  Chili, 
ig,  as  wo 
haps  not 
01  found 


Nor  are  the  principal  natives  of  Honolulu  far  behind  the  respectable 
foreigners  in  this  matter.  In  proof  of  their  advance  in  material  civili- 
zation, let  me  contrast  an  instance  of  royal  gastronomy,  recorded  by 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Stewart  twenty  )<  u  s  ago,  with  an  evening  in  my  own 
banqueting  experience,  spent  ai  Cioveriior  Kekuanaoa's. 

Having  visited  Liho  Liho  along  with  Mrs.  Stewart,  the  journalist 
thus  proceeds:  "  Pauahi,  the  only  one  of  his  queens  wlio  had  accom- 
panied him  from  Oahu,  was  seated,  (i  la  Turc,  on  tlie  ground,  with  a 
large  wooden  tray  in  her  lap.  Upon  this,  a  monstrous  cuttle-fish  had 
just  been  placed  fresh  from  the  sea,  and  in  all  its  life  and  vigor.  'J'he 
queen  had  taken  it  up  with  both  hands,  and  brought  its  body  to  her 
mouth:  and  by  a  single  application  of  her  teeth,  the  black  juices  and 
blood,  with  which  it  was  tilled,  gushed  over  her  face  and  nei;k,  whilo 
the  long  sucking  arms  of  the  fish,  in  the  convulsive  paroxytini  of  tho 
operation,  were  twisting  and  writhing  about  her  head  like  the  snaky 
hairs  of  a  Medusa.  Occupied  as  both  hands  and  mouth  were,  she 
could  only  give  us  tlie  salutation  of  a  nod.  It  was  the  first  time  either 
of  us  had  ever  seen  her  majesty ;  and  we  soon  took  our  departure,  leaving 
her,  as  we  found  her,  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  luxurious  lun- 
cheon." 

Now  for  Kekuanaoa's  supper.  We  were  received  by  the  Governor 
in  his  Hall  of  Justice,  an  apartment  large  enough  for  the  church  of  a 
considerable  parish,  being  sixty  feet  long,  thirty  broad,  and  about 
thirty-five  or  forty  feet  high  to  the  ridge  pole  of  the  roof.  We  there 
found  assembled  to  meet  us^.Dr.  Judd,  surgeon  of  the  missionary  body, 
and  three  native  chiefs,  Paki,  Kealiiahonui,  and  Kanaina,  the  first  two 
of  the  three,  as  well  as  Ilis  Excellency  himself,  being  remarkably  tall 
and  h;'iidsome  men.  In  his  youth  Kealiiahonui  was,  according  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Stewart,  a  perfect  model  of  manly  beauty.  He  is  son  of 
Kaumualii,  the  last  king  of  Kauai,  who  was,  in  mind  as  well  as  body, 
one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  the  race,  and  died  in  captivity  at  the 
court  of  Liho  Liho.  Kealiiahonui  and  his  father,  after  the  loss  of  their 
dominions,  enjoyed  the  honor  of  being  joint  husbands  of  Queen  Dowa- 
ger Kaahumanu,  already  mentioned  as  co-regent  of  the  kingdom  after 
her  first  lord's  death,  polygamy  and  incest  powerfully  aiding,  in  this 
case  as  in  many  other  cases,  the  policy  of  engrafting  every  rival  into 
the  dominant  family  of  Kamehameha.  The  remaining  chief,  Kanaina, 
was  husband  of  the  present  co-regent,  a  sister  of  the  king;  but  it  was 
questionable  how  long  he  was  to  possess  that  high  distinction,  for  he 
was  said  to  have  come  to  Honolulu  to  stand  his  trial  for  being  a  gallant, 
gay  Lothario,  with  a  view  to  his  being  divorced.  But,  as  he  was 
small,  and,  for  a  chief,  utterly  puny,  there  were  not  wanting  charitable 
pouls  who  asserted  that  his  roval  consort  did  not  much  re<rret  the 
painful  necessity  of  shaking  off  a  partner  whose  bulk  and  weight  did 
so  little  to  recommend  him,  and  who  fartlier  insinuated  that  she  was 
merely  making  a  vacancy  for  the  relict  of  Kinau,  her  sister,  and  her 
predecessor  in  the  co-regency.  Old  Kekuanaoa  himself. 

The  chiefs  were  all  handsomely  attired  in  the  Windsor  uniform,  their 
clothes  fittinff  to  a  hair's  breadth :  so  particular,  indeed,  are  the  aristo- 


PART    I. 17 


4!  H      vj 


1 


258 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


k  f^ 


t' 


cracy  in  this  respect,  that  they  have  imported  a  tailor  from  England  for 
their  own  exclusive  benefit.  Supper  being  announced,  the  chiefs,  each 
taking  one  or  two  of  our  party  by  the  arm,  conducted  us  across  an  open 
area  to  another  apartment  of  considerable  size,  built  in  the  European 
fashion  and  handsomely  furnished  with  tables,  buffets,  chairs,  sofas,  &e. 
&c.,  the  whole,  or  nearly  the  whole,  being  of  native  wood  and  native 
workmanship.  The  main  table  would  have  done  no  discredit  to  a 
JiOndon  mansion,  covered,  as  it  was,  with  glass  and  plate,  and  lighted 
with  elegant  lamps.  The  fare  was  very  tempting.  It  consisted  of  fruits 
of  all  kinds,  swoeimeuts,  pastry,  Chinese  preserves,  &c.,  with  excellent 
tea  and  coffee,  the  latter,  which  had  been  grown  in  VVoahoo  by  the 
governor  himself,  being  fully  equal  to  Mocha.  Our  plates,  by  the  by, 
had  been  marked  with  our  names;  and  we  had  been  told  to  take  our 
seats  accordingly.  His  Excellency  sitting  at  one  side  among  his  guests. 
In  fact  the  whole  proceedings  blended  the  most  punctilious  regard  to 
etiquette  widi  the  cordiality  of  natural  politeness,  beating  out  and  out 
and  over  again,  all  that  we  had  seen  in  California,  in  every  respect,  in 
room,  in  furniture,  in  equipage,  in  viands,  in  cookery,  in  attendance  and 
in  dress.  Nor  were  our  native  companions  themselves  so  decidedly 
inferior  as  civilized  vanity  might  fancy.  The  chiefs,  especially  our 
host,  were  men  of  excellent  address ;  and,  as  they  spoke  English  enough 
to  be  understood,  we  soon  forgot  that  we  were  sipping  our  coffee  in  a 
country,  which  is  deemed  uncivilized,  and  among  individuals  who  are 
classed  with  savages 

There  were  but  few  incongruities  in  the  course  of  the  evening's  en- 
tertainment, such  as  could  at  all  mar  the  effect,  excepting  that  Kanaina 
frequently  inquired,  with  much  solicitude,  as  if  he  felt  that  he  must  soon 
be  in  the  market  for  a  new  wife,  whether  or  not  we  thought  his  whis- 
kers handsome,  and  excepting  also  that,  on  going  into  an  adjoining 
apartment,  we  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  pair  of  legs  just  disappearing  be- 
neath the  hangings  of  a  fine  bed.  The  legs  in  question  some  of  our 
connoisseurs  pronounced  to  be  the  property  of  a  young  lady ;  but,  be 
this  as  it  may,  Kekuanaoa  is  hardly  ever  to  be  seen,  whether  at  home 
or  abroad,  whether  under  a  roof  or  in  the  open  air,  whether  on  the  land 
or  on  the  water,  without  a  bevy  of  beauties,  who  hang  about  him  like 
his  shadow,  without  appearing  to  discharge  any  very  definite  or  im- 
portant functions.  After  chatting  a  good  deal  and  smoking  a  few  cigars, 
we  took  our  leave,  highly  gratified  with  the  hospitality  and  courtesy  of 
the  governor  and  his  friends. 

Nor  was  this  our  only  specimen  of  the  amelioration  of  the  social 
habits  of  the  higher  classes.  During  our  sojourn  the  governor  and  his 
chiefs  favored  us  with  their  company  at  dinner.  They  conducted 
themselves  with  ease  and  propriety,  having  now  laid  aside  the  habits 
of  intemperance,  in  which  their  order  was  wont  to  indulge,  as  also  the 
peculiar  style  of  conversation  to  which  such  habits  generally  led. 
Formerly  it  was  a  critical  business  to  entertain  the  grandees  in  pre- 
sence of  ladies,  for,  as  soon  as  the  wine  began  to  do  its  work,  they 
would  gradually  become  more  amatory  in  their  remarks  than  was 
either  agreeable  or  safe. 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


259 


To  finish  this  subdivision  of  the  chapter,  the  white  residents  gene- 
rally condescended  to  adopt  the  native  cookery  to  a  certain  extent  in 
their  pic-nic  parties,  characterizing,  in  fact,  such  convivialities  by  the 
name  hiau,  the  vernacular  word  for  the  hole  or  pit  which  serves  the 
purpose  of  an  oven.  In  these  cases  the  presidinj^  genius  is  a  hog  or  a 
dog,  or  a  turkey  or  a  goat,  or  peradventure  a  fowl  or  a  fish,  baked  in 
the  manner  already  described  with  respect  to  the  kalo,  excepting  that, 
in  addition  to  the  hot  stones  in  the  pit,  the  creature  has  two  or  three 
such  articles  in  its  belly.  These  parties,  however,  are  not  so  fashion- 
able as  they  once  were.  Nor  is  this  much  to  be  regretted,  for  the 
baked  animal  was  perhaps  less  of  an  attraction  than  its  liquid  trimmings ; 
and  certain  it  is,  that  the  gentlemen,  on  their  return,  required  all  their 
legs  and  eyes  to  steer  clear  of  the  cold  baths,  which  beset  them  on 
every  side  in  the  shape  of  kalo  patches. 

HOUSES, 

The  dwellings  of  the  natives  are  extremely  neat  and  clean  both 
internally  and  externally;  and,  setting  aside  the  residences  of  some  of 
the  great  people,  they  have  undergone  very  little  change,  excepting 
perhaps  in  dimensions,  since  the  days  of  the  discovery.  They  are 
constructed  of  a  frame-work  of  bamboos,  covered  with  grass ;  and,  as 
the  roofs  are  high  and  pointed  and  the  walls  present  no  other  opening 
than  a  single  door,  the  whole  thing  looks  from  every  side  but  one  more 
like  a  hay-rick  than  anything  else.  The  interior,  however,  generally 
has  a  remarkably  tidy  appearance ;  the  regularity  of  the  frame-work 
and  still  more  strikingly  of  the  knots,  with  which  the  grass  is  made  to 
keep  its  place,  has  a  pleasing  and  pretty  effect,  while  the  uniform 
brown  of  the  structure  looks  cool  and  refreshing  to  the  eye. 

The  furniture  is  very  simple,  though  generally  sufficient  for  the 
wants  of  the  inmates  in  such  a  climate.  The  floor,  being  merely  the 
bare  earth,  is  covered  with  straw  mats,  while  low  piles  of  the  same 
articles,  often  furnished  with  sheets,  coverlets  and  pillows,  constitute 
at  once  beds  and  bedsteads.  The  rest  of  the  furniture  is  comprised  in 
a  few  gourds  and  calabashes  for  food  and  water,  and  in  a  box  or  two 
and  a  shelf  for  the  stowage  of  all  their  little  odds  and  ends. 

The  houst^  are  commonly  separated  into  sleeping  and  sitting  com- 
partments by  means  of  curtains  hung  across  from  wall  to  wall ;  but 
everything,  whether  exposed  to  view  or  not,  whether  within  the  house 
itself  or  merely  within  the  surrounding  enclosure,  is  scrupulously  clean 
and  neat,  presenting,  in  this  respect,  a  wonderful  contrast  with  the  filth 
and  confusion  of  most  of  the  native  lodges  of  the  continent.  At  what- 
ever time  of  the  day  we  dropped  into  a  house,  we  found  no  difference 
in  any  of  these  particulars ;  there  was  never  any  unpleasant  smell  about 
the  premises,  all  the  refuse  of  fish,  vegetables,  &c.,  being  regularly  car- 
ried to  a  distance.  In  fact,  so  far  as  my  experience  has  gone,  clean- 
liness may  be  ranked  among  the  cardinal  virtues  of  the  Sandwich 
Islanders,  for  the  scorpions  and  centipedes,  with  which  some  of  the 
houses  absolutely  swarm,  it  appears  to  be  almost  impossible  to  keep 
out  or  to  get  rid  of.     Mosquitoes,  though  numerous,  are  not  indigenous, 


-''■,-.  in 


260 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


V>^\  ' 


having  been  imported  from  California, — one  of  the  best  aulhentieated 
instances  on  record  of  the  emigration  of  tiiese  tiny  tormentors  of  man 
and  beast. 

From  the  foregoing  description,  the  liouses  arc  in  themselves  evi- 
dently light  and  portable  ;  and  as  they  have  no  more  hold  of  the 
ground  than  a  beehive,  they  arc,  in  point  of  fact,  moved  about  from 
place  to  place,  as  we  had  saveral  opportunities  of  observing,  with  very 
little  trouble.  To  the  end  of  a  good  hawser,  which  is  tied  round  the 
lower  part  of  the  mansion,  there  hang  on  some  twenty  or  thirty 
"Kanakas,"  who,  with  one  of  their  wild,  cheerful  songs,  whisk  away 
the  concern  to  its  new  home  as  easily  as  if  they  were  towing  a  ship 
through  the  harbor  to  her  moorings, — a  most  convenient  and  economi- 
cal receipt  for  the  opening  and  widening  of  streets  and  squares. 

Some  of  the  chiefs,  as  we  have  already  seen  in  our  account  of 
Kckuanaoa's  feast,  have  had  houses  built  in  the  European  fashion,  the 
materials  being,  according  to  circumstances,  wood,  or  adol)rs,  or  lime- 
stone, or  coral.  But,  with  their  characteristic  ingenuity  in  the  finan- 
cial department,  they  have  contrived  to  extract  the  cost  of  most  of 
these  more  solid  edifices  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  public  in  general, 
and  of  their  own  dependents  in  particular.  Elsewhere  the  expense  of 
house-warming  falls  on  the  man  who  is  to  enjoy  the  edifice;  but  your 
Hawaiian  house-warmer  permits  no  one,  on  any  pretext,  to  cross  the 
threshold  of  his  new  smiggery  for  the  first  time,  till  his  visitor  has 
paid  down  a  tax  or  gift,  call  it  what  you  will,  proportioned  to  his  rank 
and  means.  Considering  how  convenient,  or  how  agreeable,  it  is  to 
be  on  visiting  terms  with  a  great  man,  the  contributions  in  question 
have  often  run  up  to  a  respectable  amount ;  and  perhaps,  in  places 
nearer  home,  a  leader  o.  the  fashionable  world  might  build  himself  a 
residence  for  nt)thing  and  pocket  money  into  the  bargain,  if  only  he 
could,  or  would,  sell  the  entree,  on  the  Hawaiian  principle,  to  all 
comers. 

DRESS. 

In  the  days  of  heathenism,  the  ordinary  apparel  of  the  natives  of  all 
classes  was  as  primitive  as  possible,  being  a  malo  of  the  scantiest  con- 
ceivable dimensions  for  the  men,  and  a  puu  or  very,  very  shallow 
petticoat  for  the  women ;  and  in  this  state  of  nudity  the  highest 
chiefs  of  either  sex  used  to  board  the  foreign  vessels  without  ceremony 
or  apology.  Though  the  more  wealthy  members  of  the  community 
possessed,  long  before  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  plenty  of  fine 
clothes,  yet  they  regarded  them  as  merely  ornamental,  as  something 
which  was  as  little  necessary  on  the  score  of  modesty  as  in  point 
of  comfort,  as  a  kind  of  taloo  that  could  be  put  on  or  taken  oIT  at 
pleasure. 

The  only  other  garment  in  general  use, — and  this  did  not  m.ich 
mend  the  matter, — was  the  kapa,  which  v/as  merely  a  square  piece  of 
native  cloth,  tied  by  the  two  upper  corners  in  a  large  bow  near  the 
right  shoulder,  and  hanging  loosely  behind  half  way  down  the  legs, — 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


261 


di.  facsimile  in  short,  cxcoptincf  us  to  the  fubric,  of  the  Spanish  ch);ik, 
of  the  days  of  Charles  the  First. 

All  those  hal)iliments  used  to  be  made  of  the  native  eiolh, — tho 
kapa,  in  fact,  derivinsf  its  name  from  the  same;  tlie  process  of  manu- 
facliiriiifr,  and  eolorinjj  it,  I  shall  deseril)e  hereafter.  Amoni;  the 
chiefs,  however,  feather  cloaks  of  a  more  or  less  costly  description 
were  in  hi<rh  esteem;  and  perhaps  nothing  can  <rive  a  l)etter  idea  at 
once  of  the  pomp  and  power  of  the  native  monarclis,  than  the  follow- 
ini^  description  of  tlie  coronation  cloak  of  Kamehamcha  the  (ireat. 
The  description  in  question  is  from  the  caleulatinj^  pen  of  one  of  the 
missionaries  : 

"  His  Majesty,  Kauikeauli,  the  reinrninj^  kinir,  has  still  in  his  posses- 
sion the  mains  or  feather  war  cloak  of  his  fatlier,  the  eeleliralcd  Kame- 
hamclia.  It  was  not  complet(,'d  until  his  reifrn,  having  occupied  eight 
preceding  ones  in  its  fabrication.  It  is  four  feet  in  length,  with  eleven 
and  a  half  feet  spread  at  the  bottom.  Its  groundwork  is  a  coarse  net- 
ling  and  to  this  the  feathers,  which  are  very  small  and  exceedingly 
delicate,  arc  skilfully  attached,  overlapping  each  other  and  forming  a 
perfectly  smooth  surface.  The  feathers  around  the  border  are  reverted, 
and  the  whole  presents  a  beautifid  bright  yellow  color,  giving  it  the 
appearance  of  a  manUe  of  gold,  indeed  it  would  be  diflicult  for  desj)ot- 
isni  to  manufacture  a  richer  or  more  costly  garment  for  its  proudest 
votary.  Five  feathers  only  (s'\ich  as  are  used  wholly  in  its  manufac- 
ture) are  obtained  from  under  the  wings  of  a  rare  species  of  bird 
inhal)iting  Flawaii,  which  is  caught  alive  with  great  care  and  toil. 
Long  poles,  with  an  adhesive  matter  smeared  upon  them  and  well 
baited,  are  placed  near  their  haunts.  The  bird  alights  upon  it,  and, 
unable  to  disengage  itself  from  the  adhesive  matter,  is  secured,  the 
much  prized  feathers  plucked,  and  the  bird  set  at  liberty.  A  piece  of 
nankeen,  valued  at  five  and  a  half  dollars,  was  formerly  the  price  of 
five  feathers  of  this  kind.  By  this  estimate  the  value  of  the  cloak 
would  equal  that  of  the  purest  diamonds  in  the  several  European 
regalia,  and  excluding  the  price  of  the  feathers,  not  less  than  a  million 
of  dollars  worth  of  labor  was  expended  upon  it  at  Uie  present  rate  of 
computing  wages." 

The  native  attire,  as  just  described,  having  obviously  been  quite  in- 
compatible with  any  moral  or  religious  improvement,  the  missionaries 
and  their  wives,  immediately  on  their  arrival,  set  about  remedying  the 
crying  evil,  very  properly  adopting,  in  defiance  of  their  instructions, 
the  principle,  that,  in  this  instance  at  least,  civilization  must  precede 
Christianity,  and  they  have  been  entirely  successful  in  introducing 
decency,  if  not  modesty,  among  the  females.  In  Honolulu,  the  women 
look  as  if  dressed  in  tlie  missionary  uniform,  for,  though  their  gowns 
differ  in  color,  with  every  varied  hue  under  the  sun,  flaming  yellow, 
pure  white,  bright  red  and  the  like,  yet  they  are,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
gt  'iral  sameness  of  materials,  all  cast  in  one  mould.  They  are,  in 
fact,  something  like  bathing  wrappers,  coming  pretty  high  on  the 
shoulders,  where  they  are  finished  olF  with  a  fringe>  and  having  sleeves 
loose  and  full  like  those  of  a  clergyman's  surplice,  while  the  body  and 


■    ''V-'l 

m 


■>   •, 


262 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


a'4-: 

'M': 


ra 


.Mkirl  in  one  hnu^r  frooly  down  to  the  ankles  williout  being  confined  at 
the  waist.  This  wrapper,  however,  constitutes  the  whole  of  a  woman's 
daily  attire.  The;  feet  and  ankles  are  still  left  in  a  state  of  nature,  ex- 
cepting that  the  tatoo,  which,  like  the  touching  of  noses,  has  hecome 
obsolete  for  other  purposes,  continues  to  be  sometimes  applied  to  the 
ankles  in  tlic  idea  of  making  the  feet  look  smaller.  The  head,  again, 
though  not  absolutely  bare,  yet  presents,  according  to  the  ancient 
fashion  of  the  Hawaiian  beauties,  nothing  but  wreaths  of  flowers,  and 
leaves,  and  coronets  of  yellow  ami  red  feathers — ornaments  which  are 
all  elegant  and  becoming,  and  remind  one  of  the  convivial  costume  of 
classical  antiquity. 

This  description,  however  true  it  may  be  for  six  days  in  the  week, 
is  totally  inapplicable  to  Sunday.  Shoes  and  stockings,  bonnets  and 
parasols  are  now  in  vogue,  while  the  sober  chintz  is  perhaps  thrown 
aside  at  home,  and  sees  the  flaunting  silk  sail  away  to  church  in  its 
stead.  Compared  with  the  graceful  simplicity  of  their  ordinary  cos- 
tume, all  this  finery  on  the  part  of  these  brown  belles,  forcibly  reminds 
one  of  the  sentiment,  that  "beauty,  when  unadorned,  is  adorned  the 
most," — a  sentiment,  by  the  by,  which  they  at  one  time  carried  to  too 
literal  an  excess.  Their  badly  made  shoes  make  their  feet  look  large 
and  clumsy;  their  flashy  bonnets,  just  fancy  them  of  white  satin  trim- 
med with  lace,  give  to  their  dark  complexions  a  hideously  sallow  hue; 
and  the  attempt  at  fashion  in  the  cut  of  their  showy  robes,  joined  to 
the  awkward  consciousness  of  being  all  very  grand,  completes  the  bur- 
lesque on  the  English  and  American  ladies  of  the  place. 

The  men,  however,  have  not  proved  to  be  so  apt  pupils  as  the 
women — the  missionary  civilizers  perhaps  having,  for  very  obvious 
reasons,  taken  greater  pains  in  the  premises  with  the  latter  than  with 
the  former.  Many  of  the  men  still  swear  by  the  wisdom  of  their  an- 
cestors; and  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  a  finely  dressed  female 
walking  arm  in  arm  with  a  husband,  unencumbered  in  his  person  with 
any  more  of  this  world's  possessions  than  a  nialo  of  twelve  inches  by 
three.  The  only  constant  addition  to  this  .scrap  of  an  apology  for 
clothes,  is  the  wreath  of  flowers  and  leaves,  which  is  worn  by  the  one 
sex  as  well  as  by  the  other — a  piece  of  effeminacy  which  is  not  with- 
out its  use,  for  the  ornament  in  question  is  generally  so  arranged  as  to 
shade  the  eyes  from  the  sun.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten,  that  the  grace- 
ful kapa,  already  described,  still  occasionally  forms  part  of  the  costume 
of  almost  every  individual  of  either  sex. 

But  even  among  the  men  there  are  some  exquisites,  being  chiefly 
those  who  have  at  once  enlarged  their  notions  and  saved  a  little  money 
abroad.  These'fellows,  so  long  as  their  cash  lasts,  lounge  and  saunter 
all  day  in  the  sunshine,  habited  in  military  surtouts  with  frogs,  &;c.,  all 
complete,  in  white  trowsers  which  fit  them  like  their  skins,  in  fashion- 
able boots,  in  round  hats  and  in  kid  gloves  of  some  gay  and  delicate 
color,  with  their  snowy  wristbands  turned  btck  over  their  cufls,  the 
whole  dandy  being  finished  off"  with  cane  and  eyeglass.  In  process 
of  time  these  bucks  relapse,  as  a  matter  of  course,  through  all  the 
stages  of  worse-for-the-wearishness,  shabbiness  and  dilapidation  down 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


263 


to  the  7nalo,  with  perhaps  a  garland  on  the  head  and  a  kapa  on  the 
shoulders. 

In  fact,  even  among  the  higher  classes,  the  abstract  idea  of  clothes 
still  involves  far  more  of  the  ornamental  than  of  the  useful.  Nor 
ought  this  to  be  a  sul)ject  of  wonder.  So  far  as  the  climate  is  con- 
cerned, raiment  is  rather  a  burden  than  a  bcnelit  to  the  natives;  and  as 
to  moral  motives,  they  have  hardly  any  inlluence  with  the  men,  while 
they  have  probably  less  to  do  with  tlie  apparent  decency  of  the  women 
than  a  love  of  display.  But,  whatever  may  be  the  cause,  the  notions 
of  the  chiefs,  even  of  the  female  chiefs,  with  regard  to  dress,  are  very 
far  from  being  decidedly  utilitarian.  Witness  the  following  ludicrous 
and  inconvenient  appropriation  of  a  whole  web  of  woollen  cloth  to  the 
wants  of  a  single  lady,  and  that,  too,  in  an  atmosphere  which  would 
have  made  a  salamander  comfortable.  At  a  festival  celebrated  in  18211 
to  commemorate  the  deatji  of  Kamehameha,  one  of  tin*  queens  dowa- 
ger— the  others,  by  the  by,  being  pretty  well  packed  also — sported 
seventy-two  yards  of  kerseymere,  one  half  of  it  being  scarlet,  and  the 
other  orange ;  while,  as  the  breadth  was  doubled  on  itself,  the  whole 
quantity  was  equivalent  to  one  hundred  atid  forty-four  yards  of  single; 
fold,  something,  I  take  it,  like  the  height  of  St.  PtUer's  at  Rome.  Tlie 
only  way,  of  course,  in  which  her  majesty  could  haul  in  the  slack, 
was  to  have  it  wound,  like  thread  on  a  reel,  round  her  portly  waist; 
and  when  this  process  had  gone  on  till  her  arms  were  supported  in  a 
horizontal  position,  the  remainder  was  borne,  as  a  train,  by  her  admir- 
ing attendants.  This  martyrdom  was  endured,  within  a  month  of  a 
tropical  midsummer,  throughout  the  whole  of  a  tedious  and  ceremoni- 
ous procession.  Perhaps  in  more  civilized  countries,  royalty,  on  occa- 
sions of  state,  is  only  a  gilded  weariness  both  of  flesh  and  spirit. 

The  inhabitants  of  a  warm  climate,  as  if  in  imitation  of  the  birds, 
exhibit  in  their  dress  a  greater  variety  of  colors  than  the  denizens  of 
colder  regions.  What  a  dilference  in  this  respect  between  the  varie- 
gated dwellers  in  Honolulu  and  the  dingy  citizens  of  London.  The 
women,  presenting  to  the  cloudless  sun  the  countless  hues  of  the 
flower  garden,  form  a  curiously  suggestive  contrast  with  the  deep  brown 
of  the  almost  naked  men,  most  of  whom  might  be  models  for  a  sculp- 
tor; while  a  small  sprinkling  of  many  foreign  costumes  serves  still 
farther  to  heighten  the  beauty  and  interest  of  the  scene. 

APPEAUANCE    AXD    DISPOSITION. 

In  complexion,  the  natives  look  like  a  connecting  link  between  the 
red  man  and  the  negro,  being  darker  than  the  former,  though  still 
removed  many  degrees  from  the  sooty  hue  of  the  latter ;  they  exhibit 
perhaps  about  the  same  tint  as  the  Moors  of  the  North  of  Africa.  In 
regard  to  hair  also  they  occupy  tlic  same  intermediate  position  :  in  all 
of  them  it  is  black,  curling,  or  rather  waving  and  undulatinjr,  in  most 
cases,  and  being  long  and  straight,  like  the  red  man's,  on  some  indi- 
viduals. In  feature,  they  are  rather  Asiatic  than  otherwise,  nose  full 
without  being  flat,  face  broad,  eye  black  and  bright.  In  form,  they  are 
commonly  handsome,  strong  and  well  limbed,  while,  in  height,  they 


-^1 


f 


''M 


i 


2G4 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


f-.: 


i^M'^, 


arc,  in  {rrneml,  Homothinjr  above  the  avemije  standard  of  Eiiropeaii«. 
On  the  whoh'  they  are,  as  a  race,  considorahly  above  mediocrity  both 
in  fare  and  in  person.  The  women  in  particnhir  are  (h;eidedly  pretty. 
Thify  have  a  most  lively  expression  of  eountenance,  and  are  iilway.-i 
smiiinfj  and  attractive! ;  and  their  fiunri.'s  may  even  l)e  :'.dmilted  to  b« 
beautiful  and  feminine,  seldom  inclininjr,  when  younj^,  either  to  corpu- 
lency or  to  the  opposite  extreme,  liinl)s  and  busts  well  formed,  and 
hands,  feet  and  ankles  small  and  didicate,  while  their  <^ail  and  carriage, 
ihouirh  somewhat  peculiar,  are  yet,  on  the  whole,  noble  and  com- 
manding. 

In  th(!  forewoiniif  paragraph  I  have  had  chiefly  the  common  people 
in  my  eye,  ihough  all  that  I  have  said,  exceptinir  in  point  of  size,  is 
equally  applicable  to  the  higher  classes.  Tlu;  chiefs  of  either  sex,  as 
I  have  already  had  occasion  to  mention  with  regard  to  the  males,  are, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  remarkably  tall  and  corpulent.  For  this 
striking  peculiarity  various  reasons  may  be  suL'gested.  ('hiefs  may 
originally  have  been  of  a  superior  race, — a  suj)j)osition  which,  consi- 
dering the  way  in  which  Polynesia  must  have  been  peopled,  is  not 
improbable  in  itself;  or  they  may  have  always  selected  the  largest 
women  as  their  wives  ;  or  they  may  themselves  have  been  elevated 
above  their  fellows  from  time  to  time  on  account  of  their  gigantic  pro- 
portions. Hut,  in  addition  to  any  or  all  of  these  possibilities,  one 
thing  is  certain,  that  the  easy  and  luxurious  life  of  a  chief  has  had  very 
considerable  influence  in  the  matter  :  he  or  she,  as  the  case  may  be, 
fares  sumptuously  every  day  or  rather  every  hour,  and  takes  little  or 
no  exercise,  while  the  constant  habit  of  being  sliampooed  after  every 
regular  meal,  and  oftcner  if  desirable  or  expedient,  promotes  circulation 
and  digestion  without  superinducing  either  exhaustion  or  fatigue. 
Under  this  treatment  the  grandees  thrive  regularly  and  certainly  with- 
out sacrificing  or  endangering  health  ;  and  some  of  them,  more  particu- 
larly Kuakini,  otherwise  known  as  John  Adams,  CJovernor  of  Hawaii, 
and  Kekauluohi,  co-regent  and  wife  of  our  friend  Kanaina,  have  be- 
come so  unwieldy,  that,  though  otherwise  in  perfect  health,  they  aro 
yet  unable  to  walk. 

Whatever  may  be  the  cause  or  causes  of  the  magnitude  of  the  patri- 
cians, the  elFect  itself  so  seldom  fails  to  be  produced,  that,  beyond  all 
doubt,  bulk  and  rank  are  almost  indissolubly  connected  together  in  the 
popular  mind,  tiu^  great  in  person  being,  without  the  help  of  a  play 
upon  words,  great  also  in  power.  Hence  probably  the  matrimonial 
difli^ulties  of  poor  Kanaina;  and  hence  also  the  missionaries  have 
certainly  not  augmented  their  influence  by  eating  little  but  vegetables 
and  drinking  nothing  but  tea,  till  most  of  them  are  so  meagre,  gaunt 
and  sallow  as  to  be  immediately  distinguished  by  their  looks  from  fo- 
reign laymen,  whose  religion  rarely  deters  them  from  enjoying  good 
dinners. 

To  pass  from  the  appearance  of  the  natives  to  their  disposition.  Of 
these  domestic  habits  and  feelings  I  have  already  said  enough  in  an 
earlier  subdivision  of  this  chapter;  and  the  less  frequently  it  is  repeated 
so  much  the  better. 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


265 


patri- 
>nd  all 
in  the 

play 
noniiil 

have 
I  tables 


The  pr()p!(\  in  hpite  of  all  that  tn.iy  he  inferred  t(»  tli<?  contrary  from 
their  eaily  intei-coiirse  willi  foreiiruers,  are  nentle  and  liarmless,  most 
of  tfie  (>utr:iires,  which  followed  the  diseovj'ry,  havinj^  been  either 
protn[)t(;(l  hy  rm'eiiiic;  for  |>a.st  wroiins  or  eiijoiiied  hy  the  eupidity  of 
aiiihitious  and  im|)rinci|)led  chiefs.  Miit,  e\eii  if  ihey  had  been  wan- 
tonly and  wilfully  treacherous  mimI  cruel  to  stranir(>rH,  the  circumstances 
(tf  their  position  woidd.  to  a  irreat  extent,  have  :iccounted  for  their 
atrocities;  |i»r  the  inhabitants  of  inconsiderable  ishinds,  who  were  con- 
stantly exposed  to  invasion  without  tin*  means  (d"  retreat,  could  not  fail 
to  rofrard  the  most  jealous  defence  of  the  definite  boundary ,»whicli 
nature  had  fjiven  tliein,  as  a  matter  of  self-preservation, — a  principle 
which  frocH  far  to  ex|)lain  the  peculiar  ferocity  of  tlu;  Polynesians  in 
partictdar,  and  of  maritime  savat^es  in  jreneral.  In  the  hands  of  the 
chiefs,  this  prini'iple  could  at  any  time  have  excited  the  fury  of  the 
Ilawaiians  airniiist  the  most  friendly  visitr)rs.  In  fact,  the  hal>il  of 
obedience  is  so  powerful  in  the  i^reat  mass  of  the  population,  that  by 
their  rulers  it  may  be  turned  at  will  either  to  good  or  to  evil ;  and  it 
is  partly  by  reason  of  this  submissive;  t(Miiper,  which  always  makes 
them  stand  by  their  master  to  the  last,  that  they  form  a  valuable  addi- 
tion to  the  crews  of  whaliiifif  vessels. 

Nor  is  their  courajrc  h.-ss  conspicuous  than  their  fidelity.  It  is,  in 
truth,  above  all  suspicion  ;  and  of  this  there  cannot  perhaps  be  stroiii^i^r 
proof,  however  indirect  it  may  be,  than  the  tact,  that,  in  their  wars, 
they  seldom  or  never  had  recourse  to  artifice  or  ambuscade.  They  are, 
without  exception,  the  most  valiant  of  the  Polynesians,  beinj^  perfect 
heroes,  for  instance,  in  comparison  with  the  natives  of  the  Society 
Islands  ;  so  that  from  the  lesson  lately  received  at  Tahiti,  the  French 
may  be  able  to  form  some  faint  notion  of  what  an  ajjjrressor  may  expect 
from  the  Ilawaiians,  more  particularly  when  backed  by  the  inaccessible 
fastnesses  of  their  country.  In  short,  with  their  fidelity  and  coura<Te 
combined,  the  Sandwich  Islanders,  if  oflicercd  like  our  eastern  sepoys, 
would,  in  my  opinion,  make  the  finest  soldiers  of  color  in  the  world. 

But  perhaps  the  industry  of  the  natives  is  the  (piality  which  promises 
to  be  most  conducive  to  their  civilization.  A  habit,  if  not  a  love,  of 
labor  has  been  implanted  and  cherished  in  them  by  a  combination  of 
causes  more  or  less  peculiar  to  their  condition,  which  chietly,  if  not 
wholly,  resolve  themselves  into  the  nijarirardliness  of  nature  and  the 
despotism  of  government.  While  many  other  Polynesian  tribes  almost 
realize  the  caricature  of  a  copper-colored  gentleman  lying  on  his  back 
under  the  branches  of  the  bread-fruit  and  doing  nothing  but  keep  his 
mouth  open  to  catch  the  ripe  rolls  as  they  lall,  the  Ilawaiians,  as  we 
have  already  had  occasion  to  notice  more  than  once,  are  compelled  by 
the  necessities  of  nature  to  earn  their  food  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow. 
Witness  the  construction  of  their  fish-ponds,  the  preparation  of  their 
poi  and  the  cultivation  of  their  Icalo,  with  all  its  incidental  toils  of  dig- 
ging and  embanking  the  beds,  of  erecting  and  maintaining  the  aqueducts, 
of  fixing  and  regulating  the  sluices.  So  far  as  the  kato  and  poi  are 
concerned,  there  are  some  localities,  Lahaina,  for  instance,  in  Mo  wee, 
in  which  the  bread-fruit  abounds,  while,  with  a  little  care  and  attention, 


I 


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26G 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


ml 
J-  '^ 

III 


it  miiflit  be  nirulc  to  tjrow  in  ull  parts  of  the  ^roiij);  hut  whclhi  '.  ')' 
that  this  rcudy-inado  t'uud  he  hero  of  inferior  (|iiality,  or  that  the  i.>  .</itc 
dish  of  tho  natives  has  hc'conif;  indlHponMahU;  to  them,  the  l)rcad-fruit  in 
as  litlh:  vahied  hy  the  Sandwich  iNhinih-rs  as  the  ktilo,  which  is  indi- 
vrcnoiis  in  many  parts  of  I'olynr.sia,  is  vahied  hy  \\iv  indoh'Ut  ahoritj^incs 
of  the  more  southern  jj;ronps.  Nor  is  the  despotism  of  government  less 
inniiential  in  makintr  the  people  work  than  the  ni(>fi;ardliness  of  nature. 
Till  very  recently,  the  commoners  of  this  archipelaj^o,  lik(!  tho  peasants 
of  I'Vance  heforc  the  revolution,  or  of  Canada  hcfore  the  conquest,  were; 
tuillahlvs  rt  corvcablcs  a  miscricnrilr,  or,  to  invent  I'iUglish  for  the 
exotic  ahomination,  taxable  and  taskahlc  at  discreliun,  while  they 
were  deterred  alike  from  evasion  and  conjplaint  hy  a  mixture  of  feudal 
servility  and  superstitious  terror.  IJut,  within  the  last  year  or  two, 
certain  laws,  for  their  share  in  which  the  missionaries  des(!rve  great 
credit,  have  so  far  remedied  this  evil  as  to  subject  the  amounts  and 
times  of  taskiuf^  and  taxiuif  to  lixed  rules;  anil  thouifh  the  ascertained 
burtlcns  are  still  too  heavy  and  too  numerous,  e()mj)risinj>f  work  for 
the  immediate  ehi(;f,  work  for  the  king,  work  for  the  public,  rent  for 
land  and  a  poll  tax  on  both  sexes,  yet  the  restriction  in  i|uestion,  il 
fairly  carried  into  actual  ellecl,  will  engender  in  the  serf  the  idea  ol 
property  and  inspire  him  at  once  with  the  hope,  and  the  desire,  ol 
improving  his  pliysieal  condition  hy  the  application  of  his  physical 
energies.  Though,  in  many  quarters  of  the  group,  an  ade(]uati!  motive 
for  exertion  may  not  at  pn'sent  be  felt,  yet,  in  tin;  neighborhood  ol 
Honolulu,  the  sustenance  of  several  thousands,  who  are  exclusively 
consumers,  constitutes  at  once  the  proof,  and  the  recompense,  of  the 
industry  of  the  adjacent  cidtivators.  In  fact,  the  demand  of  tho  town 
affords  an  ample  market  for  the  natives  of  the  surrounding  country, 
while  there  is  certainly  no  reason  for  the  buyers  to  murmur  as  to  tho 
amount  or  variety  of  the  supply.  In  addition  to  the  resources  of  a 
stationary  market,  which  is  usually  well  furnished  with  fish,  meal, 
fruit,  &c.,  the  smaller  dealers  go  from  house  to  house  to  vend  their 
wares,  the  whole  scene,  which  is  quite  unique,  savoring  of  anything 
l>ut  indolence  on  the  part  of  the  rural  population.  Early  in  the  morn- 
ing a  crowd  of  natives  may  be  seen  flocking  into  Honolulu,  all  carrying 
fsomothing  to  sell.  Most  of  them  have  large  calabashes  suspended  in 
a  netting  at  each  end  of  a  pole,  which  they  carry  across  one  shoulder, 
the  contents  being  all  sorts  of  small  articles,  kalo  and  poi,  and  fruits 
and  vegetables,  and  milk  and  egvrs,  and,  what  is  the  safest  speculation 
of  all,  water  fresh  from  the  cold  atmosphere  of  the  mountains ;  some 
of  them  are  loaded  with  bundles  of  grass  for  the  town-fed  horses: 
others  carry  a  sucking  pig  in  their  arms,  while  the  more  substantial 
hog  merchants  make  the  adult  grunters,  always  there,  as  well  as  else- 
where, on  the  verge  of  insurrection,  trudge  along  on  their  own  petty 
toes;  others  again  import  ducks  and  fowls,  and  geese  and  turkeys,  all 
alive,  tied  by  the  legs  to  long  poles,  which  are  carried  like  the  poles 
with  the  calabashes;  while,  last  though  not  least,  a  few  individuals  ol" 
more  airy  and  delicate  sentiments,  hawk  about  various  kinds  of  curi- 
osities, such  as  mats,  shells,  scorpions,  &c.,  but,  above  all,  wreaths  ot 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS, 


267 


hrijilit  flowers  inti^rluinod  with  ihcir  kitulrud  leaves  for  tlie  heaiix  uiul 
belles  of  the  melropoli.s. 

'J'luJ  nUMplesH  avariee  whieli  iiuro,  as  well  as  rlsewhcre,  lias  l)ceii 
one  of  the  earliest  reHiiltH  of  the  contact  of  eivili/atioii,  lends  its  aid, 
too,  to  Htrentrtlien  and  direct  industry ;  all  clashes  hein;;,  as  is  natural 
and  exc>isal)le,  ardent  worshipers  of  money,  as  thi'  one  ihintj  needful, 
in  their  opinion,  for  |)roenrinir  all  that  distin^ui^hrs  <ivili/ation  from 
harbarisin.  {Several  curious  instances  may  he  menlioned.  When  Van- 
couver hrou^ht  cattle  from  (-alifornia  to  coloni/.e  tlie  islands,  he  found 
that  Kaluirnoku's  doul)le  canoe  was  alone  capahle  t)f  takini^'  them 
ashore;  hut  he  found  also  that  Jvaluinioku,  the  hi^h(<st  and  most  en- 
li£[ht(>ned  counselor  of  tlu;  comiueror,  and  hence  surnamiul  William 
I'ilt,  would  not  lend  his  douhle  cano(;  for  presenting  to  his  country  u 
{rift  which  was  to  enrich  it,  without  pay.  Ai;ain,  wIumi  one  of  the 
lioats  of  Wilkes'  s(|uadron  was  upset  in  the  surl',  a  native  |»romplly 
rescued  one  poor  lellow,  who  could  not  save  himself;  but,  insieacl  of 
striking  out  for  the  dry  land,  lu;  shelved  his  drippinuf  and  shiv(>rini^ 
customer  on  the  upturned  hollom  of  the  yawl,  to  take  his  ehitice  be- 
tween promisinjr  two  ilollars  for  his  lile,  or  forthwith  rcturniiij,^  w  hence 
he  came.  Jjasily,  durin<f  our  own  sojourn,  the  American  residents 
took  a  fancy  to  have  Washington's  birth-day  hononul  by  a  salute  Irom 
the  fort;  and  Kekuanaoa,  instead  of  refusinir  on  |)rinciple,  or  of  yield- 
inff  with  a  good  grace,  sold  the  compliment,  ufli'r  much  hiijyiing  on 
both  sides  about  terms,  at  the  rate  of  half  a  dollar  a  gun.  1  mention 
these  anecdotes,  not  to  reproacdi  any  one,  Init  nierc.'ly  to  illustrate  a 
characteristic  feature  in  the  disposition  of  partially  iujproved  savages^ 
a  disposition  which  necessarily  s|)rings  from  the  fact,  that  material  civi- 
lization is  more  eagerly  appreciated  and  more  easily  ac(|uircd  than  moral. 

The  oidy  bad  point  in  the  native  character,  always  excepting,  of 
course,  the  besetting  sin  of  licentiousness,  is  a  pro|)ensity  to  p(!tty 
thieving,  with  the  concomitant  vice  of  lying.  But,  in  estimating  the 
guilt  of  a  savage's  dishonesty,  we  ought  to  take  into  account  the  com- 
paratively irresistible  force  of  the  temptation,  'i'o  him  the  rudest 
implements  are  as  attractive  as  the  most  precious  jewels  are  to  a 
European ;  and  I  doubt  much  whether  a  vessel  with  diamonds  all  about 
her  deck  and  cabin,  would  be  more  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  even  the 
most  select  visitors  in  one  of  our  own  ports,  than  hatchets  and  knives 
and  nails  used  to  be  among  the  savages  of  the  South  Sea.  Moreover, 
it  was  with  the  thefts,  as  it  was  with  the  murders;  the  outrages  of 
boUi  descriptions  were  less  the  consequence  of  the  olFender's  own  de- 
pravity than  of  his  chief's  commands;  and,  long  after  the  pillaging  of 
vessels  was  abandoned,  a  professional  pilferer  was  an  ordinary  ap- 
pendage of  a  chief's  household — a  regular  hunter,  in  short,  of  all  such 
waifs  and  strays  as  might  be  useful  or  ornamental  to  the  establishment. 
But  the  extortion  of  the  chiefs  was  alone  suflicient  to  make  their  vassals 
thieves.  Knowing  neither  stint  nor  shame,  it  coveted  all  that  it  saw, 
and  appropriated  all  that  it  coveted;  and  if  the  serfs  imitated  those 
whom  they  reverenced,  they  could  not  be  otherwise  than  cheats  and 
robbers.     Nor  had  the  helpless  creatures,  under  so  precarious  a  tenure 


4 


1  .'■ 


268 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS'. 


h 


of  all  tho  fruits  of  their  toil,  that  solfish  motive  for  honesty,  which  tlio 
possession  of  property  seldom  fails  *,>  inspire;  and  now  that  the  limi- 
tation of  the  chief's  rights,  ?id  iho  vassal's  duties, 'has  enabled  the 
commoners  to  have  somothinfr,  which  they  may  really  call  their  own, 
ihey  will  frradually  discover  that  the  distinction  between  meum  and 
tunm  is  a  point  of  law  and  morals  in  which  they  have  a  personal 
interest. 

In  addition  to  dishonesty,  one  might  he  led  to  infer,  from  the  rigor 
with  which  the  missionaries  wage  war  against  intemperance,  that 
drunkenness  was  common  among  the  Hawaiians.  Now,  so  far  as  my 
experience  has  gone,  the  lower  classes  arc,  with  very  few  exceptions 
indeed,  sober  even  beyond  the  standard  of  clerical  self-denial,  drinking 
little  but  water,  and  rarely  indulging  in  the  ^'earning  beverage,  "  that 
cheers  but  not  inebriates"  their  teachers.  'J'he  chiefs,  however,  used 
not  only  to  tnke  wines  to  excess,  but  also  to  quafl',  at  a  great  rate,  the 
liquor  called  ana,  which  nothing  but  aristocracy  was  allowed  to  taste. 
Tliis  drink  was  made  from  the  root  of  the  tea  tree,  and  was  prepared 
in  the  following  very  peculiar  method.  In  the  cstabl- -hment  of  each 
chief  were  one  or  two  men,  whose  duty  it  was  to  chew  the  root  into  a 
pulp,  which  they  spat  out  into  a  water-tight  vessel.  On  this  lixivium 
of  filth  and  poison  the  operators  poured  water  enough  to  extract  its 
virtues;  and,  when  the  work  of  absorption  was  complete,  the  lord  of 
the  ascendant  greedily  swallowed  an  infusion,  which  nothing  but  cus- 
tom could  have  induced  even  him  to  taste  without  loathing.  The 
effects  of  the  thing  were  quite  worthy  of  the  process  of  its  manufac- 
ture. Its  immediate  result  was  a  sujpefying  intoxication,  not  unlike 
that  caused  by  opium;  while,  in  its  ultimate  consequences,  it  injured 
the  sight,  by  rendering  the  eyes  blood-shot,  and  produced  on  the  skin 
a  kind  of  lep.ius  appearance. 

CUSTOMS  AND    AMUSEMENTS. 

The  practice  of  shampooing,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded  as  a 
means  of  promoting  circulation  and  digestion,  is  believed  to  be  an 
infallible  specific  also  for  headache  and  rheumatism  and  other  similar 
complaints,  its  medicinal  inllueuce,  at  least  with  respect  to  the  lords  of 
the  creation,  being  doubtless  heightened  by  the  fact,  that  the  shampooers 
are  almost  invariably  of  the  weaker  sex.  The  panacea  in  question,  as 
one  may  easily  suppose,  assumes  a  variety  of  forms,  inasmuch  as  the 
fair  dispenser  of  the  dose  not  only  knows  exactly  in  what  proportions 
to  combine  the  ordinary  ingredients  of  chafing,  and  squeezing,  and 
kneading,  but  also,  when  the  malady  appears  to  be  deeply  seated,  tries 
to  get  down  to  it  by  furrowing  her  customer's  carcase  pretty  forcibly 
with  her  elbows.  The  native  name  of  shampooing,  according  to  the 
printed  standard,  is  tumec-tumec ;  but  the  foreign  residents,  chiefly  in 
order  to  teaze  the  missionaries  who  disapprove  of  some  of  the  modes 
of  operation,  generally  express  the  objectionable  branches  of  the  system 
by  changing  the  pronunciation  of  the  word,  as  widely  as  possible,  into 
rumec-riimee.  The  practice  is  undeniably  benetlcial  to  the  health  and 
Jevelopment  of  the  body.     If  nothing  more,  it  is  clearly  an  easy  sub- 


» 


aANDWICn  ISLANDS. 


269 


stitute  for  exercise,  or  rather  n  iiiifenious  contrivance  for  shifiinfi  the 
toil  and  trouble  of  that  essenti'l  life-preserver  to  another  person's 
shoulders.  'J'he  custom  has  doiiol'oss  been  derived  from  Asia,  pre- 
vailing, as  it  does,  in  ditferent  parts  of  that  "ontinent,  tho,ugh  not  always 
in  the  form  just  described.  Cottrell,  a  late  traveler  in  Siberia,  men- 
tions his  havin<i  experienced  in  his  own  person  something  of  the  same 
kind  at  Omsk,  and,  with  one  exception,  at  Omsk  only.  "  Hy  way,'* 
says  he,  "  of  digesting  our  luncheon,  a  ceremony  w  as  performed,  which 
if  we  had  not  undergone  the  or(h>al  in  a  friend's  house  in  the  vicinity 
of  Oranienbaun,  with  our  lamented  friend  Prince  Butera,  would  have 
astonished  us  no  little.  A  dozen  soldiers  placed  themselves  in  two 
files  close  to  each  other,  and  took  up  each  of  the  \n\ny  in  turn  on  their 
arms,  and  tossed  them  in  the  air,  catching  them  again  on  their  arms, 
and  throwing  them  up  again  as  cjuickly  as  possible,  a  considerable 
height.  This  operation  is  performed  very  expertly;  the  patient,  who 
understands  the  business,  keeps  his  arms  close  to  his  sides,  and  his  legs 
stilily  out,  and  feels  no  sort  of  inconvenience.  It  is  exactly  like  being 
tossed  in  a  blanket."  Now  as  Omsk  is  the  frontier  town  towards 
Thibet,  it  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  borrowed  its  exclusive  dis- 
cipline in  question  from  its  southern  neighbors,  who  again  border  on 
the  countries,  whence  Polynesia  has  most  probably  derived  its  popula- 
tion. The  diflerence  l)etween  tossing  and  shampooing,  in  itself  imma- 
terial, affects  chiefly  the  active  instruments  in  the  business,  the  one 
being  easier  than  the  other;  and,  in  fact,  we  accordingly  find,  that,  even 
on  the  continent  of  Asia,  the  athletic  exhibition  of  the  north,  as  one 
advances  to  the  southward,  has  softened  itself  into  something  like  the 
same  practice  that  prevails  among  the  Sandwich  Islanders. 

Another  remarkalde  custom  among  the  Ilawaiians,  which,  however, 
is  not  likely,  I  take  it,  to  last  long  in  these  more  enlightened  times,  is 
their  mode,  evidently  Asiatic  in  its  origin,  of  expressing  grief  for  the 
death  of  a  superior.  The  mode  in  (piestion  is  to  knock  out  with  u  mallet 
as  many  front  teeth  as  the  rank  of  the  deceased  may  demand  or  perhaps 
the  mourner's  remaining  stock  may  warrant.  To  this  most  oppressive 
poll-tax,  chiefs  and  commoners  are  all  alike  subject;  and  accordingly 
most  of  the  chiefs  of  our  acfpiaintanccs,  including  our  friend  Kekuanaoa 
herself,  bore  in  their  mouths  negative  marks  of  iiaving  more  or  less 
extensively  paid  the  penalty  of  fashion;  most  perhaps  of  the  vacant 
lots,  in  the  case  of  the  older  chief's,  having  been  inleiuled  to  commemo- 
rate the  death  of  Kamehameha.  In  the  good  old  days  of  polygamy, 
the  royal  guardsmen  had  a  hard  tinu;  of  it  in  this  res[)ect,  for  the  deaths 
of  queens,  and  princes,  and  princesses  were  so  common  as  soon  to 
disqualify  the  poor  fellows  for  mourning  any  more,  and  to  send  them 
forth,  as  no  longer  fit  for  service,  toothless  into  the  world.  Some  time 
ago  we  had  one  of  these  mutilated  veterans  on  the  ik)lumbia,  who,  as 
if  the  honor  felly  atoned  to  him  for  the  loss,  used  to  boast  of  havMig 
sacrificed  liis  te'th  in  the  service  of  so  renowned  a  (;onqu"ror  as  Kame- 
hameha the(>;'eat.  Sometimes,  though  not  so  often,  very  loyal  people 
knoc-ked  out  their  eyes  as  well  as  their  teeth.  This  part  of  the  busi- 
ness, however,  was  occasionlly  managed  in  such  a  way  as  to  compound 


.  •';••.:   ill 


■  -m 


('■I^'f'"' 


i' 


n^' 


*♦ 


** 


270 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


matters  between  the  mourner  and  the  deceased  on  terms  highly  advan- 
tageous to  the  former.  Kahiimoku,  or  William  Pitt,  for  instance,  ex- 
claimed on  the  death  of  his  wife,  that  he  had  lost  an  eye,  and  was 
thenceforward  distinguished  as  Once  Blind;  while,  on  the  death  of 
Kamehameha,  this  Hawaiian  Ulysses,  having  discarded  his  other  eye 
by  means  of  a  similar  fiction,  became  Twice  Blind  for  the  rest  of  his 
life. 

Besides  games  of  chance,  some  of  which  appear  to  be  similar  to 
those  played  by  the  aborigines  of  the  American  continent,  the  Hawaii- 
ans  are  peculiarly  fond  of  such  recreations  iS  require  strength  or  dex- 
terity. Among  the  recreations  in  question  may  be  cited,  as  strikingly 
illustrative  of  physical  character,  the  following  sharp  contest  between 
the  muscles  of  one  party  and  the  eyes  of  another.  A  fellow,  whose 
arm  is  bare,  holds  in  his  closed  hand  a  round  stone,  which  he  is  to 
drop  and  leave  under  some  one  or  other  of  three  or  four  small  piles  of 
shavings  of  wood  or  clippings  of  cloth,  passing  his  fist  from  pile  to 
pile  with  inconceivable  quickness  ;  while  his  antagonist's  business  is  to 
discover  under  which  of  all  the  piles  the  round  stone  has  actually  been 
hidden.  Beyond  the  mere  chance  of  guessing  right,  the  latter  of  course 
has  no  other  means  of  detecting  the  proceedings  of  the  former  than  the 
movements  of  the  muscles  of  the  bare  arm ;  and  hence  the  struggle  be- 
tween the  muscle  and  the  eye,  the  muscle  running  through  a  whole 
"  pea  and  thimble  rig"  of  feints  and  stratagems,  and  the  eye  striving  to 
distinguish  the  true  action  of  depositing  the  stone  from  all  the  decep- 
tive varieties  of  motion  and  repose.  As  the  man  with  the  stone  may 
move  his  hand  from  pile  to  pile  as  often  as  he  likes,  and  actually  does 
so  with  incredible  ease  and  rapidity,  he  has,  according  to  our  estimate 
of  'hings,  all  the  advantages  in  his  favor;  and  yet  the  watchfulness  of 
his  enemy  is  often  too  much  for  him. 

But  the  grand  recreation  of  the  natives  is  the  constant  habit  of  swim- 
ming. In  fact,  the  Sandwich  Islanders  are  all  but  amphibious,  and 
seem  to  be  as  much  at  home  in  the  water  as  on  the  land;  and,  at  all 
times  of  the  day,  men,  women  and  children  are  sporting  about  in  the 
harbor,  or  even  beyond  the  reef,  with  shoals  of  sharks  perhaps  as  their 
playfellows.  These  voracious  creatures,  liowever,  are  far  less  likely 
to  meddle  with  the  aborigines  than  with  foreigners,  not  that  they  pre- 
fer white  meat  to  brown,  but  because  they  have  been  taught  by  expe- 
rience that  one  Hawaiian  has  more  of  the  Tirtar  in  him  than  a  score 
of  Europeans.  There  is  scarcely  an  instance  on  record,  in  which  a 
native  has  suflered  any  serious  injury  from  -i  shark.  If,  at  any  time, 
the  latter  take  the  preliminary  step  of  tLirning  over  on  his  back  to  get 
a  mouthful,  the  former  is  sure  at  least  to  elude  the  attack  by  diving  be- 
low the  monster,  while,  if  he  has  a  knife  or  riny  similar  weapon,  he 
seldom  fads  to  destroy  the  enemy  by  carrying  the  war  hito  his  interior. 
To  return  to  the  swimming,  it  was  part  of  our  daily  amusement  to 
watch  the  rapid  and  elegant  evolutions  of  the  performers,  more  particu- 
larly of  the  ladies,  who,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  excelled  their 
lords  and  masters  in  agility  and  science.  Even  in  point  of  strength  anti 
endurance,  one  woman,  a  short  time  before  our  arrival,  had  carried  off 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


271 


the  palm  from  her  hnsband.  Tho  whole  story  is  well  worth  tcllino^, 
as  illustrative  of  something  better  th:in  toughness  of  muscle  or  supi)l(;- 
ness  of  limb.  A  man  and  his  wife,  both  Christians,  were  passengers 
in  a  schooner,  which  foundered  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
land.  All  the  natives  on  board  prompUy  took  rcl'nge  in  the  sea;  and  the 
man  in  question,  who  had  just  celebrated  divine  service  in  the  ill-fited 
vessel,  called  his  fellows,  some  of  them  bein<r  converts  as  well  as  himself, 
around  him,  to  ofl'er  up  another  tril)ute  of  praise  and  supplication  from 
the  deep  in  which  they  were  struggling,  to  tarry,  \vith  a  combination 
of  courage  and  humility  perhaps  unecjualed  in  the  world's  history,  in 
order  deliberately  to  worship  (Jod  in  that  universal  temple  under  whose 
restless  pavement  the  speaker  and  most  of  his  hearers  were  destined  lo 
find  their  graves.  The  man  and  his  wife  had  each  succeeded  in  pro- 
curing the  support  of  a  covered  bucket  by  way  of  I)uoy;  and  away 
they  struck  with  the  rest  for  Kahoolawe,  finding  themselves  next  morn- 
ing alone  in  the  ocean,  after  a  whole  afternoon  and  night  of  privation 
and  toil.  To  aggravate  their  misfortunes,  the  wife's  l)ucket  went  to 
pieces  soon  after  daylight,  so  that  she  had  to  make  the  best  of  her  way 
without  assistance  or  relief;  and,  in  the  course  of  llie  afternoon,  the 
man  became  too  weak  to  proceed,  till  his  wife,  to  a  certain  extent,  re- 
stored his  strength  by  shampooing  him  in  the  water.  Tliey  had  now 
Kahoolawe  in  full  view,  after  having  been  about  four-and-tweniy  hours 
on  their  dreary  voyage.  In  spite,  however,  of  the  cheering  sight,  the 
man  again  fell  into  such  a  state  of  exhaustion,  that  the  woman  took  his 
bucket  for  herself,  giving  him,  at  the  same  time,  the  hair  of  her  head 
as  a  towing-line;  and  wlien  even  this  exertion  proved  to  be  too  much 
for  him,  the  faithful  creature,  after  trying  in  vain  to  roiii^e  him  to  prayer, 
took  his  arms  round  her  neck,  holding  them  together  with  one  haiid, 
and  making  with  the  other  for  the  simre.  When  a  very  trifling  dis- 
tance remained  to  be  accomplished,  she  discovered  tliat  \\<i  was  dedd, 
and  dropping  his  corpse,  reached  the  land  before  night,  h-n'ii'j;;  passed 
over  upwards  of  twenty-five  miles  during  an  expos  ht-  of  reirU  tbiiuy 
hours.  I  have  been  thus  particular  in  detailing  this  namuve  of  .;  i.!i- 
hood  and  skill,  of  piety  and  affection,  because  ithar;  >;Jii/':.';-  so  e.-actly 
with  my  general  plan  of  presenting,  when  possibk  ,  ♦^  the  reader,  the 
past  and  the  piesent,  the  old  and  the  new,  the  savage  www  ihe  civ-lized, 
in  one  and  the  same  view.  In  the  skill  and  hardiliooi!  tVv.  recognize 
the  children  of  nature  and  barbarism ;  in  the  affectiou  and  piety,  the 
disciples  of  civilization  and  Christianity. 

In  Honolulu,  and  most  probably  in  the  other  town^j  and  villages  of 
the  group,  the  taste  for  promenading,  fostered,  if  not  created,  by  the  in- 
troduction of  civilized  finery,  has,  to  a  certain  extent,  thrown  neaHv  all 
other  amusements  into  the  shade.  Every  afternoon,  for  all  vv,»rii 
ceases  about  three  o'clock,  the  main  street  presents  a  gay  and  pretty 
f'cene  with  the  varieties  of  costume  and  degrees  of  nudity  sucli  as  J 
have  already  described, — a  scene  which,  unique  enough  in  itself,  is 
rendered  still  more  decidedly  so  by  the  circumstance,  that  many  of  the 
ladies,  as  I  have  elsewhere  hinted,  carry  about  adopted  sucklings  in  the 
!>hape  of  pigs  and  puppies,  which,  however,  arc  destined  tc  pay  their 


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little  all  for  their  board  by  being  baked,  when  fat,  into  lioliday  dinners 
for  their  adoptive  mammas.  In  this  grand  business  of  promenading, 
certain  days  of  the  week  take  the  shine  out  of  the  others.  For  in- 
stance, Tuesday,  as  everybody  washes  everything  on  Monday,  brings 
out  the  belles  like  so  many  new  pins,  with  gowns  as  clean,  and  smooth, 
and  stiff  as  starch,  and  irons,  and  soap  can  make  them,  while  the  fair 
wearers,  that  all  things  may  l)e  of  a  piece,  generally  embrace  the  same 
occasion  of  mounting  their  fresh  wreaths  and  garlands.  For  these  rea- 
sons, Tuesday  is  a  stranger's  best  opportunity  for  obtaining  a  full  and 
complete  view  of  the  beauties  of  llonolulu,  for,  though  never  very 
prudish,  yet  they  are  now  peculiarly  ready  to  appreciate  and  return 
the  compliment  of  being  tht;  observed  of  all  observers.  Saturday, 
again,  has  its  own  proper  merit,  inferior  to  Tuesday  in  show  and  cere- 
mony, but  superior  to  it  in  variety  and  intensity  of  excitement.  On 
this  day  little  or  no  work  is  done ;  and  all  those  who  can  get  horses, 
gallop  about  from  morning  till  dusk  in  the  town  and  neighborhood,  to 
the  danger  of  such  as  are  poor  enough  or  unfashionable  enough  to  walk. 
Saturday,  in  fact,  is  a  kind  of  carnival,  wliose  duty  it  is  to  atone  by  anti- 
cipation to  the  mass  of  the  inhal)ita:its,  for  the  pharisaical  melhodisni 
of  the  missionary's  sabbath.  But  the  reader,  to  have  a  definite  idea 
of  all  this  walking  and  riding,  ouglit  to  be  told,  that  the  Hawaiians, 
who  must  speak  or  die,  never  meet  for  any  purpose,  going  to  church, 
of  cour&e,  excepted,  without  indulging,  perhaps  all  of  then  at  once,  in 
a  perpetual  din  of  gossip  and  banter. 

But  the  richest  scene  of  amusement  among  the  natives,  which  we 
witnessed,  was  one  highly  characteristic  of  those  light-heartecl  creatures. 
A  bridge  and  road  were  to  be  made  from  the  town  in  the  direction  of 
the  valley  of  Nuanau.  According  to  the  law  of  the  case,  every  male 
adult  turned  out  to  lend  a  hand,  even  domestic  servants  being  liable 
either  to  work  or  to  pay, — the  very  laborers  themselves,  to  say  nothing 
of  others,  making  this  unremunerated  task  the  groundwork  of  all  sorts 
of  fun  and  frolic.  The  troops  mustered,  as  if  for  a  review  ;  bands  of 
music  paraded  about  from  morning  till  night ;  and  the  women,  all 
decked  out  in  their  best,  llitted  about  from  spot  to  spot,  jabbering  and 
joking  all  the  while  in  their  inarticulate  jargon.  But  the  statutory 
labor  itself  was  perhaps  the  most  entertaining  part  of  the  business. 
The  men  were  divided  into  gangs  of  forty,  each  set  being  sure  to  be 
constantly  attended  by  its  full  complement  of  shouting  and  giggling 
women  ;  and  one  whole  gang  might  be  seen  running  and  laughing  with 
a  log  of  wood  on  their  shoulders,  which  four  or  live  men  might  have 
conveyed  with  ease,  evidently  succeeding  to  their  own  perfect  satisfac- 
tion in  converting  the  toil  into  a  pleasure.  Every  day  used  to  close 
with  quite  enough  of  dancing  and  singing;  but  this  day  of  hard  duty 
ushered  in  an  evening  of  more  than  ordinary  festivity. 

I  have  taken  no  notice  of  the  native  dances,  lor  most,  if  not  all,  of 
them  arc  unfit  to  be  noticed.  They  have  undergone  very  little  change 
for  the  belter  since  the  days  of  the  early  'sitors  ;  and,  if  l!iey  have 
been  rendered  less  public  through  missionary  zeal,  they  are  unfortun- 
ately so  much  the  less  likely  to  be  influenced  by  the  gradual  formation 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


273 


of  that  popular  opinion,  by  which  alone  they  can  be  abolished  or  im- 
proved. 

The- last  particular,  which  I  shall  mention  under  this  head,  is  one  in 
which,  at  least  in  Honolulu,  every  stranger,  whether  willing  or  unwil- 
ling, is  obliged  to  take  the  principal  share.  On  his  first  arrival,  the 
visitor  is  followed  through  the  streets  by  a  crowd  of  men,  women  and 
children,  who,  without  incommoding  him  by  actual  pressure,  are  al- 
ways ready  to  assist  him  in  any  and  every  possible  way,  to  pick  up, 
for  instance,  whatever  he  may  drop,  or  to  open  gates,  or  to  point  out 
the  lions,  or  to  explain  all  that  may  require  explanation.  Meanwhile 
he  cannot  help  suspecting,  that  his  self-elected  satellites  are  taking  their 
hire  out  of  him  by  quizzing  any  litUe  peculiarities  that  he  may  possess, 
for  he  hears  behind  him  volley  after  volley  of  laughter,  each  one  evi- 
dently produced  by  some  excellent  joke  that  has  preceded  it.  As 
nobody  likes  to  be  laughed  at,  especially  when  he  cannot  enjoy  the 
jest  himself,  the  victim  resolves  to  escape  from  his  tormentors  by  wear- 
ing out  their  patience  the  next  time  that  he  calls  at  any  house  ;  but  let 
him  stay  as  long  as  he  likes,  or  till  he  is  ashamed  to  stay  any  longer, 
he  finds  his  volunteers  where  he  may  have  left  them,  wailing  to  fi;reet 
his  retura  with  a  cheerful  welcome,  and  to  repeat  their  kindly  meant 
persecution.  If  he  has  a  single  drop  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness 
in  his  own  composition,  he  now,  of  course,  submits  to  the  infliction 
with  a  good  grace. 


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PART   I. 18 


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CHAPTER  XII. 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 

In  regarding  the  Ilawaiians,  not  as  individual,  but  as  a  community, 
I  shall,  to  confine  myself  at  present  to  the  most  general  distinctions, 
begin  with  government  and  its  incidents,  then  pass  to  education  and 
religion,  and  lasdy,  conclude  with  trade,  and  all  that  concerns  it. 

NAVY. 

Before  the  days  of  Kamehameha,  the  only  vessels  of  war  were 
canoes,  such  as  are  still  in  use  for  most  purposes.  These  canoes, 
which  are  all,  of  course,  sea-going  craft,  convince  one  at  the  first  glance 
that  the  natives  must  be  tolerably  amphibious  animals.  They  are 
usually  hollowed  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  cocoa-nut  tree,  and  are  generally 
so  narrow  as  barely  to  allow  a  man  to  sit  in  them  on  his  knees.  This 
ricketty  machine  is  kept  in  an  upright  position,  only  by  the  contrivance 
of  an  outrigger,  consisting  of  two  pieces  of  wood  of  about  ten  feet  in 
length,  attached  at  right  angles  to  one  side  of  the  canoe,  and  joined  at 
their  outer  extremities  by  another  piece  of  wood,  which  is,  of  course, 
parallel  with  the  body  of  the  vessel ;  and  this  appendage,  while  it  gives 
security  by  virtually  increasing  the  breadth  of  beam,  docs  not  sensibly 
impede  the  little  bark's  motion  through  the  water.  But  outrigi,rer  and 
all,  these  ticklish  skiffs  not  unfrequently  get  capsized  at  sea ;  but,  on 
such  occasions,  tlie  crew,  who,  of  course,  must  have  been  pitched  clean 
out,  soon  set  all  to  rights  and  start  again,  though  generally  with  the 
loss  of  some  of  their  goods  and  chattels.  The  savages,  however,  did 
not  fail  to  discover  that  union  was  strength,  for  by  lashing  together  two 
such  vessels  as  have  been  just  described,  they  produced  a  tirtimn  quid 
of  twenty  times  their  value.  These  double  canoes,  formerly  employed 
in  war,  and  still  used  by  the  chiefs,  are  capital  sea-boats,  Kamehameha 
having  at  one  time  contemplated  the  conquest  of  Tahiti,  in  reliancr  on 
n  fleet  consisting  chiefly  of  thein  ;  and  it  was  probably  in  some  such 
galleys  that  the  Taliitians  first  made  their  way,  in  days  of  yore,  to 
colonize  the  Hawaiian  group.  In  speed,  as  well  as  in  security,  the 
PART    II. — 2 


I  ^11 


18 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


(loul)le  canoes  are  vastly  superior  to  the  siniffle.  On  :i  mast  planted 
hctwecn  their  two  parts,  they  carry  a  large  sail  of  triangular  rorin, 
which  may  either  assist  or  relieve  the  paddles ;  and,  as  they  are  made 
of  tlic  largest  trees,  which  are  reserved  for  the  purpose,  they  sometimes 
accommodate  eighty  or  a  hundred  men  each,  while  c^ery  man,  seated 
as  he  is,  in  com|)arative  ease  and  safety,  can  put  forth  all  his  attention 
and  energy  on  his  work. 

After  the  discovery,  canoes  were  gradually  supplanted  for  all  great 
objects  by  ships,  which  were  procured  sometimes  hy  foul  means,  and 
sometimes  by  fair  dealing,  till  at  last  the  subjugation  of  the  whole 
archipelago  under  one  ruler  entirely  superseded  the  use  of  the  smaller 
description  of  national  craft.  Thenceforward  the  navy  consisted  ot 
decked  vessels ;  and,  thougli  now  less  powerful  than  it  has  been,  yet  it 
still  musters  a  few  armed  schooners  of  from  twenty  to  a  hundred  tons, 
which,  manned  and  commanded  almost  entirely  by  native  seamen,  are 
])oliii(;ally  valuable  in  holding  the  remoter  dependencies  to  their  alle- 
giance, to  say  nothing  of  their  commercial  utility  in  carrying  provisions 
and  passengers  from  one  island  to  another. 

As  a  beginning  of  civilization,  this  navy,  however  insignificant  in 
modern  eyes,  is  certainly  superior  to  the  squadron,  with  which  Co- 
lumbus discovered  America,  and  perhaps  not  inferior  to  that  with 
which  Drake  left  England  to  circumnavigate  the  globe ;  and,  to  come 
even  to  the  present  day,  it  is  infinitely  creditable  to  the  Hawaiians, 
when  compared  with  our  own  experience  of  the  "one  and  indivisible" 
navy  of  California,  built  by  foreigners,  commanded,  and  partly  manned, 
by  foreigners,  and,  to  crown  all,  confined  to  port  till  victualled  by 
foreigners. 

ARMY. 

Even  previou?ly  to  the  days  of  the  discovery,  the  Hawaiians  appear 
to  have  possessed  a  better  notion  of  military  afiairs  than  savage  tribes 
in  general  possess.  They  marshaled  themselves  in  something  like 
regular  lines  and  columns  ;  they  marched  under  the  distinctive  banners, 
more  or  less  splendid,  according  to  the  rank  of  the  parties,  of  their  re- 
spective chiefs ;  and  generally  disdaining,  as  I  have  already  mentioned, 
the  use  of  snares  and  ambuscades,  they,  of  course,  delighted  chiefly  in 
the  pitched  batUe  with  its  "  clear  field  and  no  favor."  Besides  swords, 
clubs,  bows,  &('.,  which  they  had  in  common  with  other  savages,  they 
were  peculiarly  expert  in  the  hurling  of  ilie  spear,  and  miraculously  so 
in  the  avoiding  of  it  when  hurled  against  themselves.  To  this  practice 
they  were  systematically  trained ;  and  even  now,  after  peace  has  con- 
tinued nearly  fifty  years,  and  civilization  has  substituted  its  own  wea- 
pons for  those  of  barbarism,  the  officers  of  the  fort,  who  were  always 
happy  to  entertain  us  with  specimens  of  their  native  warfare,  perfectly 
astonished  us  with  their  dexterity  in  the  management  of  the  spear. 
One  stood  to  be  aimed  at,  while  several  others,  at  a  distance  of  about 
twenty  paces,  rapidly  darted  against  him  the  long  spears  of  ancient 
times,  with  such  vigour  and  certainty,  that  their  comrade,  who  acted 
as  their  common  butt,  could  be  saved  by  nothing  but  his  own  coolness 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


19 


and  aijility.  But  he  was  apparontly  an  murh  at  his  case  as  if  he  had 
been  (Jnlliver  amonjr  the  Ijilliputiaiis.  Soim;  ol"  the  wrapons  he  wouhl 
send  tlyinj^  oil'  at  an  angle  l)y  touj^hinc;  them  with  his  shoidder,  or  1<'<;, 
or  arm;  others  he  would  cateh  l)y  th(!  midiMe  aiul  liurl  l)aek  at  th«^ 
throwers,  thus  direetly  turning  the  tahkis  on  the  enemy ;  one  or  two 
he  might,  perhaps,  eluteli  between  his  arm  and  siih;,  and  at  all  events, 
even  when  a  speeiid  display  of  skill  was  impraetieal)le,  he  would  still 
(lodge  the  mischief  by  a  slight  inclination  of  his  body.  In  this  appa- 
rently dangerous  pastime,  Kamehatncdia  was  ratluT  fond  of  exposing 
his  royal  person;  and  wheri  urged  to  be  more  careful  of  his  valual)h^ 
life,  he  replied,  that  it  was  as  easy  for  him  to  avoid  the  spears  as  it 
was  for  his  antagonists  to  throw  them. 

The  substitution  of  civilized  arms  and  discipline,  though  gradual, 
has  yet  been  complete,  excepting  that  one  whole  age  of  trantjuillity, 
more  particularly  as  it  happily  promises  to  Ix  '"ceeded  by  another 
age  of  the  same  blessing,  has,  to  a  certain  e^  ,  degraded  soldiering 
mto  a  burlesque.  Witness  the  training  at  the  lort,  which  we  sometimes 
attended,  apparenUy  to  the  great  gratification  of  tlu;  chiefs.  The  offi- 
cers, for  the  most  part,  were  well  dressed,  some  even  making  an  at- 
tempt at  uniform.  Hut  the  men,  in  clothes,  in  accoutrements,  in  arms, 
in  everything,  did  certainly  baffle  all  classification.  Tall  fellows  and 
short  were  ranked  and  ffled  together  with  admirable  perverseness  ; 
every  one  was  dressed  or  not  dressed,  according  to  the  state  of  his 
wardrobe  or  the  whim  of  his  fancy ;  some  shouldered  broken  muskets, 
and  others  wooden  guns,  some  again  had  onlv  sticks,  and  others  no- 
thing  at  all.  Still,  however,  all  of  them  went  through  their  exercise 
with  much  precision,  marching  in  excellent  time  to  the  sound  of  their 
drums  and  fffes.  But  the  richest  part  of  the  treat  was  the  Hawaiian 
English  in  which  the  word  of  command  was  given.  At  first  we  could 
make  nothing  of  our  corrupted  vernacular;  but  at  last,  happening  one 
morning  to  stand  near  the  captain  of  a  number  of  wooden  guns,  a 
handsome  fellow,  by  the  by,  with  a  gold-laced  cap,  a  handkerchief 
round  his  waist,  and  a  cane,  we  were  fortunate  enough  to  catch  the 
sounds  as  they  escaped,  all  tortured  and  dislocated,  from  his  lips. 
^-a-/ee-im,  shouted  the  officer;  and  clap  went  all  the  hands,  while 
the  motley  fellows  drew  themselves  up  as  one  man  into  the  attitude  of 
attention.  Cheear-a-ar,  the  first  division  of  the  sound  being  almost 
inaudible,  and  the  second  bearing  away  all  the  emphasis  ;  and  the  men 
accordingly  shouldered  their  not  very  heavy  firelocks.  Peetec-u-ar 
came  next  in  order;  and  each  warrior  presented  the  same  harmless 
engine  which  he  had  just  previously  shouldered.  Pee-ba-a-tee  crowned 
the  climax ;  and  the  men,  after  drawing  imaginary  bayonets  with  as 
much  solemnity  as  if  they  had  been  mesmerising  their  iiips,  fixed  the 
same  with  such  an  air  of  business  about  them,  as  entirely  overthrew 
our  gravity. 

But,  however  ridiculous  most  of  the  details  were,  the  impression,  on 
the  whole,  was  favorable  as  often  as  we  attended.  The  men,  as  a 
body,  were  strapping  fellows  with  that  best  of  all  uniforms,  good  looks 
and  fine  figures;  and  as  to  any  other  uniform,  the  day  of  trial,  when 


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WEBSTER,  N.Y.  )4SS0 

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it  conios,  will  find  them,  T  lake  it,  doing  iheir  duty,  and  doing  it  well 
too,  in  their  brown  skins  and  their  maloft. 

These  troops  arc  merely  militia-men,  who,  in  consideration  of  l»cin£r 
thus  drilled  two  or  three  times  a  week,  an;  exempted  from  all  other 
pnhlic  labor;  they  are,  1  apprehend,  part  of  a  general  corps  of  national 
defenders.  But,  in  Honolulu,  the  government  has  at  command  a  more 
regular  and  permanent  force,  organized  and  trained  to  discharce  the 
dudes  of  a  municipal  police.  'I'o  this  body  much  credit  is  due  for  th« 
order  and  regularity  preserved  in  the  town.  Its  services  in  this  matter 
are  but  seldom  invoked  during  the  day;  but,  in  the  night,  its  measures 
are  of  the  most  prompt  and  summary  character,  for  every  native,  who 
is  found  in  the  streets,  after  one  of  the  guns  of  the  fort  has  told  the 
lieges  that  it  is  half  past  eight,  is  clapped  into  durance  vile  without 
ceremony  and  fined  next  morning.  IJut  the  force  in  question  is  not 
less  valuable  in  maintaining  the  discipline  of  the  vessels  in  the  harbor 
than  in  securing  the  peace  of  Uie  town.  It  cannot,  indeed,  prevent  the 
temporary  evils  of  drunkenness  and  dissipation;  but  it  does  effectually 
protect  the  ship  against  the  worst  misfortune,  that  can  befall  her  in 
port,  by  such  a  vigilance  in  recovering  deserters  as  is  but  seldoni 
evinced  on  more  civilized  stations. 

In  Honolulu,  the  militia  and  the  police,  taken  together,  amount  to 
about  six  hundred  men. 

The  fort,  properly  so  called,  is  merely  a  large,  quadrangular  build- 
ing, surrounded  by  low  stone  walls.  It  mounts  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  guns  ;  and,  when  the  salute,  which  I  have  already  mentioned, 
was  sold  and  delivered  on  Washington's  birth-day,  one  of  the  guni-, 
which  had  been  shotted  for  the  purpose  by  order  of  the  sagacious 
old  governor,  sent  its  ball  beyond  the  reef,  as  a  warning  to  all  whom  il 
might  concern.  In  fact,  the  fort,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  must 
be  silenced  by  an  enemy  from  the  outer  anchorage,  for  otherwise  a 
hostile  vessel,  while  towing,  in  a  helpless  condition,  into  the  chops  of 
the  harbor,  would  expose  lierself  to  a  heavy  fire  which  she  could  not 
return.  Besides  the  fort  in  question,  a  battery,  which  has  seen  better 
days  and  still  shows  a  few  rusty  cannons,  commands  the  town  from 
a  hill  immediately  behind  it.  This  battery  is  said  to  have  under  its 
immediate;  protection  one  of  those  reserves  of  dollars,  which  the 
government  is  popularly  supposed  to  keep  en  cache  in  various  parts  of 
the  country.  In  my  opinion,  the  battery  is  just  as  likely  to  be  manned 
against  an  intruder  by  Kamehamcha's  ghost;  and  probably  the  incredi- 
ble fable  never  had  any  other  foundation  than  the  jealous  custom, 
given  up,  however,  of  late,  of  not  allowing  any  person  to  visit  the 
stronghold  without  being  attended  by  a  soldier. 

REVENUE. 

His  Hawaiian  Majesty's  ways  and  means  are  drawn  from  various 
sources  and  in  various  shapes,  from  every  possible  source,  in  fact, 
and  in  every  possible  shape;  and  the  details,  however  unimport- 
tant  in  their  direct  bearing  on  the  resources  of  the  government,  arc 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


21 


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peculiarly  worthy  of  consideration,  as  illustrative  of  the  condition  of 
ihu  people. 

A  poll-tax  is  levied  on  all  and  Himdry,  excepting  old  people  and  chil- 
dren under  fourteen  years  of  ajrc  l)('in<r  at  the  rate  of  a  dollar  for  a  man, 
of  half  a  dollar  for  a  woman,  of  a  (juarler  of  a  dollar  for  a  hoy,  and  of 
the  eij.dilh  of  a  dollar  for  a  ji:irl.  Supposinjr  the  tahlcs,  which  have 
been  already  quoted,  to  present  the  averajjc  proportion  of  ajres  and 
nexes  in  the?  whole  population  of  ciffhiy-eighl  thousand,  this  hranch  of 
revenue  would,  on  a  rough  estimate,  considerably  exceed  forty  thou- 
liund  dollars. 

But  an  additional  poll-tax,  in  the  form  of  labor,  is  exacted  from  all 
male  adults.  Every  man  is  hound,  if  recjuired,  to  devote  to  pid)lic 
works  six  days  in  every  month  of  four  weeks,  bcinij  precisely  one- 
fourth  part  of  his  whole  time.  From  this  liability  even  domestic  ser- 
vants are  not  exempted.  They  must  either  leave;  their  duties  for  the 
time  or  pay  half  a  dollar  for  each  day's  default.  Of  this  system  the 
white  residents  could  have  but  little  reason  to  complain,  if  they  enjoyed 
a  legal  right  of  compounding  for  the  burden  ;  but  they  possess  no  such 
privilege,  being  subject,  on  each  and  every  occasion,  to  the  caprice  of 
the  authorities  as  to  the  pecuniary  composition  for  such  indispensable 
attendants  as  they  may  be  graciously  permitted  to  keep  at  home. 
.Moreover,  this  poll-tax,  with  an  ingenuity  worthy  of  civilized  finan- 
ciers, is  levied  on  the  absent  and  even  on  the  dead, — no  kanaka  being 
allowed  to  go  abroad,  till  his  employer  has  paid  an  ecjuivalent  for  the 
statutory  labor  likely  to  be  lost  to  the  community  during  the  whole 
term  of  his  engagement.  Reckoning  the  male  adults  at  twenty-eight 
thousand,  this  poll-tax  is,  of  course,  equivalent  to  the  labor  of  seven 
thousand  able-bodied  men  for  a  whole  year;  or,  if  turned  into  money 
at  the  rate  of  composition  mentioned  in  the  following  paragraph,  it 
must  amount  to  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  thousand  dollars. 
-  After  all  this  fleecing,  the  poor  creatures  have  earned  a  claim  to 
nothing  more  than  air  and  light.  The  land  they  must  not  meddh;  with, 
though  the  surface  capable  of  cultivation,  even  if  estimated  at  only  a 
sixth  part  of  the  whole,  contains  at  least  twenty  acres  for  every  male 
adult  in  the  group.  They  have  to  pay  not  only  for  the  ground  that 
they  till,  but- even  for  the  privilege  of  tilling  it;  or,  in  other  words, 
they  iire  themselves  saddled  with  a  third  poll-tax,  as  cultivators  »)f  the 
soil,  while  their  possessions,  in  proportion  to  extent,  are  assessed  to  a 
land-tax  of  apparently  exorbitant  amount.  The  poll-tax  in  question  is 
|)recisely  another  fourth  part  of  their  whole  time,  being  three  days  in 
the  month  for  the  immediate  proprietor,  whether  the  king  or  a  chief, 
and  three  days  in  the  month  for  His  Majesty,  as  lord  paramount;  and 
this  fourth  part,  though  such  is  not  the  case  with  the  other,  may  be 
commuted  at  the  tenant's  option  into  the  sum  of  nine  dollars.  This 
poll-tax,  therefore,  cannot,  as  a  whole,  be  reckoned  at  less  than  two 
Imndred  thousand  dollars,  while  the  king's  share  of  the  same,  even 
supposing  him  not  to  be  an  immediate  proprietor  at  all,  is  exactly  one 
half  of  the  amount.  The  land-tax  again  is  payable  in  hogs  of  diflerent 
lengths.     If  the  patch  be  large, — the  largest  not  being  bigger  than  an 


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SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


ordinary  pardon, — the  animal  must  moasure  a  fathom  ;  if  it  be  small, 
he  is  let  off  for  a  yard  ;  and,  if  it  he  neither  small  nor  lar^;e,  he  must 
hit  the  golden  mean  of  three  cubits.  IJut  as  the  lenj^th  alone  of  a  hog, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  brute's  trick  of  stretching  himself  to  serve  his 
friend,  is  as  vague  a  criterion  of  merit  as  the  length  alone  of  a  sermon : 
weight  has  been  practically  substituted  for  measurement  at  the  rate  of 
a  thousand  pounds  to  three  fathoms ;  and  then,  again,  to  provide  for 
the  possibility  of  there  being  no  hog  fat  enough  on  the  premises,  the 
pork  is  valued  at  three  cents  a  pound,  so  as  to  make  ten,  five  and  seven 
and  a  half  dollars  the  respective  equivalents  of  the  three  lengths  or 
weights  of  grunter.  Taking  the  cultivators,  in  round  numbers,  at 
twenty  thousand,  and  supposing  one  and  all  of  them  to  deal  only  in 
small  patches  and  yard  hogs,  the  treasury  must  receive  either  about 
twelve  miles  of  pork,  or  precisely  a  lac  of  dollars,  or  something  between 
the  two. 

Of  that  portion  of  the  royal  revenue,  or  at  least  of  the  king's  income, 
which  arises  from  his  majesty's  lands,  I  am  unable  to  ascertain,  or 
even  to  guess  the  amount.  The  lands  in  question  appear  to  be  partly 
private  property,  and  partly  public  domain,  though  the  distinction,  I 
dare  say  is,  in  practice,  almost  entirely  nominal.  In  the  public  do- 
main, comprising  all  the  lands  that  do  not  belong  to  individual  owners, 
the  king  possesses  a  source  of  revenue,  which  is  susceptible  ol  indefi- 
nite improvement  and  extension.  Already  he  derives  an  income  from 
the  progeny  of  the  cattle  left  by  Vancouver,  which,  besides  i)eing 
originally  the  property  of  Kamehameha,  haye  long  since  been  driven 
to  the  mountains  on  account  of  their  wildncss  and  ferocity;  and  as 
their  numbers  are  constantly  increasing,  while  the  demand  for  them 
promises  to  increase  in  the  same  proportion,  they  will  ultimately  yield 
a  very  profitable  return  for  the  wilderness  which  they  occupy.  But  it 
is  by  encouraging  the  immigration  of  foreign  settlers,  that  Ilis  Majesty 
must  turn  the  best  parts  of  his  public  domain  to  advantageous  account ; 
and  all  that  is  required  by  way  of  such  encouragement,  is  a  liberal  and 
judicious  system  of  leasing  the  soil  for  the  purposes  of  extensive  culti- 
vation. But,  unfortunately,  such  a  system  was  long  unpalatable  alike 
to  church  and  state.  The  chiefs  looked  with  jealousy  on  the  whites, 
as  being  likely  at  no  distant  day  to  supplant  themselves;  and  the  mis- 
sionaries, besides  being  secular  enough  in  their  aspirations  to  cherisii 
the  supremacy  of  tlie  chiefs  as  an  indispensable  aid  in  the  work  ol 
converting  the  natives,  regarded  white  laymen  in  general,  and  with 
some  reason,  too,  founded  on  t^xperienire,  as  scoOers  of  much  of  that 
which  they  themselves  deem  morality  and  religion. 

To  return  to  the  subject,  we  have  seen  that  the  written  laws,  in- 
tend(!d  as  they  are,  to  mitigate  the  indefinite  exactions  of  former  times, 
deprived  the  native,  to  speak  generally,  of  one-half  of  his  time,  and  of 
at  least  six  dollars  a  year  in  money,  or  in  money's  worth ;  that  they 
tax  his  existence;  that  they  tax  his  labor;  that  they  tax  his  property. 
But,  as  if  all  this  was  less  than  enough,  the  laws  in  question  have 
taxed  some  of  his  actions,  which  are  just  as  natural  to  him,  and  as  in- 
nocent in  his  estimation  as  eating  and  sleeping.     Any  breach  of  tlic 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


23 


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missionary's  Sabbath, — a  thing  wliich  is  oprtainly  not  to  l)e  found  at  all 
in  ihe  untutored  conscionee,  and  is,  perhaps,  as  liitlo  to  be  found  in  the 
New  Testament  as  transubstantiatioii  itself,  or  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope, — costs  a  dollar;  and  fornication,  as  such,  is  estimated  at  ten 
dollars  a  side,  while  the  party  who  may  have  popped  the  question,  has 
the  screw  put  on  him  for  ten  dollars  more, — a  siinrle  act,  against  which 
the  great  mass  of  the  natives  know  no  other  reason  whatever,  being 
thus  made  to  bear  a  burden  equivalent  to  the  land-tax  of  three  large 
farms,  to  the  value,  in  short,  of  three  whole  hogs  of  the  first  magnitude. 
The  conduct  of  the  king  and  chiefs  in  this  matter,  ought  not  much  to 
surprise  us,  inasmuch  as,  under  the  old  system  of  taboo,  they  used  to 
impose  all  sorts  of  arbitrary  and  absurd  prohibitions  for  the  compara- 
tively unprofitable  pleasure  of  sacrificing  the  olfenders  to  tiie  gods. 
But  the  missionaries  ought  to  have  known  better.  They  must  have 
felt  that  the  compulsory  observance  of  the  fourth  and  seventh  com- 
mandments, more  particularly  where  the  comjiulsion  has  to  operate  as 
well  on  the  understanding  as  on  the  will,  forms  no  j)art  of  Protestant 
Christianity ;  and  they  must  have  foreseen,  that  even  if  viewed  with 
reference  not  to  religion  but  to  morality,  such  ct)mpulsory  observance 
is  sure  to  degenerate  into  time-serving  and  eye-pleasing  hypocrisy. 
But  to  resume  the  tiscal  view  of  the  sui)jeci,  this  taxation  of  sins  has 
tins  bad  ell'ect,  that,  in  more  ways  than  one,  it  l)riugs  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  into  merited  suspicion.  As  detection  is  a  mere  accident, 
where  concealment  is  so  easy,  the  punishment  of  offences,  which  no- 
body hesitates  to  commit  for  their  own  sake,  liardly  establislies  any 
greater  certainty  of  guilt  than  impurity  itself;  and  as  the  treasury  shares 
the  proceeds  with  the  informer,  in  the  proportion  of  seventy-five  and 
twenty-live  per  cent.,  prosecutors  and  judges  are  strongly  suspected  of 
a  predisposition  to  make  the  i.iost  of  a  case  without  any  very  scrupu- 
lous regard  to  law  or  justice,  or  common  sense.  In  illustration  of  this 
determination  to  get  money  by  some  means  or  other,  many  anecdotes 
have  found  a  place  in  my  journal,  which,  however  incredible  in  their 
details,  serve  to  show  what  is  in  itself  a  great  evil,  the  general  want  of 
(•onlidence  in  the  working  of  this  lucrative  jurisprudence.  A  cobbler 
and  his  wife  quarreled  with  a  tailor  and  his  wife;  from  looks  they 
came  to  words,  and  from  words  to  blows,  an<l  then,  what  proved  to  be 
the  worst  part  of  the  business  for  them  all,  they  came  to  the  governor 
to  try  the  grand  cause  of  tailor  versus  cobbler.  'J'he  plaintiff  having 
failed  to  make  out  his  charge  against  the  defendant,  his  excellency, 
after  stating,  that  if  the  tailor  had  established  his  case,  the  cobbler 
would  have  had  to  pay  sixty  dollars,  consoled  himself  for  the  disap- 
pointment by  fining  all  the  parties,  saving  and  excepting  the  plaintiff's 
wife,  twenty  dollars  each.  Again,  a  foreign  resident  had  a  nocturnal 
round  at  fisticuffs  with  a  kanaka,  who  was  too  tipsy  to  be  satisfied 
with  his  own  share  of  the  road.  Two  days  afterwards,  all  the  parlies 
were  summoned  before  the  authorities,  who,  after  a  patient  and  tho- 
rough investigation  of  merits  and  demerits,  fined  the  coml)atants  six 
dollars  each  for  the  respective  assaults,  levying  also  on  the  kanaka  two 
other  similar  sums,  for  being  drunk  and  for  disturbing  the  neighbor- 


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24 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


hood;  whilp,  «till  fiirtlirr  to  liclp  the  ffood  caiiso,  they  oxactnd  trn  dol- 
lars frotii  each  of  lh<'  lour  witnnssi;}*,  v<'ry  justly  observiuji;,  that  if  they 
had  hr(!ii  (juiet  and  (hitil'ul  .suhjcclH,  they  would  not  have  been  in  the 
streets  at  midni(Tht.  'I'o  cromdude,  the  annual  proceeds  of  this  branch 
of  the  royal  revenue  arc  estimated  at  5,(100  dollars,  for  Woahoo  alone, 
the  most  productive,  however,  of  the  islands  in  this  respect,  inasmuch 
as  it  (*ontains  a  lar(rer  proportion  of  whites,  who  are  liable  to  this 
"poll-tax"  in  common  with  the  aboripines. 

In  addition  to  all  thes(;  taxes,  which  fall  almost  exclusively  on  na- 
tives, there  are  still  others,  which,  generally  speaking,  fall,  at  least 
primarily,  on  foreigners. 

•  Certain  occupations  cannot  be  pursued  without  a  license,  which,  of 
course,  costs  money.  A  store,  which  sells  only  by  wholesale  or  by 
retail,  pays  twenty-five  dollars,  while,  if  it  sell  in  both  ways,  it  must 
pay  fifty;  a  victualling  house  is  charged  the  same  as  » retail  or  whole- 
sale store,  while  a  house  of  entertainment  is  rated  at  forty  dollars. 
Neither  the  house  of  entertainment  nor  the  victualling  house  is  per- 
mitted to  deal  in  spirits — a  point  of  policy,  by  the  by,  in  which  the 
Hawaiians  have  been  rather  too  much  for  the  French.  When  Captain 
Tia  Place  came  to  coerce  the  native  government  into  the  toleration  of 
Catholicism,  he  found  that,  through  the  influence  of  the  missionaries, 
wines  and  spirits,  the  staple  productions  of  France,  were  prohibited. 
Partly  to  promote  the  commerce  of  his  country,  and  partly  perhaps  to 
be  revenged  on  the  zealots  to  whom  he  ascribed  the  persecution  of  his 
religion,  the  oflicer  in  question  successfully  negotiated,  at  the  cannon's 
mouth,  for  the  admission  of  French  wines  and  brandies  at  a  duty  not 
exceeding  five  per  cent.;  but,  as  he  neglected  to  provide  for  consump- 
tion as  well  as  for  importation,  as  he  certainly  would  have  done  in  the 
event  of  his  having  thouglfj^^bf  the  precaution,  he  left,  after  all,  the  bel- 
ter half  of  a  drawn  battle  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

The  harbor  dues  of  Honolulu  must  also  yield  a  consiil^^rable  sum, 
being  six  cents  a  ton  on  every  vessel  that  may  touch  for  refreshments, 
and  sixty  on  every  vessel,  that  may  enter  with  a  cargo.  The  distinc- 
tion, though  in  the  proportion  of  ten  to  one,  is  not  unreasonable  in 
itself;  hut  it  is  said  to  be  an  instrument  of  partiality  and  oppression  in 
the  hands  of  the  harbor  master.  As  a  mere  visitor  is  allowed  to  land 
goods  to  pay  for  his  supplies  without  thereby  becoming  liable  for  the 
heavier  rate,  the  harbor  master  clearly  has  the  power,  if  he  has  the 
inclination,  to  favor  one  by  permitting  him  to  land  too  much,  and  to 
harass  another  by  preventing  him  from  landing  enough ;  and,  being  an 
American,  Reynolds  is  shrewdly  suspected  by  the  British  of  being 
influenced  in  this  matter  by  national  predilections  and  antipathies. 
Either  the  office  should  be  filled  by  a  native,  or  the  dues  should  be 
more  equitably  adjusted  with  reference  to  all  the  possible  variety  of 
circumstances. 

liast,  though  not  least,  comes  the  import  duty.  This  tax,  under  the 
existing  state  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the  group,  cannot  exceed  five 
per  cent,  ad  valorem,  France  having  established  this  rate  with  respect 
to  all  its  merchandize,  in  general,  as  well  as  with  respect  to  its  wines 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


25 


nnil  brandies  in  particular,  arul  liiiijlaiul  and  Ariiorifa  licinji^  rntillrd  to 
the  8anie  iiidul^ciioo  w  the  iiio^^t  lavorcd  nations.  In  point  of  tact, 
however,  it  is  otdy  three  per  cent. — a  ral«!  at  whi<'h,  niotU'rate  as  it  is, 
this  branch  of  the  revenue  cannot  be  h'ss  than  8,(MM)  or  H>,()(>0  (h»llar«. 

'i'o  close  this  subdivision  of  the  chapter,  all  these  taxes,  with  the 
exception  of  such  as  art;  levied  on  Ibreiixners,  do  not  directly  yield 
much  cash  to  the  jjoverninent.  Where  the  sum  stated  is  of  the  nature 
(if  a  penalty,  it  is  taken  out,  in  default  of  payment,  in  the  shape  of  im- 
prisonment with  hard  labor;  but  when  it  is  not  of  the  natun;  of  a 
penalty,  it  is  acceptetl  in  all  sorts  of  produce,  such  as  cloth,  cotton, 
arrowroot,  sujrar,  A:c. — the  whole,  howevcT,  lieinjj  easily  convertible 
cither  into  money  or  into  imported  (Munmodities. 

The  kind's  personal  share;,  or  what  may  be  styh^d  the  civil  list,  is 
8aid  to  amount  to  about  .l'U,00(l  sterliiur.  Before;  anything  ^ot  his 
Icnj^th,  many  otltcrs,  doubtless,  helped  themselves  with  unscrupulous 
liberality.  Now,  however,  a  better  system  prevails,  Dr.  .ludd,  of  the 
missionary  body,  having  been  appointed,  since  my  de|)artur(!  and  in 
consequence,  I  may  say,  of  my  sugj^'estions,  treasurer  general  with  suf- 
ficient powers  to  regulate  and  control  the  proceedings  of  all  the  sub- 
ordinate receivers  of  the  public  money. 

OOVERNMENT. 

Previously  to  the  conquests  of  Kamehameha,  the  government  of 
each  island  was  almost  entirely  aristocratic,  the  nominal  monarch  being 
litUe  more  than  the  first  anjong  eeiuals.  Gradually,  how<!ver,  Kame- 
hameha broke  the  power,  and  abridged  the  privileges  of  the  chiefs, 
rendering  them,  moreover,  dependent  on  his  will  for  such  privileges 
and  power  as  he  still  left  them  ;  and,  though,  he  was  too  politic  a  prince 
to  abuse  his  prerogatives,  yet  he  so  efl'ectually  consolidated  his  despot- 
ism, that  his  immediate  successor,  however  inferior  in  personal  cha- 
racter, was  ^ble  to  maintain  the  same  position,  with  respect  to  the  oli- 
garchs, as  the  conqueror  himself  had  occupied.  In  one  particular,  of 
vital  importance,  Liho  Jiiho  extended  the  rights  of  stjpcriority,  which 
he  had  inherited  from  his  father:  I  allude  to  his  having  enacted,  with- 
out any  attempt  at  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  individuals  interested, 
that  the  lands  of  the  chiefs,  instead  of  being  hereditary  as,  to  a  c«;rtaiii 
extent,  they  had  been,  should  revert  to  the  crown,  as  liefs  for  life,  on 
the  death  of  the  respective  proprietors.  During  the  minority  of  the 
present  sovereign,  Liho  Liho's  immediate  successor,  the  chiefs  did 
their  best  to  recover  and  perpetuate  their  rights,  by  repealing  Liho 
Jiiho's  enactment  aforesaid,  and  declaring  their  lands  to  be  exempted, 
unless  in  case  of  treason,  from  everything  like  forfeiture  or  reversion. 
Of  the  condition  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  duriiig  all  these 
changes,  I  have  already  incidentally  said  enough  under  various  heads ; 
and  I  need  not  here  say  anything  more  than  this ;  that  they  had  not  even 
a  notion  of  legal  right,  while  most  of  their  oppressors  had  little  or  no 
sense  of  moral  obligation. 

Recently,  however,  the  political  relations  of  the  three  parties,  king, 
chiefs  and  people,  have  undergone  material  and  important  changes.    A. 


■%m 


!  » 


26 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


'm 


f  A  .'  ■ 


ron8tiluti«»n  has  brrii  prumiilirnted,  by  which  tho  pooplo  are  not  only  ad- 
laittiul  tua  Hharoiii  thi;  work  urh'^iMlatioiiJiiitaho, iiilhis  respect, appear 
to  he  phiced  on  ihe  Haine  h'vel  as  the  inferior  grades  of  the  aristocracy. 
In  a(hlition  to  his  majesty,  who  has  a  negative  on  all  the  proceedin(^8, 
and  to  a  House  of  Nobh's,  which  consists  of  fifteen  nominees  of  the 
crown,  the  Hawaiian  Parliament  possesses  also  its  representative 
body,  which  contains  seven  deputies,  chosen  without  any  (iualificnti(  n 
of  rank  or  fortune  on  their  own  parts,  by  universal  8ufrraa:e.  Whether 
the  deputies  are  subject  to  any  restriction  as  to  sex,  I  cannot  gather 
from  the  terms  of  JMufrnu  Churia  ;  but  among  the  nobles  at  least  there 
are  almost  as  many  ladies  as  gentlemen,  nearly  half  of  the  conclave,  to 
make  the  anomaly  still  more  anomalous,  being  married  couples,  name- 
ly, our  friends  Kealiiahonui,  Paki  and  Kanaiua,  with  their  better  halves. 
From  this  constitution  the  oligarchy,  as  such,  has  clearly  received  its 
death-blow,  more  particularly  as  the  fifteen  grandees,  with  their  twelve 
separate  possibilities  of  issue,  muster  among  them  only  eleven  olive 
branches  to  succeed  them,  of  which  at  least  six,  a  majority  of  the  whole, 
belong  to  the  overshadowing  tree  of  the  Kaniehamehas.  Nor  are  the 
laws,  which  have  flowed  from  the  constitution  in  question,  less  fatal  to 
the  oligarchs  in  their  spirit  of  impartiality  than  the  constitution  itself, — 
a  high  chief  having  l)ecn  hanged,  a  short  time  before  our  arrival,  for 
the  once  venial  crime  of  poisoning  his  wife.  The  radical  reform  in 
question  has  confessedly  been  ellected  by  a  concurrence  of  two  very 
(lifierent  causes,  the  extension  of  foreign  commerce  and  the  progress 
of  native  education.  Trained  under  the  exclusive  control  of  Protestant 
republicans,  the  young  men  and  women  of  all  classes  could  not  fail  to 
lose  their  hereditary  reverence  for  arbitrary  distinctions,  which  were 
as  incompatible  with  the  light  of  the  Gos,pel  as  they  were  repugnant  to 
the  spirit  of  freedom ;  while  the  chiefs  were  constrained  to  cherish  the 
very  system,  that  was  thus  undermining  their  caste,  by  a  conviction 
that  nothing  but  the  enlightening  and  elevating  of  the  people  could  pre- 
vent themselves  from  being  overwhelmed  by  the  gradually  swelUng 
tide  of  the  foreign  population. 

The  descent  of  the  crown  is  worthy  of  a  passing  remark,  as  throw- 
ing light  on  some  of  the  national  peculiarities.  In  consequence  of  the 
general  dissoluteness  of  manners,  the  question  of  paternity  was  always 
more  or  less  problematical ;  and  the  mother  was  the  only  parent,  with 
respect  to  whom  even  the  wisest  child  had  any  certain  knowledge. 
Hence  all  the  great  ones  of  the  group,  and  probably,  in  imitation  of 
them,  the  small  ones  too,  used  to  marry  as  many  of  their  own  sisters 
as  possible,  in  order  to  make  sure  at  least  of  collateral  descendants. 
Thus  Liho  Liho  married  three  of  his  sisters,  while  Kauikeaouli,  the 
reigning  sovereign,  had  a  fourth  sister  as  his  first  wife.  Subsequently 
to  her  death,  his  majesty  could  no  longer  follow  suit,  for  his  only  sur- 
viving sisters,  two  of  Liho  Liho's  dowagers,  had,  besides  being  too 
mature  in  years  for  his  fancy,  respectively  espoused  our  friends  Keku- 
anaoa  and  Kanaina.  On  the  part  of  the  king,  therefore,  the  chances 
of  genuine  ofl'spring  were  considerably  diminished;  and  as  both  the 
princesses  had  issue  of  undoubted  authenticity,  the  hopes  of  the  nation 


SANDVVICir  ISLANDS. 


27 


wfifP  turnod  towards  thn  children  of  Kiuaii,  as  tlio  ritrlilfiil  wiircpRsors 
of  all  the  Kaiupliuinohas.  A(  coniiiiirly,  K«'kiiaiia(»a's  third  son  wan 
t'ormally  recojrnizcd  as  heir  prrsiimplivc  of  tlic  llirono,  whilo  his  (irst 
and  second  sons  were  detinitively  appointed  as  the  fntnre  governors 
respectively  of  Kaui  and  Mowee.  Kanikeaouli,  however,  hroneht  all 
this  arrantfcnient  into  jeopardy  by  takinsr  to  liiniself  a  second  consort 
in  the  person  of  a  daughter  of  ('a|)tain  Jack,  the  ailmiral  of  the  trroiip; 
but,  as  Captain  .Tack  was  a  chief  only  of  the  third  Lnade,  her  inferiority 
of  rank,  for  the  (iernian  doctrine  of  eipial  niarriaircs  was  indijjenous 
amonjj  the  Hawaiians,  <'oncurred  with  the  possibilities  of  a  matrimo- 
nial mistake  in  strentrtheniiiff  the  interest  of  the  female  line.  Still,  in 
the  al)8encc  of  positive  law  to  the  contrary,  Kaluma's  projreny  oui;ht  to 
inherit  the  kingdom ;  but  nnl'orlunately  both  her  yonnji  ones  have,  by 
sudden  and  premature  deadis,  left  a  clear  Held  for  tlu;  pure  blootl  of 
the  Kekuanaoas. 

Hut  the  rnles  of  succession  are  probably  destined  to  be  of  little  im- 
portance. Thonj^h  Kauikeaonli,  now  that  his  strict  temperance  trives 
full  play  to  his  naturally  excellent  sense,  may  hold  the  sceptre  of  Kame- 
hameha  to  the  end  of  his  days,  yet  his  successors  are  not  likely  loni;  to 
retain  in  their  hands  the  actual  powers  of  trovernment.  To  say  nothing 
at  present  of  foreign  states,  the  whites  and  the  half  breeds — two  classes 
which  are  each  becoming  more  numerous  and  powerful  every  day — 
will  not  ahvays  submit  to  native  rulers.  On  the  ground  that  the  general 
laws,  which  may  suit  the  native  population,  are  not  adapted  to  their 
own  condition,  they  will  demand,  as  they  have,  in  etfect,  already  de- 
manded, particular  laws  lor  themselves  with  a  voice  in  making  the  same. 
When  they  have  got  an  inch,  they  will  take  an  ell,  till  at  last  th<!y  will 
become  the  legislators  of  the  archipclaijo,  and  that,  in  all  probability, 
through  the  letter  of  the  very  constitution,  which  has  been  framed,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  to  neutralize  and  check  their  inlluence.  Under  that 
instrument,  nearly  all  authority  is  vested,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
in  the  king;  and  he  is  the  very  individual  in  the  group  who  has  the 
greatest  interest  in  keeping  the  foreigners  in  good  humor,  as  being  those 
from  whom  he  derives  the  most  productive  portions  of  his  revenue. 
His  majesty  might  thus  be  induced  to  carry  into  ellect  the  measu"-  s  of 
the  whites  and  half-breeds,  till  finally  he  should  become  a  puj.;  i*  in 
their  hands,  a  kind  of  Great  Mogul  in  miniature.  He  might  even  .  rm 
them  with  the  means  of  carrying  t/ioir  measures  for  themselves.  He 
might  call  some  of  them  into  his  council  of  patricians,  as  he  has,  in 
fact,  already  called  one  half-breed,  son  and  namesake  of  .John  Young, 
whom  his  father  before  him  elevated  to  be  a  high  chief;  or  he  might 
serve  their  purpose  with  still  greater  ease  and  certainty,  by  appointing 
one  of  them  to  the  standing  office  of  premier  or  co-regent  of  the  king- 
dom. Without  affecting  to  put  forth  these  details  as  predictions,  some 
such  general  result  must  soon  be  realized — always,  of  course,  in  default 
of  the  previous  intervention  of  some  one  or  other  of  the  maritime 
powers. 

The   chances   of  such   intervention  are  now  less  than  they  have 
hitherto  been.     The  Russians  are  said  to  have  once  had  an  eye  on  the 


■ ..;  %\ 

'J"-    SB 


'I  ' 


'  in 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


Siiiidwirh  iHliindfl,  hiivini;  cxliihitcd  soinn  Hinistrr  movprnrtitH  in  Kaiiiii, 
and  liiiviiiK  pnnKiHi'd  to  Ic-ihc  the  iipliinds  ol"  Mowpp  for  the  ifrowinu  ol' 
wlu-at ;  l)iit,  hcHitlcs  that,  tlioy  have  never  interfered  in  a  national  capa- 
city; they  ar((  now  so  little  suspected  in  the  matter,  that  they  have  not 
even  be(!n  HMjnested,  as  I'^nijland,  France,  and  America  have  been,  to 
recoiftiize  the  independence  of  the  {jroup.  Aifain,  the  three  powers 
last  mentioned,  hy  acknowledirinir  the  entire  and  absolute  sovereignty 
of  the  Hawaiian  (Jctvennnent,  have  not  only  disclaimed  for  ihcmselves. 
but  have  virtually  tak(>n  upon  them  to  disclaim  for  all  other  states,  all 
rijiht  and  intention  of  appropriatinir  the  jrroup,  as  if  unoccupied  terri- 
tory, under  tho  public  law  of  the  civilized  world.  In  fact,  under  the 
guarantee  of  America,  France,  and  Fnyland,  the  Sandwich  Islands  are 
secured  ns  clfei'tually  as  any  other  commimity  ajjainst  foreign  interfer- 
ence, exceptinjr  that,  from  their  position  and  llu!  inexperience  of  their 
rulers,  they  are  pectdiarly  liable  to  come  into  collision  with  the  very 
powers  that  have  ijuaranteed  their  independence.  Their  position  alone 
with  res[)ect  to  tlie  trading  interests  of  I^ngland  and  America,  will  ren- 
der neutrality  extremely  diUlcult,  if  not  altoirether  impossible,  in  the 
melancholy  event  of  a  war  between  those  kindred  states,  while  any 
infrinjfemenl  of  the  law  of  nations  in  this  respect  will  be  sure  to  lead  io 
the  occupation  of  the  group  on  the  part  of  England,  either  as  the 
avenger  of  her  own  wrongs,  or  as  a  protector  against  the  vengeance  of 
America.  Hut,  unlike  this  occasional  danger,  the  inexpericnrfe  of  their 
rulers  is  a  nx^k  on  which  they  may  be  dashed  at  any  time  with  fatal 
eflect;  and,  within  these  few  short  years,  the  cause  in  question  has 
placed  the  native  government  at  the  mercy  both  of  France  and  of  Eng- 
land. 

Hut,  so  far  as  this  latter  evil  is  concerned,  territorial  seizure,  at  least 
till  all  other  means  of  redress  have  failed,  appears  to  be  prohibited  by 
the  spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  the  guarantee  of  independence.  The 
three  powers  gave  up  very  dilferent  claims.  France  surrendered  no- 
thing but  her  thirst  for  all  kinds  and  degrees  of  glory ;  America  had 
acquired  something  like  an  equitable  title  by  her  instrumentality  in 
bringing  the  archipelago  within  the  pale  of  civilization  and  Christianity; 
and  England,  to  say  nothing  of  an  unvarying  course  of  kindness  and 
generosity,  enjoyed  all  the  legal  rights,  that  could  be  based  on  a  com- 
plete discovery,  and  on  repeated  cessions.  The  sacrifices  having  been 
so  unequal,  a  territorial  seizure,  which  could  at  all  be  avoided,  would 
be  a  fraud  on  England  and  America,  if  perpetrated  by  France,  while, 
if  perpetrated  by  America,  it  would  be  a  fraud  on  England. 

Even  if  France  should  ellect  a  justifiable  seizure,  a  seizure  rendered 
inevitable  at  the  moment  by  the  obstinacy  or  poverty  of  the  native 
authorities,  America  and  England  would  be  entitled  to  make  her  relin- 
quish her  prey,  on  giving  security  for  adequate  satisfaction.  To  hand 
over  the  Hawaiian  Archipelago  to  a  people  of  a  diflerent  spirit  and  a 
different  tongue,  would  in  them  be  treason  against  their  kindred  races, 
that  have  redeemed  the  islands  from  barbarism  by  the  arts  of  peace, 
treason  against  their  common  language,  that  is  training  the  natives  to  a 
bloodless  fraternization,  treason  against  the  great  causes  of  human  im- 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


99 


provomPiit,  uhirh  is  ovprywhrrr  to  find  in  llinf  common  Innffiiaifr  l\u> 
clearest  li);lit,  ami  in  tlioHc  kiiidri'il  riiccH  the  best  inxtructorM.  Hut  (tf 
Hiicli  ru-u|H>ration  tlir  incidental  rtl'iM't  wonld  he  infinili-ly  more  valu« 
ttblc  than  tliu  men;  (Iclivcrancc  of  a  few  |*olvncsian  IsIcn  from  tiin 
(•hitches  of  an  nnscrii}nd()ns  oppressor.  It  woidd  recoirni/t*  the  fact, 
that  (Jreal  IJritain  and  the  Tnilcd  Slates  arc  still  linked  toijether  hy 
every  possihio  tie,  excepting  oidy  the  hond  of  a  common  >:overn- 
iiicnt,  while  it  would,  at  least  on  nentral  jjround.  mertr*'  the  |)olitical 
asperities  of  this  sinule  distinction  in  the  consciousness,  that,  on  the 
map  of  the  worhl  whiidi  Providrnc«r  is  visihiy  sketchinir,  the  American 
Ihiion  aixl  the  British  Dominions,  arc  only  incomplete  parts  of  that 
Knijlish  Empire,  which,  already  the  irreatest  on  earth,  is  idtimately  to 
embrace  half  the  jflolx'. 

As  I  was  myself  a  party  to  the  nej^otiation,  which  resulted  in  Kng- 
hnd's  recojrnition  of  the  independence  of  the  i^roup,  1  mi>rhl  appear  to 
liuve  a  personal  interest  in  defendinjj  the  poliey  of  that  measure,  had 
not  FiOrd  I'almerston's  previous  disclaimer  of  Hritisli  sovereif,'nty  left 
little  hut  a  matter  of  form  to  he  settled  hetwe<'n  liOrd  Aherdeen  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  Hawaiian  Ilnvoys  and  myself  on  the  otiier.  IJnt, 
even  hefore  liOrd  Falmerston  o/rered  the  disclaimer  in  (|uestion,  what 
was  the  actual  position  of  our  country  with  respect  to  the  native  autho- 
rities, as  dislinjjuished  from  the  rival  powers  of  the  civilized  world  ? 
Thoujih  against  the  latter  the  claim  of  England  was  conclusive  and 
complete,  yet  in  regard  to  the  former  it  amounted  to  nothing  more  than 
the  barren  right  of  feudal  superiority,  ('onsidering  that,  in  the  days 
of  Cook,  the  Sandwi«'h  Islands  were  just  about  as  popidous,  in  pro- 
portion to  extent,  as  Wales  or  Scotland,  they  could  not,  on  any  prin- 
ciples of  law  or  of  reason,  have  been  appropriated,  as  unoccupied 
territory,  for  the  puri)Oses  of  colonization,  more  particularly  as  the 
ahorigines  lived,  at  least  as  exclusively  as  either  the  Scotch  or  the  Welsh, 
on  what  they  extracted  from  the  soil  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows.  But 
the  rights  of  discovery,  whatever  they  were,  were  clearly  abandoned 
with  respect  to  the  natives  by  Vancouver's  acceptance  of  Kamehame- 
lia's  cession  of  the  sovereignty  of  Hawaii, — an  acceptance  which  the 
IJritish  Government  of  the  day  never  disavowed  ;  while  the  new  title, 
for  which  the  old  one  was  thus  bartered,  was  itself  inconsistent,  as  was 
also  its  subsequent  confirmation  on  the  part  of  Liho  Liho,  with  any- 
thing like  direct  interference  in  the  internal  polity  of  the  group.  If 
England  had  taken  the  oilers  of  the  conqueror  and  his  son  according 
to  their  well  understood  significations,  she  would  have  assumed  only 
the  protectorate  of  the  archipelago, — an  olFice  which,  at  least  according 
to  French  experience,  and  perhaps  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  would 
have  embroiled  her,  to  say  nothing  of  the  jealousy  of  foreign  rivals, 
with  the  very  savages  whom  she  professed  to  protect.  If  she  had  ac- 
tually established  the  indirect  dominion  in  question,  she  would,  in  all 
probability,  have  soon  been  justified  by  some  violation  or  other  of  her 
rights  in  grasping  the  immediate  sovereignty  ;  but  as  she  had  not  chosen 
to  establish  anything  of  the  kind,  she  stood  on  the  same  footing  as 
France,  or  America,  or  Holland,  or  Denmark,  with  respect  to  the  na- 


t  ;  ;;:- 


.   ■  s%i 
,1/(1 

Is 


30 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


i^ 


livpfl  ill  any  attempt  at  aiiiirxiiii;  the  i(«]an(lH  to  lirr  colonial  cmpirr. 
Niicli  atiiM'xalion,  iiiiIi'mh  ii  r«  ^tcd  on  tlic  |il:iiii('Ht  juNlice  and  the  Htroni;- 
CHt  neeeNMily,  conhl  not,  on  the  whohs  he  advantatjeouH  to  the  uiistreHH 
of  su  many  widely  Healtered  (h[)en(h-neieH,  iichl,  lor  the  nioRt  part,  in 
chtsip  and  wiUin^^  Huhjcetion  hy  their  laith  in  her  moth-ration  and  inti'L'- 
rity.  It  miuht,  indeed,  promote  the  welfare  of  the  ^reat  maHM  of  the 
people,  whde  cveti  to  the  dominant  easte  it  eonld  he  rendered  palatal)le 
by  a  comparatively  trillimr  atnonnt  of  unnnilien,  which,  in  most  caHPf*, 
woidd  ht;  limited  hy  nature  herscir  to  the  livcH  of  the  timt  recipients. 
It  in  only  on  thiii  diHintercHted  (froiind,  and  in  this  honorahle  w  ly,  thai 
England  can  ever  think  of  poHHCNsin)r  tht;  Hawaiian  Archipcl!>^ro,  how- 
ever ter.iptini;  may  he  its  a^ricidtnral,  or  commercial,  or  political  attnic- 
tions. 

Knj^laml,  however,  has  duties  to  discharfro  towards  her  children, 
who  have  settled,  or  may  luirenfier  seiile,  in  the  j(n)up,  over  and  ahovc 
the  ohviouH  ohli^ation  of  watchiiifr  over  tin;  interests  of  her  shipping. 
Her  cheapest  and  least  otlensive,  and  perhaps  also  her  most  ctricient 
mode  of  doini;  all,  that  she  ou^ht  to  do  in  the  premises,  is  to  he  par- 
ticularly careful  ami  cautious  in  the  s(dection  of  her  resident  repre- 
sentative. The  Hrilish  consul,  if  he  he  unexceptional)le  in  manner 
and  temper,  in  jud^Mnent  and  knowle(l|ro,  if,  in  a  word,  he  know  how 
to  unite  the  jfcnlle  in  toiu;  with  the  lirm  in  action,  cannot  fail  to  he  iu 
himself  a  host  aji^ainst  all  the  caprices  and  intrigues  that  are  likely  to 
challenj^e  his  interposition.  Such  a  man,  simply  hy  doin^  nothinjf  to 
lower  the  diirniiy  of  his  country,  would,  in  general,  he  treated,  as  if  he 
had  her  resistless  power  at  his  hack  ;  while,  in  order  to  keep  up  the 
national  prtHll^e,  the  visits  of  ships  of  war,  hitherto  "  few  and  far 
between,"  njijifht  easily  he  so  retrulated  as  always  to  hang  over  the 
heads  of  all  whom  it  might  concern, — surely  as  patriotic,  if  not  as 
prolitahlc,  an  occupation  for  her  majesty's  squadron  as  the  frcightini: 
of  silver  from  !San  lUas  or  Callao.  The  functions  of  the  British  con- 
sul, which  have  not  always  been  judiciously  discharged  by  iNlr. 
Charlton,  are  the  more  dillicult  and  delicate,  inasmuch  as  tho  native 
authorities,  as  already  shown  to  exif<t  under  the  written  constitution, 
are  known  to  be  a  good  deal  under  the  irresponsible  influence  of 
American  advisers.  Soon  after  their  arrival  from  Boston,  the  mis- 
sionaries notoriously  became,  as  far  at  least  as  new  legislation  was 
concerned,  the  real  rulers  of  the  group.  For  many  years,  they 
attempted,  hopelessly  enough,  to  shroud  their  political  supremacy 
under  a  very  transparent  veil  of  special  pleading,  partly  because  most 
of  their  innovations  were  oflensive  to  nearly  all  the  foreign  residents, 
and  partly  because  their  whole  proceedings  not  only  set  at  defiance 
their  special  instructions  against  meddling  with  aftairs  of  state,  but 
also  evaded  the  fundamental  rule  of  their  craft,  that  Christianity  ought, 
in  order  of  lime,  to  take  precedence  of  civilization.  At  length,  how- 
ever, the  Rev.  Mr.  Richards  happily  modified  this  system  of  indirect 
domination  by  resigning  his  position  as  a  missionary,  and  standing 
forth  as  the  avowed  counselor  of  the  Hawaiian  government.  The 
example  of  Mr.  Richards  was  imitated,  immediately  after  my  depar- 


% 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


31 


turp,  by  Dr.  .Imltl,  who  undrrtook  ilir  oOicrM  of  tmiHiin'r  and  rr- 
cor(l«!r,— the  lattrr  dopartinciit  haviiii;  hern  »uhsr(|iirntly  rrf»ijrruMl  in 
lavor  (»!'  an  AirnTiran  lawyer  of  ihc  nann*  of  Uiconl.  Of  the  npriijhl 
iiiKMitions  and  disinirrcHtrd  niotivrs  of  Dr.  .Iiidd  and  Mr.  Uichards,  I 
am  aide,  from  ni\  own  |)«'rHonal  knowhilm',  to  sprak  in  hi|;h  trrmn. 
Still  tfu;  fiH't,  that  all  the  three  an;  Americans,  ninst  exeite  the  jealonHy 
and  H»iHpieio?i  o['  Hritish  Muhjecls  in  i:eiu'ral,  and  mn.st  ext-reiM'  all  the 
prudence  and  <'aution  of  the  Hritish  eonfiiil  in  particular. 

.Mr.  Kicord'H  ollice,  I  apprehend,  is  likely  to  he  a  peculiarly  fertile 
flourco  of  niiNunderHtandini''.  Under  the  native  code,  all  eaUNes 
between  loreijrucrH  were  tried  hy  foreiirners,  who  nrcexsarily  acted  in 
the  doid)le  capacity  of  judges  and  jurors,  makinj;  their  «)wn  law,  in 
each  case,  for  the  facts  accordini;  to  their  own  notions  of  ri^ht  and 
wrontf.  Things  went  on  pretty  well,  exceptinji  that,  when  the  parties 
were  of  dilfereiit  nations,  each  was  ready  to  imputt;  to  the  other's 
countrymen  a  disposition  to  evince  their  patriotism  at  his  ex|>ense; 
but  now  that  Mr.  Kicord,  as  president  of  the  cotirt,  will  have  all  the 
law  to  himself,  he  will,  of  course,  be  suspected,  however  innocent  he 
may  be,  of  ihrowiuff  his  weipht,  as  often  as  only  one  party  is  nn  Ame- 
rican, into  the  scale  of  his  compatriot.  The  extent  and  intensity  of 
this  cause  of  discord  will  he  better  appreciated  by  the  reader,  when  1 
come  to  speak  of  the  social  and  mercantile  factions  of  Honolulu. 

RELIGION. 

The  ancient  superstition  was  as  unmeanint;  as  it  was  blood-thirsty. 
Whatever  was  its  origin,  it  had  practically  deifenerated  into  a  mere 
instrument  of  the  oppressive  policy  of  the  privile^e«l  class.  'J'he 
absurd  and  arbitrary  taboos,  wliich  were  venerated  as  the  oracles  of 
the  gods,  had,  in  elFect,  no  other  general  end  in  view  than  that  of 
schooling  the  bodies  and  souls  of  the  people  into  an  unfaltering  course 
of  passive  obedience;  while  their  particular  object,  in  most  cases,  was 
to  entrap  obnoxious  individuals  as  victims  for  the  altar,  by  watching 
their  minutest  violations  or  evasions  of  impractical)le  prohibitions.  In 
all  probability,  however,  the  pretended  organs  of  the  Hawaiian  Mo- 
lochs,  at  least  down  to  the  days  of  the  discovery,  were  the  dupes  of 
their  own  imposture. 

But,  subsequently  to  the  discovery,  the  foundations  of  the  sy.«tpm 
were  gradually  shaken.  Whites  were  seen  defying  the  taboos  with 
impunity;  the  natives,  who  went  abroad  and  were  known  to  do  at  Rome 
as  Rome  did,  returned,  notwithstanding  their  impiety,  rigged  out  in 
such  a  style  as  to  have  passed,  in  unsophisticated  times,  for  divinities 
themselves;  and  many  of  all  grades,  even  while  they  remained  at 
home,  began  to  find  out,  that,  so  long  as  the  priests  could  be  kept  out 
of  the  secret,  the  gods  took  no  interest  whatever  in  what  they  said  or 
in  what  they  did.  Under  these  circumstances,  idolatry  had  no  longer 
anything  but  custom  to  support  it;  but  then  this  single  prop  rested  on 
the  shoulders  of  an  Atlas.  Kamehameha  resolved  to  die  in  the  faith 
in  which  he  had  lived,  disdaining  to  desert  in  his  old  age  the  mythology 
that  had  crowned  his  youth  with  victory.     For  this  feeling,  whether  it 


^.  kyS 


*  I 


f  P\ 

m 


I 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


wns  pratitudc  or  prudence,  he  was  doubtless  peculiarly  indebted  to  a 
reniaikablc  incident,  which  he  could  not  Tail  to  consider  as  a  conclu- 
sive proof  of  divine  protection.  While  he  was  still  strugj^ling  for  the 
mastery  of  Hawaii,  the  enemy  were  advancing  against  him  through 
the  fiery  domain  of  l*elc,  whom  more  enlightened  tribes  might  havf 
been  excused  for  worshiping ;  when,  amid  the  shocks  of  an  earthquake 
and  the  eruptions  of  the  volcano,  one  whole  division,  mustering  about 
four  hundred  souls,  died  in  marching  order,  having  been  instantaneously 
suil'ocated  by  a  current  of  vapor  which  left  the  other  divisions  unscathed. 
This  catastrophe  was,  of  course,  followed  by  a  defeat  in  the  field ;  and 
Pele  became,  in  the  opinion  alike  of  friends  and  foes,  the  tutelary  god- 
dess of  Kamehameha. 

But  the  old  conqueror  and  his  idols  perished  together.  In  the  very 
beginning  of  his  reign,  namely,  in  the  year  1819,  Liho  Liho,  with  the 
sanction  of  the  priesthood  and  to  the  great  joy  of  the  laity,  abolished 
the  faith  of  his  ancestors  in  the  manner  already  mentioned  under  a 
former  head,  king  and  people  leaping  in  a  day  from  the  most  abject 
superstition  into  a  kind  of  passive  atheism.  In  abjuring  their  own 
idolatry  as  false  and  useless,  the  Hawaiians  neither  adopted  nor  re- 
jected any  other  worship  as  a  substitute.  In  the  widest  possible  sense 
of  the  words, — a  sense  beyond  that  of  the  revolutionists  of  France, — 
they  attempted  to  live  without  a  religion. 

Thus  were  these  solitary  isles,  to  compare  small  things  with  great, 
swept  and  garnished  for  the  reception  of  Christianity  pretty  nearly  as 
the  kingdoms  of  antiquity  had  been  eighteen  centuries  before.  In  pro- 
found peace  they  obeyed  one  and  the  same  master,  while  they  had 
weighed  their  hereditary  superstition  in  the  balance  and  found  it 
wanting. 

No  war  or  bfittle's  sound 

Wiis  heard  the  world  around, 

•  •  •  • 

The  oracles  are  dumb. 

•  •  •  • 

And  sullen  Moloch  fled 

Hath  left  in  shadows  dread 

His  burninfi  idul  all  of  blackest  hue. 

Meanwhile,  even  before  Liho  Liho  had  actually  disowned  the  gods  of 
his  fathers,  the  teachers  of  a  better  faith  were  wending  their  way  to- 
wards the  Sandwich  Islands,  expecting,  of  course,  to  fight  the  same 
battle  with  prejudice  and  jealousy  as  their  brethren  had  fought  in  Tahiti 
for  nearly  twenty  years.  On  their  arrival,  however,  they  found,  that, 
under  Providence,  the  mere  contact  of  an  imperfect  civilization  had 
already  decided  the  preliminary  contest  in  their  favor,  while  it  had 
undoubtedly  also  facilitated  the  remainder  of  their  task  by  leading  the 
aborigines,  according  to  the  general  principles  of  human  nature,  to 
consider  Christianity  as  an  element  in  the  envied  superiority  of  the 
strangers.  As  a  curious  contrast  with  all  this,  the  missionaries  had 
brought  with  them  from  Boston  positive  orders  never  to  countenance 
the  maxim,  that  civilization  ought  to  precede  Christianity.     But  the 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


33 


force  of  circunistanros  was  more  than  a  match  for  tlicorics.  Hosiilos 
ijladly  availiiifT  themselves  of  all  that  the  maxim  in  question  had  already 
done  for  them,  the  missionaries  were  themselves  constrained  to  adopt 
it  as  the  principle  of  their  own  practice.  It  was  not  Christianity  but 
civilization  to  make  uninstructed  women  wear  soinethinj(  more  seemly 
than  the  acdniy  pan ;  it  v*as  not  Christianity  i)ut  civilization  to  make 
unconverted  men  Test  on  the  first  day  of  the  W(!ek ;  it  was,  in  a  word, 
not  Christianity  but  civilization  to  enforce  either  moral  or  relij^ious 
observances  by  motives  that  could  not  possibly  have  any  reference  to 
the  graces  of  faith,  hope  and  charity.  In  fact,  unless  Christianity,  as 
such,  were  to  assume  a  meaning  unknown  to  Protestantism,  the  reverse 
of  the  maxim  in  question  would  involve  the  most  untenabU;  absunlities. 
Supposing,  for  instance,  the  missionaries  to  have  arrived  while  the  indi- 
genous idolatry  was  still  flourishing,  would  they  have  silently  tolerated 
the  immolation  of  human  victims,  till  they  had  successfully  inculcated 
the  love  of  man,  as  springing  from  gratitude  to  God,  till  tliey  had  im- 
bued the  ruling  powers,  to  say  nothing  of  the  five  points  of  Calvinism, 
with  a  practical  belief  in  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Ciospel '. 
The  impracticable  theory  of  the  new  teachers  was  probably  founded 
on  the  notion, — a  notion  not  peculiar  to  the  American  lioard  for  Foreign 
Missions, — that  the  trading  apostles  of  civilization,  as  such,  were  likely 
to  do  more  harm  than  good  to  the  cause  of  Christianity.  Admitting, 
for  the  sake  of  argument,  this  to  be  true  of  the  traders  themselves,  still 
the  trade  might  be  innocent  and  useful;  and,  in  fact,  commerce  might 
safely  be  assumed,  particularly  by  Britons  and  Americans,  to  be  the 
modern  instrument  of  Providence  for  the  moral  and  religious  ameliora- 
tion of  mankind.  But  missionaries  may  bring  their  dogma  to  an  easy 
test.  Let  them  plant  themselves  as  mere  preachers  of  divine  truth, 
where  nobody  else  can  find  secular  motives  for  cither  preceding  or 
following  them,  and  then  candidly  enable  the  world  to  judge  of  the 
tree  by  its  fruits. 

But  the  missionaries,  on  their  arrival,  experience  something  more 
than  negative  eacouragement.  They  were  met,  in  fact,  by  ready-made 
evidence  of  a  disposition  in  high  places  to  regard  the  religion  of  the 
foreigners  with  favor.  Kalaimoku  and  Boki,  decidedly  the  most  in- 
fluential men  in  the  group  after  the  death  of  Kamehameha,  had  accepted 
baptism  at  the  hands  of  the  chaplain  of  a  French  ship  of  war:  and,  as 
the  initiatory  rite  in  question  constituted  their  sole  and  entire  knowledge 
of  Catholicism,  the  example  of  their  docility  was  not  likely  to  be  neu- 
tralized by  any  bigoted  opposition  on  their  parts. 

Under  all  these  favorable  circumstances,  the  missionaries  encountered 
comparatively  few  difficulties,  too  few  perhaps  for  the  genuine  success 
of  pure  and  simple  Christianity.  Having  begun  by  securing  the  support 
of  the  chiefs  in  imitation  rather  of  the  fraternity  that  takes  its  name  from 
Jesus  than  of  Jesus  himself,  they  permitted,  if  they  did  not  encourage,  the 
employment  of  secular  means  for  the  conversion  of  the  people ;  and  this 
system,  according  to  the  acknowledgmentof  the  partisans  of  the  mission, 
produced  an  incredible  amount  of  hypocrisy  among  the  immediate  do- 
pendents  of  the  government,  making,  even  in  this  young  country, 

PART  II. — 3 


■  ^*  II 


■;i ' 


"nr, 


t;' 


34 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


■/,!• 


The  syml)fjls  nf  atoning  prare 
An  oUici'-Ufy,  a  picklcMk  to  a  i)lnce. 

In  spite  of  all  ihe  reasonable  grounds  of  suspicion,  the  credulous 
missionaries  eagerly  represented  this  hypocrisy  as  true  religion,  shutting 
their  eyes,  of  course,  to  the  singular  inconsistency  on  the  part  of  citi- 
zens of  their  republic  in  establishing  a  palpable  connection  between 
church  and  state.  Nor  were  the  chiefs,  generally  speaking,  really  more 
sincere  and  devout  than  the  followers  whom  they  dragooned  into  con- 
formity, inasmuch  as  they  entertained  a  hope,  and  realized  it  too,  tliat 
Christianity,  with  a  new  code  of  taboos,  might  revive  that  spiritual  cen- 
sorship of  actions,  and  words,  and  thoughts,  which  the  abolition  of 
idolatry  had  destroyed.  Considering  the  state  of  society  in  most  of 
the  Polynesian  groups,  missionaries  perhaps  cannot  avoid  addressing 
themselves  in  the  tirst  place  rather  to  the  chiefs  than  to  the  people;  but 
if  they  do  employ  the  inlluence  of  the  dominant  class  as  a  means  of 
general  improvement,  they  ought  carefully  to  distinguish  in  this  respect 
between  mere  civilization  and  pure  Christianity.  If  the  Hawaiian  mis- 
sionaries had  not  precluded  themselves  from  adopting  this  course  by  pro- 
claiming that  Christianity,  as  distinguished  from  civilization,  was  to  be 
the  exclusive  object  of  their  earlier  efforts,  their  proceedings  might 
have  been  more  easily  reconciled  with  their  professions.  But,  as 
matters  stand,  they  appear  to  have  fallen  into  the  snare  of  making  the 
end  justify  the  means;  and  perhaps  the  trite  proverb,  that  extremes 
meet,  has  never  been  more  forcibly  illustrated  than  in  the  popish  pre- 
dilections of  these  revilers  of  popery. 

But  this  system  of  aristrocratic  coercion,  besides  failing  to  teach 
Christianity,  prejudiced  the  mass  of  the  people  against  the  truth  by 
aiming  blow  after  blow,  as  we  have  already  seen,  at  nearly  all  their 
social  and  domestic  relations ;  while,  as  if  to  aggravate  negative  in- 
juries by  positive  oppression,  it  compelled  the  poor  creatures  to  devote 
lime,  which  would  otherwise  have  been  their  own,  to  the  erecting  of 
spacious  and  lofty  churches,  as  the  shrines  of  a  faith  whose  yoke  was 
easy  and  whose  burden  was  light.  As  one  might  have  expected,  the 
Gospel  was  anything  but  glad  tidings  to  the  worried  and  overworked 
serfs;  the  missionaries  were  regarded  as  the  inventors  of  a  servitude 
such  as  the  islands  had  never  known  before ;  and,  even  during  our  visit, 
some  of  our  party  who  wore  black,  found  themselves  objects  of  sus- 
picion and  fear,  till  they  disclaimed  all  connection  with  "  mikaneries." 

In  addition  to  these  special  grounds  of  hostility  to  the  truth,  there 
still  lurked  in  many  breasts  a  yearning  after  the  ancient  idolatry.  This 
I'eeling,  whether  it  was  love  or  fear,  was  peculiarly  powerful  in  the 
central  region  of  Hawaii,  where  Pele  had  established  her  usurpation 
amid  the  most  awful  displays  of  omnipotent  energj',  amid  terrors 
which  assailed  every  sense  at  once  through  the  varied  manifestations  of 
the  mightiest  of  all  subterranean  fires.  Liho  Liho  and  Kaahumanu 
would  have  been  less  ready  to  abolish  paganism,  if,  in  order  to  do  so, 
they  had  been  obliged  to  place  themselves  within  Pele's  territorial 
jurisdiction;  and  perhaps,  few  even  of  the  converts  would  have  had 
the  courage  to  imitate  Kapiolani,  a  female  chief  of  amiable  and  pious 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


35 


disposition,  who,  in  1825,  bearded  the  goddess  in  her  den  by  descend- 
ing alone  into  the  crater  and  there  singing  the  praises  of  Jehovah,  for  the 
first  time  since  the  creation,  within  the  greatest  of  his  works. 

In  process  of  time,  the  disartectcd  of  both  chisses  found  an  ally 
against  the  common  enemy  in  a  church,  which  did  not  persecute  the 
people,  inasmuch  as  it  had  not  the  support  of  the  chiefs,  and  which,  to 
a  certain  extent,  conciliated  the  partisans  of  heathenism,  inasmuch  as 
it  exhibited,  at  least  to  a  savage's  faculties  of  discrimination,  many  points 
in  common  with  the  exploded  superstition.    On  the  occasion  of  going  to 
London  in  1823,  Liho  Liho  had  in  his  suite  a  Frenchman  of  the  name 
of  Reves,  who  acted  as  a  kind  of  secretary  to  the  king,  and  iJoki,  wiio, 
as  already  mentioned,  had  been  baptized,  along  with  his  brother  Kalai- 
moku,  into  the  Catholic   faith  before  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries. 
When  leaving   England  for  France,  after  his   royal  patron's  death, 
Reves,  according  to  the  most  probable  version  of  the  story,  was  re- 
quested, or  perhaps  only  authorized,  by  Boki  to  send  some  priests  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.     Accordingly  in   1827, 
three  reverend  fathers,  two  of  them  French  and  one  of  them  English, 
arrived  at  Honolulu,  at  the  very  time  that  Kaahumanu  and  Boki  were 
engaged  in  a  struggle  for  possessing  the  supreme  power  during  the 
minority  of  Kauikeaouli  or  Kamehameha  III.     As  Kaahumanu  had 
by  this  time  espoused  the  side  of  the  Protestant  missionaries,  so  Boki, 
as  a   matter  of  course,  gladly  redeemed   his  pledge   to  support  the 
Catholic  cause,  securing  thereby  the  sympathy  and  assistance  of  all 
the  disaffected.    For  two  years  the  parties  appeared  to  be  pretty  equally 
balanced.     The  priests  had  crowded  congregations ;  and  the  mission- 
aries, besides  forming  a  "committee  to  inquire  into   the   plans  and 
operations  of  the  Jesuits,"  thundered  their  anathemas  against  papists 
and  popery  from  the  pulpit.     In   1829,  however,  Boki,  wiio  had  not 
half  the  firmness  and  talent  of  his  deceased  brother,  was  persuaded  by 
the  importunities  of  Kaahumanu  to  join  in  an  order  that  the  foreigners 
alone  should  be  allowed  to  attend  the  ('atholic  chapel.     But  the  two 
dusky  potentates  soon  experienced  the  truth  of  Napoleon's  aphorism, 
that  earthly  dominion  ends   where   the  dominion  of  religion  begins. 
For  the  first  time  in  the  annals  of  the  Archipelago,  the  commands  of 
the  chiefs  were  set  at  defiance,  for  the  Catholic  converts  still  continued, 
at  first  secretly,  but  at  last  openly,  to  avail  themselves  of  the  public 
ministrations  of  their  priests.     Kaahumanu,  that  most  imperious  of 
(jueens,  was,  of  course,  equally  astonished  and  incensed   at  the  dis- 
obedience of  her  born  vassals;  but  she  prudently  nursed  her  wrath  to 
keep  it  warm,  till  Boki,  good,  easy,  simple  man,  took  himself  out  of 
the  way  by  starting  with  two  vessels  to  plunder,  or  conquer,  or  colo- 
nize the  New  Hebrides.     Within  a  month  after  Boki  had  thus  deprived 
the  new  faith  of  its  only  protection,  Kaahumanu,  after  issuing  a  second 
order,  which  met  the  same  contempt  as  the  first,  made  the  police  carry 
the  Catholics  fronf  their  devotions  to  the  proper  tribunal;  and,  as  the 
culprits  still  persisted  in  their  contumacy,  they  were  beaten  with  rods. 
Finding  this  external  discipline  ineffectual,  her  majesty,  by  way  of 
testing  a  more  searching  mode  of  conversion,  kept  one  of  the  recusants, 


m 


i 


.  t-  r 


99 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


i'. 

' '  mtM 

V' 

WL^l"'.' 

t  .'■ 

Hflt    ^i^-    ,  ';/   ' 

^' ;!' 

HIi'jr.' 

U      '• 

EBv  >;  *«: 

i 

Hl|^;;f 

t?. 

Im-'^^' 

' '    i  ■ 

Vt.  ^'^ '  / 

b'  ^^' '  ''■ 

'■•::|- 

R|''j' 

•  'l'^ 

Bl^'  '"' 

,;    , 

Br»^v  ■■■•*■ 

^-r  ^  1 

^f '*" ',"('' 

ill 

^'^••iii^ 

^t*>-  .-• 

•r'fl 

K  '^'  ■''■; 

^■"  ifc 

\^c-  '^ 

..  .Mt", 

Iw  '  '^^'^^ 

:-M 

K'iii 

k:-' '  I-'-' 

H^^  -ji- 

*f-;T      r    f  r':. 

'.-if 

■'■  '             ^ 

y-k-. 

::\^ 

"^t^hi 

V:m4 

■■,:'h' 

'■"^M 

a  female  in  her  train,  without  food  for  seven  days;  but  here  again  Na- 
poleon's aphorism  was  made  good,  for  the  woman,  as  the  only  alterna- 
tive short  of  famishing  her  to  death,  was  dismissed  as  incurable. 
During  the  remainder  of  the  year  1830,  this  extraordinary  contest  con- 
tinued to  rage;  but,  though  conscience,  often  without  having  a  creed 
to  sustain  it,  generally  vanquished  power  as  to  the  grand  point  in  dis- 
pute, yet  the  queen,  by  adopting  punishments  more  profitable  than 
starving  and  scourging,  managed  to  screw  out  of  her  victims  a  great 
deal  of  useful  labor  in  the  making  of  mats,  the  building  of  walls,  the 
opening  of  roads,  &c.  &.c.  &c.  Meanwhile,  as  Boki  was,  on  good 
grounds,  given  up  for  lost,  Kaahumanu  ventured  to  take  a  step,  which, 
in  her  rival's  presence,  even  she  might  have  deemed  too  bold.  From 
persecuting  the  flock,  she  resolved  to  smite  the  shepherds  also ;  and, 
accordingly,  on  the  2d  of  April,  1831,  the  reverend  fathers  were  pe- 
remptorily ordered  to  leave  the  islands.  Messrs.  Bachelot  and  Short, 
for  M.  Armand  had  previously  taken  his  departure,  professed  a  wil- 
lingness to  obey ;  but,  having  been  privately  encouraged  to  remain  by 
some  chiefs  who  dreaded  the  rampant  austerity  of  the  victorious  Cal- 
vinists,  they  contrived,  with  an  occasional  sacrifice  of  candor,  to  spin 
out  the  remaining  nine  months  of  the  year,  on  the  pretext  that  no  ship 
would  give  them  a  passage.  In  December,  therefore,  Kaahumanu 
resolved  to  send  away  the  two  priests  in  a  vessel  belonging  to  the 
government;  and  the  Waverley,  an  old  brig  of  about  one  hundred  and 
forty  tons,  was  equipped  for  this  work  of  purification,  with  a  yellow 
flag  at  the  fore.  In  addition  to  the  petty  insult  of  this  practical  joke — 
a  joke  which  clearly  did  not  originate  with  the  queen — the  festival  of 
Christmas,  as  if  to  impart  a  peculiar  zest  to  the  triumph  of  puritanism 
over  popery,  had  been  selected  for  the  embarkation ;  and,  accordingly, 
in  spite  of  their  entreaties  for  a  day's  respite,  Messrs.  Bachelot  and 
Short  were  interrupted  in  their  devotions  by  the  police,  and  conducted 
on  board  of  the  Waverley,  while,  partly  to  check  any  disturbance,  and 
partly  to  make  a  holiday  of  the  occasion,  all  the  troops  in  Honolulu 
were  mustered  with  veritable  muskets  and  bayonets.  The  brig  forth- 
with made  sail,  under  a  salute  from  the  fort,  of  which  the  sincerity  was 
not  to  be  doubted;  and,  after  a  voyage  of  about  five  weeks,  she  left 
her  passengers  on  the  beach  at  San  Pedro  in  California,  a  secluded  and 
uninhabited  spot,  which  has  been  already  mentioned,  with  two  bottles 
of  water  and  a  few  biscuits,  thence  to  find  their  way,  as  they  best 
could,  to  the  nearest  professors  of  their  own  creed. 

In  the  year  1832,  the  queen  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Kinau,  one 
of  Liho  Liho's  dowagers,  and  now  wife  of  Kekuanaoa,  under  the  title 
of  Kaahumanu  II.  In  perfect  keeping  with  her  assumed  name,  the 
new  regent  pursued  the  persecuting  policy  of  her  predecessor.  But  as 
all  the  commonplace  plans  had  failed,  she  improved  on  the  original 
practice  under  the  light  of  experience ;  and,  accordingly,  two  or  three 
old  people,  who  had  been  convicted  of  popery,  wercdoomed  to  remove 
with  their  bare  hands  the  accumulated  filth  of  a  certain  part  of  the  fort, 
which  had  long  been  devoted  to  the  private  convenience  of  the  soldiers 
and  prisoners.     This  unique  discipline  might  make  hypocrites,  but 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


37 


could  not  maiv  Protestants;  and,  if  its  victims  were  really  pagans  at 
heart,  they  most  probably  drew  odious  comparisons  between  the  dejrra- 
dation  of  this  Calvinistic  purgatory,  and  the  dignity  of  being  sacrificed 
to  the  gods. 

Down  to  1836,  the  Revd.  Mr.  IJingham  and  his  associates  had  every- 
diing  their  own  way.     Toward  the  close  of  that  year,  however, an  Irish 
priest,  of  the   name  of  Walsh,  arrived  from  Valparaiso,  who,  on  the 
intervention  of  the  captain  of  a  French  sloop  of  war,  as  also  of  Lord 
Edward  Russell,  of  the  Acteon,  was  allowed  to  remain  under  the  pro- 
mise of  not  acting  in  his  professional  capacity.     Within  a  few  months, 
moreover,  the  plot  thickened  in  consequence  of  the  return  of  Messrs. 
Bachelot  and  tShort  from  California.     After  having  enjoyed  snug  quar- 
ters in  the  Mission  of  San  Gabriel  for  about  five  years,  the  two  gentle- 
men in  question  had  been  again  cast  adrift  by  the  revolution  of  1830, 
and,  hearing  of  the  visits  of  friendly  men  of  war,  determined  once  more 
to  try  their  fortune  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  in  the  iiope  of  being  now 
received  with   more  favor.     In  April,  1837,  they  reached  Honolulu, 
and,  immediately  on  landing,  reported  themselves  to  the  authorities. 
They  were  instantly  ordered  to  re-embark  on  board  of  the  vessel  that 
had  brought  them.     This  they  refused  to  do;  and,  at  last,  after  a  month 
of  pretty  stormy  negotiation,  they  were  rowed  out  to  the  Clementine 
by  the  police,  and  pushed  up  the  brig's  side  on  deck,  in  defiance  of  the 
captain's  remonstrances,  while  two   of  the  guns   of  the  fort  were  all 
ready,  with  the  slow  matches  burning,  to  prevent  or  punish  any  actual 
resistance.     In  this  emergency,  Mr.  Dudoit,  after  hauling  down  the 
English  ensign,  abandoned  the  vessel  with  his  ship's  company,  leaving 
the  two  priests,  and  an  infirm  creature  of  an  old  servant  who  would 
not  desert  them  in  the  hour  of  trial.     In  this  floating  prison,  which  Mr. 
Walsh  alone  was  permitted  to  visit,  the  three  victims  of  intolerance 
were  broiled  under  the  sun  of  a  tropical  summer,  from  the  20th  of  May 
to  the  8th  of  July.     On  the  day  last  mentioned,  the  Sulphur,  Captain 
Belcher,  and,  two    days    afterwards,   the    Venus,    Captain    du    Petit 
Thouars,  anchored  off  Honolulu  ;    and  thus  Messrs.   Bachelot   and 
Short  had  the  opportunity  of  simultaneously  appealing  to  the  officers 
of  their  respective  nations.     After  an  interview  with  the  king,  which 
was  obtained  with  difficulty,  and  at  which  the  Revd.  Mr.  Bingham  had 
the  bad  taste  to  appear  as  interpreter,  the  two  captains  succeeded  in 
releasing  the  priests  from  confinement,  on  condition  of  their  leaving  the 
islands  by  the  first  favorable  opportunity.    In  pursuance  of  this  arrange- 
ment, Mr.  Short  sailed  for  Valparaiso  on  the  30th  of  October.     But, 
before  Mr.  Bachelot  could  take  his  departure,  M.  Maigret,  another 
priest  of  the  same  nation,  arrived  in  the  Europe  from  Tahiti ;  and,  as 
he  was  forbidden  to  land,  he  found  himself  in  the  same  predicament  as 
that  from  which  M.  Bachelot  had  been  so  lately  rescued.     In  this  state 
of  affiairs,  the  two  priests  purchased  the  Honolulu,  a  vessel  of  about 
forty  tons;  and  M.  Maigret,  without  being  allowed  to  place  his  foot  on 
shore,  was  shifted,  like  a  bale  of  goods,  from  the  Europe  into  his  own 
little  craft.     Meanwhile,  M.  Bachelot,  whose  health  had  suffered  from 
persecution  and  mortification,  begged  for  a  brief  respite  in  order  to 


4 


■,t: 


m 


38 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


'^¥ 


m 


!&■  ^', 


regain  siiflicient  strenjrtli  for  a  long  and  comfortless  voyage;  but,  as 
orthodox  mercy  could  lend  no  ear  to  the  cry  of  a  papist,  the  invalid 
was  compelled  to  embark,  borne  down,  as  he  was,  at  once  by  sickness 
and  by  sorrow.  When  the  vessel  reached  the  Island  of  Ascension, 
poor  Dachclot  had  been  for  several  days  a  corpse ;  and  there  were  his 
remains  deposited,  while  a  wooden  tomb,  in  addition  to  the  cross  as  an 
emblem  of  his  faith,  recorded  merely  his  name. 

The  persecution  now  raged  more  fiercely  than  ever,  while  new  varie- 
ties of  torture  were  invented.  A  party  of  sixty  or  seventy  Catholics 
having  been  brought  before  the  governor,  they  all  recanted  but  thirteen ; 
and  these  recusants  also  were  induced  to  see  the  error  of  their  ways, 
and  to  exchange  the  Pule  Pulani  for  the  Pule  Mr.  Bingham,  by  being 
suspended  in  pairs  by  the  wrists  across  the  top  of  a  wall  seven  feet 
high  with  their  ankles  in  irons.  On  another  occasion,  two  women, 
respectively  thirty  and  fifty  years  of  age,  were  similarly  treated,  ex- 
cepting that  they  were  not  tied  together ;  and  after  the  miserable 
wretches  had  been  hanging  about  eighteen  hours,  all  night  in  the  rain, 
and  all  the  forenoon  in  the  sun,  some  of  the  foreign  residents  applied 
in  their  behalf  to  Mr.  Dingham,  who  refused,  however,  to  interfere, 
alleging  that  the  sufferers  must  have  been  condemned  for  some  offence 
against  the  laws.  Of  course  they  were,  as  the  judge  very  clearly  ex- 
plained to  the  aforesaid  party  of  sixty  or  seventy.  They  were  not,  he 
told  them,  to  be  punished  or  reproved  for  repeating  Catholic  prayers 
or  believing  Catholic  doctrines,  but  because,  in  so  believing  and  so  re- 
peating, they  had  disobeyed  the  orders  of  the  king.  The  casuist  must 
have  borrowed  this  notion  from  Jonathan  Oldbuck,  when  proving  to 
Hector  Mclntyre  that,  in  Scotland,  debtors  were  imprisoned  not  for 
leaving  their  debts  unpaid,  but  slighting  his  majesty's  command  to  pay 
them. 

But  another  party  was  now  to  appear  on  the  stage,  while  some  of 
the  original  performers  were  glad  to  withdraw  behind  the  scene.  As 
the  revolution  of  "  the  three  glorious  days"  had  been  the  means  of 
placing  the  church  of  Rome  and  the  Protestant  sects  on  one  and  the 
same  footing  with  respect  to  the  state,  Louis  Philippe,  in  order  to  ap- 
pease and  conciliate  his  holiness,  and  the  national  priesthood,  undertook 
still  to  discharge  the  duties  of  "most  Christian  king"  beyond  the  limits 
of  France,  still  to  be  the  champion  of  the  faith  against  all  the  world  but 
the  French  Chambers.  In  consequence  of  this  engagement,  his  majesty 
had  taken  the  Romish  bishop  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  under  his  direct  and 
immediate  protection.  Accordingly,  on  the  9th  of  July,  1839,  the  Ar- 
temise,  Captain  I^a  Place,  arrived  at  Woahoo,  for  the  ostensible  purpose 
of  obtaining  redress  for  the  persecution  and  expulsion  of  Messrs.  Mai- 
gret  and  Bachelot;  but  the  real  object  of  the  visit  was  to  coerce  the 
native  government  into  an  unlimited  and  unqualified  toleration  of  Ca- 
tholicism. Strictly  speaking,  France  had  no  right  to  interfere  by  force 
in  the  matter.  With  regard  to  the  internal  policy  of  the  Hawaiian 
government,  this  was  abundantly  clear,  notwithstanding  Captain  La 
Place's  curious  assertion,  that,  amongst  civilized,  nations,  there  was 
"  not  one"  which  did  "  not  permit  in  its  territory  the  free  toleration  of 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


39 


casuist  must 


all  religions."  Again,  as  to  the  special  ease  of  Messrs.  Baelielot  and 
Maijjret,  those  gentlemen  were  attempting  to  violate  or  evade  a  law, 
which,  whether  politic  or  impolitic,  the  chid's  were  competent  to  make, 
namely,  the  law  against  propagating  Catholicism  among  the  natives. 
They  were  expelled  not  as  pa|)ists  or  as  priests,  for  Mr.  Walsh,  who 
was  allowed  to  remain,  was  as  mnch  of  a  priest  and  a  papist  as  either 
of  them,  but  as  apostles  of  popery;  for,  though  M.  Maigret  had  not, 
like  his  associate,  actually  tried  to  proselytize  the  people,  yet  he  pos- 
sessed, in  common  with  M.  Bachelot,  a  title  which  arrogated  a  kind  of 
territorial  jurisdiction,  which  involved  the  Mork  of  propagandism  as 
part  of  his  official  duty.  Still  the  two  priests  had  been  treated  with 
great  harshness  ;  and,  if  France  had  not  made  their  suHerings  a  cloak 
for  her  ulterior  views,  she  might  justitiahly  have  extorted  some  satis- 
faction for  any  excessive  infliction  of  injury  or  insult.  France  was,  in 
fact,  making  her  piety  the  instrument  of  her  ambition.  All  her  de- 
mands, including  her  paltry  exaction  of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  were 
intended  to  bring  al)0ut  such  a  crisis  as  would  appear  to  justify  the 
seizure  of  the  islands. 

But  Captain  La  Place  had  not  been  commissioned  to  argue  the  point. 
He  had  been  sent  to  tell  the  Ilawaiians  as  a  thing  not  to  be  disputed, 
that  *'  to  persecute  the  (Catholic  religion,"  which  was  no  more  the  esta- 
blished creed  of  the  grand  nation  than  Calvinism  itself,  "was  to  ofler 
an  insult  to  France  and  to  her  sovereign  ;"  and  he  had  been  author- 
ized, a  la  Joinville,  to  enforce  this  doubtful  axiom  by  the  equally 
doubtful  boast,  that  there  was  "  not  in  the  world  a  power  capable  of  pre- 
venting" France  from  punishing  her  enemies.  But,  with  the  batteries 
and  bayonets  of  the  Artemise  at  his  back,  the  captain  carried  all  before 
him.  He  got  Catholicism  placed  on  the  same  footing  as  Protestantism 
throughout  the  group,  and  then,  landing  with  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  men  under  arms,  he  attended  a  military  mass,  military  enough  in 
all  conscience,  celebrated  in  the  palace  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Walsh. 

The  French,  of  course,  were  not  slow  to  reap  the  fruits  of  their  vic- 
tory. During  our  visit,  there  were  three  priests  in  Honolulu,  besides 
two  or  three  in  other  parts  of  the  Archipelago;  and  the  Bishop  of  Ni- 
lopolis  was  shortly  expected  on  a  tour  of  visitation.  In  addition  to 
being  engaged  in  building  a  large  cathedral,  the  reverend  fathers  kept 
two  schools,  which  were  attended  by  about  nine  hundred  young  people 
of  both  sexes,  natives  and  half  breeds ;  and  many  of  the  pupils  had 
made  great  progress  in  various  branches  of  education,  while  a  icw  of 
them  spoke  French  with  considerable  fluency.  The  new  faith  was 
daily  extending  its  influence  among  the  natives  through  the  untiring 
zeal  of  its  teachers  ;  but,  though  it  was  no  longer  exposed  to  legal  per- 
secution, yet  it  was  still  subjected  to  the  rude  anathemas,  spoken  and 
written,  of  the  Protestant  missionaries.  We  had  a  good  deal  of  inter- 
course with  the  priests,  visiting  their  schools,  and  0(*casionally  attend- 
ing their  chapel,  and  were,  on  the  whole,  strongly  prepossessed  in  their 
favor;  and,  however  much  their  presence  is  to  be  regretted,  even  on 
the  single  ground  that  it  has  produced  a  schism,  as  it  were,  in  language 
as  well  as  in  sentiment,  in  civilization  as  well  as  in  Christianity,  1  sin- 


t.       ] 


II 


'r. 


I 


i 


Pi    T 


t  1. 


^)y-  '■' 


I'^J:' 


40 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


I 


corely  trust,  that  rronch  (yathnlicism  may  honrcforward  encounter  no 
other  antagonist  than  truth  tt-nipered  hy  conrteHy. 

For  the  deplorable  details  of  the  last  lew  pafrcs,  some  of  the  Protest- 
ant missionarioM  are,  beyond  all  doubt,  chielly  responsible.  It  was 
they,  who,  by  disingenuously  confoundint;  thin^js  which  they  knew  to 
be  diflerent,  taiij^ht  the  chiefs  to  inisap])|y  the  law  against  the  ancient 
idolatry  to  the  prejudice  of  Catholicism;  it  was  they  who  inspired  the 
jrovernment  with  a  vague  and  mysterious  dread  of  papal  power  and 
pretensions;  in  a  word,  it  was  they,  who,  by  their  suggestions,  intro- 
duced secular  authority  as  an  instrument  of  conversion,  and,  by  their 
connivance,  sanctioned  its  niercUess  abuse.  'I'o  put  the  charge  into  a 
shape,  which  embodies  its  spirit  without  leaving  room  for  evasion,  the 
persecution  would  never  h.ive  been  begun,  if  the  missionaries  had  zeal- 
ously united  to  prevent  it;  and  the  persecution  would  never  have 
been  continued,  if  the  missionaries  had  zealously  united  to  check  it. 
Even  if  the  motive  of  the  individuals  in  question  had  been  a  pure  and 
simple  abhorrence  of  the  religious  corruptions  of  die  church  of  Rome, 
tlieir  conduct  would  be  indefensible.  But  there  is  strong  reason  for 
suspecting  that  their  real  motives  were,  in  a  great  measure,  secular. 
They  were  doubtless  imbued  with  the  political  prejudices  of  their 
country  against  Catholicism ;  and  they  could  not  fail  to  dread  a  reli- 
gious rivalry,  which  might  tend  to  break  the  ties  that  connected  them- 
selves with  the  state.  In  short,  they  were  most  probably  actuated 
rather  by  a  spirit  of  republicanism  and  the  aspirations  of  ambition,  than 
by  the  disinterested  love  of  the  genuine  truths  of  the  Gospel.  But  the 
missionaries  are  nearly  as  responsible  for  the  schism,  which  has  suc- 
ceeded the  persecution,  as  for  the  persecution  itself.  It  is  chiefly  their 
indexible  austerity,  as  brought  to  bear  on  the  natives,  through  the  ter- 
rors of  the  law,  that  has  filled  the  Catholic  ranks ;  it  is  chiefly  their 
unrelenting  code  of  manners  and  morals,  as  enforced  by  pecuniary 
penalties,  that  has  driven  the  people  to  embrace  a  new  faith  in  the  hope 
of  being  delivered  from  the  yoke  of  the  old.  If  the  Calvinists  had 
had  a  single  eye  to  the  Bible  without  straining  it  on  the  one  hand  into 
fanaticism,  or  tainting  it  on  the  other  with  worldliness,  the  Catholics 
would  never  have  provoked  such  a  degree  of  hostility  as  could  in  any 
way  have  justified  the  intervention  of  France  with  all  its  attendant 
evils. 

After  all  that  I  have  said,  I  have  much  pleasure  in  acknowledging, 
that,  in  their  own  proper  sphere,  the  missionaries  have  done  a  great 
deal  of  good.  Their  mistaken  conduct  is  the  more  deeply  to  be  re- 
gretted, inasmuch  as  die  success,  which  has  crowned  their  purely  pro- 
fessional labors,  shows  how  much  more  their  zeal  and  patience  might 
have  eflTected  under  a  better  system.  Worldliness  and  fanaticism,  be- 
sides leading  to  the  misapplication  of  their  time  and  talent,  have,  we 
are  bound  to  believe,  deprived  them  of  much  of  that  aid  without  which 
all  human  eflbrts  are  unavailing,  for  God,  though  he  often  employs  bad 
men  as  his  unconscious  tools,  has  never,  since  the  world  was  made, 
prospered  the  schemes  of  his  professing  servants  for  usurping,  as  the 
reward  of  earthly  policy,  the  glory  due  to  himself  alone. 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


ncounter  no 


41 


So  far  as  Catholic  rivalry  is  concornnd,  lot  them  simply  do  their  own 
(Uny,  Iravinjr  *he  issue  in  the  hands  of  one  who  is  more  deeply  inte- 
rested in  thf  rontest  than  themselves.  \,vt  them  teaeh  what  they 
believe  to  be  the  truth  without  either  exaggerating,  or  iliminishing,  its 
worldly  incidents  and  results.  Thev  have,  it  is  said,  been  fond  of 
pointing  to  ('alifornia  and  the  Sandwich  Islands,  as  practical  illustra- 
tions, respectively,  of  Popery  and  Protestantism.  Now  the  diflercnce 
between  the  Spanish  race  and  tin;  English, — allecting,  as  it  does,  nearly 
all  the  relations  of  life,  social,  and  commercial,  and  political, — has  had 
more  to  do  in  the  matter  than  anything  else,  while,  even  with  reference 
to  religion  alone,  llie  cases  are  not  at  all  parallel,  for  the  civilization  of 
California  began  with  Catholicism,  before  trade  was  known,  and  that 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  ere  Calvinism  was  introduced,  had  taken  root 
under  the  fostering  influence  of  commerce. 

EDUCATION. 

It  is  chiefly  through  education,  as  such,  that  the  missionaries  have 
made  progress  in  the  work  of  conversion ;  and  here  again  has  their 
theory  been  at  fault,  that  Christianity  ought  to  be  taught  independently 
of  civilization.  In  fact,  the  palapula,  or  learning,  was  confessedly 
more  attractive  and  influential  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  mission,  than 
the  pule  or  religion  ;  nor  could  there  be  a  stronger  proof  of  this,  than 
the  circumstance,  that  the  chiefs,  after  permitting  the  pule  to  be  com- 
municated to  the  people,  still  wished  to  monopolize  the  palapala  for 
tliemselves. 

In  the  elementary  schools,  which  are  established  throughout  the 
group  under  a  general  law,  about  18,000  children  are  said  to  be  in- 
structed in  reading  and  writing  by  native  teachers.  The  specified  num- 
ber I  suspect  to  be  an  exaggeration,  inasmuch  as,  out  of  a  population 
of  88,000,  the  young  of  both  sexes  under  eighteen,  according  to  the 
computations  under  a  former  head,  can  hardly  be  estimated  at  more 
than  22,000  in  all ;  so  that,  to  say  nothing  of  actual  attendance,  whether 
regular  or  occasional,  there  cannot  well  be  so  many  as  18,000  names 
on  the  books,  more  particularly,  as  at  least  a  thousand  children  are 
trained  in  other  institutions.  Already  have  these  humble  seminaries 
become  a  subject  of  contention  between  Protestantism  and  Catholicism, 
for,  wherever  Catholics  and  Protestants  are  mingled  together,  one  party 
or  other  is  sure  to  make  a  grievance  of  the  religion  of  the  teacher. 
Hitherto,  the  Catholics  have,  in  practice,  had  the  better  ground  for  com- 
plaining, while  the  government  has,  plausibly  enough,  alleged  in  its  de- 
fence, the  difficulty  of  finding  sufficiently  well  qualified  members  of 
the  more  recently  established  persuasion.  This  inequality  between  the 
two  denominations,  though  it  was  clearly  unavoidable  for  a  time,  was 
construed  into  a  violation  of  Captain  La  Place's  treaty ;  and  about  four 
or  five  months  after  my  departure,  the  Embuscade,  Captain  Mallet, 
visited  Honolulu  to  remedy  or  avenge  this  additional  "  persecution  of 
the  Catholic  religion,"  this  supplementary  "  insult  to  France  and  her 
sovereign."  Captain  Mallet  got  an  explanation,  which  silenced  him, 
if  it  did  not  satisfy  him,  and  departed  in  high  dudgeon,  without  ex- 


'■^•1^ 


n 


^■fir; 


42 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


Ml 


chan{rinp[  salntcB,  to  report  the  circumstances  to  his  superiors.  If  thf 
fjrit'vaiico  in  (luestion  i\n\  not  violate  Captain  \,:\  IMace's  treaty,  then 
Captain  Mallet  was,  of  his  own  accord,  inedilling  with  a  point  of  purely 
internal  policy ;  and,  if  tlu!  grievance  in  question  diti  violate  Captain 
La  Place's  treaty,  then  had  Franco  placed  herself  in  a  position,  incon- 
sistent with  the  independence  of  the  group.  In  either  case,  Enijland 
and  America  oiiyht  to  take  care,  that  the  French  guarantee  of  native 
sovereignly,  is  neither  evaded  nor  nullified  by  the  treaty  aforesaid,  or 
by  any  similar  treaty  whatever. 

In  Mowee,  two  superior  schocds,  one  for  a  hundred  boys  and  the 
other  for  as  many  girls,  are  conducted  under  the  exclusive  control  of 
the  Protestant  missionaries.  Besides  reading  and  writing,  the  pupiU 
arc  instructed  in  singing,  drawing,  painting,  engraving,  mathematics, 
geography,  history,  &c. ;  and  recently  the  useful  has  been  added  to  the 
elegant,  by  the  introduction  of  such  arts  as  spinning,  knitting,  weavinsr, 
&c.  As  it  is  the  native  tongue  that  is  taught  in  these  institutions,  the 
mission,  as  a  matter  of  course,  comprises  an  establishn.ent,  or  perhaps 
more  than  one  establishment,  for  printing;  and  so  far  as  Honolulu  was 
concerned,  we  visited,  with  much  interest,  an  ofFice  with  four  presscf^ 
and  twenty  hands,  in  which,  with  the  exception  of  an  American  super- 
intendent, all  the  workmen,  compositors  as  well  as  pressmen,  were 
natives. 

In  Honolulu  there  are  two  schools,  in  which  English  is  taught. 
The  larger  of  the  two  institutions  is  a  free  school  for  all  children,  but 
is  attended  chiefly  by  half-breeds,  the  progeny  of  native  mothers  by 
fathers  of  various  races,  English,  French,  Spanish,  Chinese,  &c.  It 
is  supported,  in  a  great  measure,  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the 
foreign  residents,  Ilungtai,  the  leading  Chinaman,  being  one  of  its 
main  pillars.  Again,  the  smaller  of  the  two  institPtions  has  not,  as  to 
its  general  object,  its  parallel  in  the  world.  It  is  a  seminary  for  train- 
ing, apart  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  the  future  rulers  of  the  archipe- 
lago ;  an  exclusive  nursery  of  kings  and  queens,  governors  and  coun- 
sellors, an  improved  edition,  in  miniature,  of  the  happy  valley  of  Ras- 
selas.  The  high  school,  as  it  is  called,  we  visited  at  the  request  of 
Governor  Kekuanaoa,  the  personage  most  extensively  interested  in  the 
establishment.  The  pupils  we  found  to  be  twelve  in  number,  six  boys 
and  six  girls,  whde  a  full  third  of  the  stock  belonged  to  our  good 
friend  who  accompanied  us,  namely,  Moses,  future  governor  of  Kauai, 
Lot,  future  governor  of  Mowee,  Liho  Liho,  heir  presumptive  to  the 
throne,  and  Victoria,  destined  to  contract  some  grand  alliance.  ThouLrli 
the  school  had  been  established  only  about  two  years,  and  most  of  the 
pupils  were,  at  the  time  of  its  establishment,  entirely  ignorant  of  our 
language,  yet  many  of  the  children  now  read  English  with  a  correct 
accent,  and  spoke  it  with  considerable  fluency,  thereby  increasing  our 
regret  that  the  missionaries  had  clung  so  long  and  so  obstinately  to  the 
Hawaiian.  In  writing,  arithmetic,  drawing,  geography,  &c.,  some 
progress  had  been  made.  In  their  geography,  however,  the  younsr 
ones  were  disposed  to  be  skeptical,  unanimously  declaring,  that  the 
man  who  made  the  map  had  committed  a  great  mistake,  in  represent- 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


itij;  their  iHliinds  as  so  very  snisiH  in  coniparisori  with  the  rest  of  lh<» 
worUI.  Even  to  tn;itiir«'r  luiiuls  amoiiir  the  natives,  the  map  of  the 
worhl  must,  at  first,  have  hwu  a  sonrce  of  astonislnnent,  for  seeinir 
around  lliem  only  small  specks  in  the  occaji,  and  knowing;  of  nolhini^ 
cine  by  tradition,  the  ahorij^ines  would  naturally  consider  the  earth  as 
a  boundless  expanse  of  water,  studded  -.viih  isles,  as  a  kiiul  of  counter- 
part of  the  starry  sky.  lie  this  as  it  may,  the  remark  of  the  children 
was  far  more  rational  than  Liho  Ijiho's  lojrie,  when  he  was  told  by 
some  of  the  earlier  missionaries  that  the  earth  went  round.  "  Don't 
tell  me  that,"  said  his  majesty,  "  so  lon^  as  I  see  Lanai,"  pointing; 
from  Lahaina  to  that  island,  "lyin<;  on  the  same  side  of  me  every 
morning."  Hut  much  of  thi;  absurdity  of  the  kinjj's  notion  of  cosmo- 
ifraphy  migbi  be  explained  by  the  fact,  that  in  this  respect,  as  in  every 
other,  the  solitary  despot  naturally  regarded  himself  as  the  eentn*  of 
:'very  moveuient,  thinking  that  the  earth,  if  it  really  went  round  at  all, 
could  only  go  round  him.  To  return  to  the  pupils,  their  behavior  was, 
on  the  whole,  very  becoming,  though  some  of  the  young  ladies  did 
occasionally  raise  the  skirts  of  their  frocks  in  order  to  scratch  their 
ankles,  or,  perhaps,  the  ealves  of  their  legs.  'J'he  t«*aehers  were  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Cook,  members,  I  beli(!ve,  of  the  missionary  body ;  and, 
after  what  I  have  said  as  to  the  appearance  and  prolicieney  of  those 
under  their  charge,  1  need  hardly  add,  that  we  left  them  with  the  most 
luvorable  impressions  as  to  their  moral  and  intellectual  (jualifjcations. 
This  was,  perhaps,  the  most  interesting  hour  that  we  spent  in  Honolulu. 

PROnrCTION  AND  MANUFACTURES. 

Having  incidentally  mentioned  various  productions  of  the  groups 
under  former  heads,  I  shall  here  confine  myself  to  such  articles  as 
appear  to  bear  on  the  subject  of  extraneous  commerce,  beginning  with 
a  few  preliminary  observations  as  to  the  state  of  agriculture  and  the 
nature  of  the  soil. 

In  the  days  of  barbarism,  the  earth  was  cultivated  by  means  of  sticks, 
or  bones,  or  stones,  of  anything  in  short,  that  could  scratch  the  surface 
or  dig  a  hole;  while,  in  bringing  home  the  crops,  the  serfs,  male  and 
female,  acted  as  cattle,  and  calabashes  and  gourds  served  all  the  purposes 
of  wagons.  Now,  however,  spades,  and  hoes,  and  ploughs,  and  in 
fact,  all  the  means  and  appliances  in  ordinary  use  among  white  agricul- 
turists, have  got  a  footing  among  the  aborigines,  and  arc  speedily  be- 
coming popular  as  well  with  the  ignorant  as  the  intelligent,  as  well  with 
the  indolent  as  the  industrious.  It  is  quite  level  to  the  most  savage  capa- 
city, that  a  gentleman  farmer  enjoys  a  much  pleasanter  time  of  it  than 
a  beast  of  burden. 

In  the  valleys,  the  soil  consists  of  vegetable  mould,  which,  besides  its 
intrinsic  productiveness,  is  constanUy  fertilized  and  refreshed  not  only  by 
its  own  share  of  the  rains,  that  deluge  the  mountainous  region,  but  also 
by  the  cascades,  that  rush  down  from  the  hills.  With  the  exception  of 
the  valleys,  nearly  all  the  arable  surface  of  the  group  needs,  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  the  aid  of  irrigation,  inasmuch  as  the  ground  containing 
as  it  does,  large  proportions  of  such  thirsty  ingredients  as  sand  and 


m 


t 


44 


SANnWICII  ISLANDS. 


*.-,} 


^1 


tm 


uhIicb,  rapidly  absorbs  ovrn  the  Iipavirnt  tilinwpri.  But,  n«  1  liavr  alrrady 
iiiriitioti(!(l,  far  more  (liaii  the  half  uf  llu<  whole  area  is  incapable  ot' any 
and  (!vcry  kind  of  cultivation,  bcini;  litlicr  peakH  in  which  nature  hir> 
BC'lf  haM  never  "  moored"  a  tree,  or  procipice»  which  nourish,  or  li:iv« 
nourished,  the  primeval  forest  in  their  elefls,  or  slopes  of  v«)lcanic  rc'liixi' 
M  hich  deny,  in  the  season  uf  drou{|rht,  even  their  coarHc  pasture  to  the 
\vanderin|(  catth;. 

Hut  the  jrood  soil,  to  be  far  within  the  mark,  may  be  estimated  as  one- 
Kixth  part  of  the  entire  surface,  or  in  round  numl)ers,  as  l,tK)0  square 
miles,  or  010,0()U  acres;  and,  in  order  to  jrive  at  least  a  vajfue  idea  oi 
the  possible  value  of  this  breadth  of  land  in  tropical  agricidiure,  I  may 
mention,  that  Messrs.  liadd  and  (.'o.  of  Honolulu  have  produced  an 
average  of  a  ton  and  a  half  of  su^ar  /;rr  acre,  a  rate  at  which  1,(100 
Hiiuare  miles  would  yield  nearly  l,(U)(t,(H)()  tons,  or  at  least  four  tinir!< 
the  total  supply  of  the  United  Kingdom.  The  extent  of  cultivation 
in  question  is,  I  apprehend,  fidly  e(|ual  to  the  extent  of  cultivatiun. 
whether  actual  or  probable,  in  Jamaica. 

Hut  the  arable  land,  whatever  may  be  its  quantity,  is  availablo. 
almost  without  deduction,  for  mercantile  enterprise — always,  of  course, 
assuminjr  that  the  objections  of  church  and  state  can  be  removed.  TIk 
scantiness  of  the  population,  which  does  not  average  fifteen  souls  to 
the  square  mile,  must  manifestly  leave,  under  any  circumstances,  most 
of  the  soil  free  for  the  operations  of  the  capitalist,  while  the  facility 
with  which  food  can  be  produced,  must  as  manifestly  require  a  very 
small  share  of  the  cultivator's  time  for  the  growing  of  the  necessaries 
of  life.  These  remarks  will  derive  additional  force  from  a  more  par- 
ticular consideration  of  the  chief  article  of  subsistence.  I  quote  from 
the  Hawaiian  Spectator:  "In  regard  to  cheapness  of  food  for  tlu 
natives,  it  is  proper  to  state,  that  forty  feet  square  of  land,  planted  with 
kulo,  aflbrded  subsistence  for  one  person  for  a  year.  A  tract  of  land 
one  mile  square  in  fields  will  occupy  and  feed  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
three  persons;  the  same  extent  in  vineyards  will  occupy  and  feed  two 
hundred  and  eighty-nine  persons;  while  the  same  extent  of  land  in 
kalo  will  (ccd  15,151,  and  probably  not  more  than  one-twenty-fifth 
part  of  that  number  would  be  required  in  its  cultivation.  The  above 
estimate  of  the  number  of  persons  that  can  be  supported  from  one 
square  mile  of  land  cultivated  in  Jcalo,  is  made  by  allowing  paths  three 
feet  wide  between  each  patch  of  forty  feet  square."  According  to  diis 
estimate,  which,  so  far  as  the  kalo  is  concerned,  appears  to  contain  no 
flaw,  six  square  miles  might  maintain  the  whole  population  in  health 
and  vigor;  but,  supposing  every  person,  without  distinction  of  sex  or 
age,  to  require  half  an  acre,  there  would  still  remain  even  on  that  liberal 
and  extravagant  supposition,  about  600,000  acres  for  objects  not  imme- 
diately connected  with  the  maintenance  of  the  natives. 

Among  the  more  important  productions  of  the  islands,  sugar  deserves 
to  occupy  the  first  place,  if  it  were  only  that  His  Majesty,  Kameha- 
meha  HI.,  has  turned  his  attention  to  the  manufacture  of  the  article. 
The  yellow  cane,  which  is  indigenous,  is  alone  cultivated.  Thougli 
its  juice  is  acknowledged  to  be  of  excellent  quality,  yet  hitherto  the 
sugar  has  been  of  an  inferior  description  through  the  want  of  skill  and 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


46 


cxp<*ric»nrr.  Thcr<»  i«  litilr  dotiht,  liownvrr,  that,  in  time,  nrt  will  do 
jusli«'<'  to  nnttirc,  wlini  oium-  ilir  hii.siiH'.HM  h.iM  yot  into  the  liaiuN  of 
capilalintH.  The  ifrowrrH  ar«>  alrrady  iiunu'ron^,  if  not  wraltliy,  as  llio 
followinjf  oxtract  I'rotn  a  IrtUT,  which  I  rrcrivrd  from  McBsrx.  l.mUl  Sc 
Co.,  nuttinnwW  f howH :  "Thi"  qiiantiiy  of  hiiul  imuUt  ndiivatioii  hy 
nativrH,  and  otlirrH,  in  lUv  vicinity  ol  ur  null  is  so  (irrat,  tlni  latterly 
wo  have  al)antlonrd  its  oiiltiirc  and  allow  our  work?*  to  In-  rnipjuycd  in 
nianufactnrinij  Mutrar  for  ndtivators,  rctnrnint^  to  thorn  unr>ha!r  .'."  tho 
prodiuMs.  Wo  regret  to  Hay  that  our  wiiJ  ><  are  cnlinly  inade(|uate  to 
the  wants  of  tho  planters,  and  nuu  li  c:»ne  wdl,  unavoidably,  he  lost  tho 
present  and  eoniini^  season."  IJui  i  '  u[rand  ihlfMiilty  in  tho  way  is 
ilie  want  of  a  market,  more  particidarly  as  the  jjroup  is  tlfeetually  cut 
oil",  both  physieally  and  politically,  from  the  rest  of  tho  world.  Slill 
the  diHicidty  does  not  amount  to  a  ground  of  despair.  ('Onsidering 
that  the  article  is  retailed  at  five  cents,  or  two  ponce  halfpcimy,  a  pound, 
about  U0,0()()  natives  might  Hiircly  consume,  at  least  with  tho  help  of 
foreign  rosidc^nts  and  foreign  visitors,  something  like  a  ship-load  amoii}; 
llicin  in  a  yoar,  while,  with  a  liltio  management  and  negotiation,  tho 
islands  might  supply  with  sugar  nearly  all  the  coasts  of  both  continents 
above  their  own  latitude,  California,  the  Oregon,  the  Russian  settle- 
ments both  in  Asia  and  America,  and  ultimately  Japan.  If  the  Archi- 
pelago could  once  secure  this  foreign  trade,  it  coidd  hardly  ever  bo 
dislodged  from  it  by  any  rival,  so  long  as  it  enjoyed  the  nautical 
advantages  of  being  the  great  house  of  call,  both  in  the  length  and 
in  the  breadth  of  the  Pacific  ocean. 

Silk  appears  to  have  fewer  obstacles  to  surmount  than  stigar.  Tho 
mulberry  yields  six  crops  in  the  year;  and  females,  who  can  reel  half 
a  pound  a  day,  are  contented,  in  addition  to  their  food,  with  six  cents 
and  a  (juartor,  or  a  fraction  more  than  threepence,  paid  in  goods  at  an 
advance  of  cent  per  cent,  on  the  prime  cost.  Under  these  advantageous 
circumstances,  an  article  of  superior  quality  can  be  sold  for  a  dollar  and 
a  half  a  pound,  so  that  it  can  command,  freight  and  duty  notwithstand' 
insr, a  renninerating  price  either  in  England  or  in  America.  Silk,  how- 
ever, cannot  be  produced  so  extensively  as  sugar,  inasmuch  as  the 
mulberry  thrives  only  in  such  places,  few  and  far  between,  as  are  com- 
pletely sheltered  from  the  trade-winds.  The  principal  establishment, 
which  is  in  Kauai,  is  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Titcombe,  an 
American  of  industry  and  enterprise.  He  is  expected  to  succeed  in 
his  speculation,  though  his  countrymen,  who  were  the  original  pro- 
jectors, failed  in  it,  partly  because  they  had  everything,  that  was  pecu- 
liar to  the  soil  and  climate,  to  learn,  and  parUy  because  some  of  them 
had  good  reason  for  placing  very  little  confidence  in  the  others.  If 
the  business  in  general  should  prosper,  it  might  be  worth  while  to 
import  skillful  and  experienced  laborers  from  China,  at  least  for  the 
purpose  of  superintending  the  more  delicate  processes. 

Tobacco,  cotton,  coffee,  arrowroot,  indigo,  rice  and  ginger,  thrive 
luxuriantly  throughout  the  group.  Tobacco  was,  at  one  time,  pro- 
hibited ;  and,  in  order  to  prevent  exportation  as  well  as  consumption, 
the  "  denounced"  weed  was  torn  up  by  the  roots  as  a  public  enemy. 


46 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


^fi-. 


^lii^ 


i^f  /' 


1-    f 


The  absur'l  system  has,  I  believe,  been  abrogated ;  and,  at  all  events, 
tobacco  grows  in  the  face  of  day  without  caring  for  church  or  state. 
Coffee,  an  innocent  enough  beverage  in  most  countries,  also  fell  under 
the  ban  of  the  earlier  missionaries,  probably  as  being  a  boon  companion 
of  tobacco,  but  more  probably  because,  in  furnishing  an  article  of  ox- 
port,  it  tended  to  inundate  the  islands  with  the  aciursed  thing  in  the 
shape  of  commercial  civilization.  Whatever  was  the  cause,  the  cofl'cc 
shared  the  same  fate  as  the  tobacco,  being  first  destroyed  by  fanaticism 
and  then  replaced  by  common  sense.  As  I  have  already  mentioned, 
it  is,  in  my  opinion,  equal  to  mocha ;  and,  when  grown  in  sufficient 
abundance,  it  may,  I  doubt  not,  be  exported  with  advantage  to  almost 
any  part  of  the  world.  Indigo,  though  it  thrives  well,  is  yet  not  likely 
to  be  extensively  cultivated  by  reason  of  the  breadth  of  land  which  it 
requires, — at  least  so  long  as  other  crops,  less  precarious  and  more 
profitable,  can  advantageously  occupy  the  soil.  Cotton  has  only  ot 
late  become  an  object  of  attention  to  foreign  residents ;  the  article,  as 
prepared  by  the  natives,  was,  of  course,  not  lit  to  be  sent  to  market. 
Oi  arrowroot  the  same  may  be  said.  Intrinsically  it  is  of  fine  quahty; 
but  so  negligent  are  the  manufacturers  in  washing  and  drying  the  arti- 
cle, that  a  small  parcel,  lately  sent  to  England  by  The  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  did  not  cover  cost  and  charges.  Ginger  grows  spontaneously 
in  lavish  abundance  throughout  the  group ;  but  as  yet  it  has  not  attracted 
any  notice.  Rice  is  but  little  cultivated,  chiefly  because  the  most  favor- 
able situations  for  the  purpose,  which,  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of 
water,  are  not  numerous,  arc  already  occupied  by  that  grand  stalf  of 
life,  the  kalo. 

The  kukiii  oil  is  an  article  of  rising  importance.  It  is  extracted 
from  the  nuts  of  the  kukiii  or  light-tree,  which  are  so  unctuous,  that, 
when  strung  on  a  twig,  they  serve  the  natives  as  candles,  each  nut 
igniting  the  one  below  it  before  it  is  itself  consumed.  Taking  the  hint, 
one  of  the  foreign  residents  has  lately  erected  a  mill  for  breaking  and 
pressing  them  so  as  to  separate  the  juice  from  the  husks.  The  oil, 
though  inferior  to  linseed,  is  yet  so  much  cheaper  that  it  finds  a  market 
at  Lima  to  the  annual  amount  of  upwards  of  a  thousand  barrels ;  and 
a  little  of  it  has  also  been  sent  with  a  profit  to  the  United  States.  The 
attention  of  many  of  the  residents  is  now  directed  to  the  article ;  and, 
as  the  trees  are  very  plentiful,  and  may  be  seen  in  groves  of  miles  in 
length,  the  manufacture  may  be  increased  to  almost  any  extent. 

Among  the  valuable  productions  of  the  islands  must  also  be  reckon- 
ed salt,  pearl  shells  and  sandal-wood.  Salt  is  gathered,  in  a  crystal- 
lized form,  from  the  surface  of  a  small  lake  about  four  miles  to  the  west 
of  Honolulu,  situated  within  an  old  crater,  about  a  mile  from  the  sea. 
This  lake  is  very  shallow,  hardly  coming  above  a  man's  knees,  except- 
ing that  a  hole  in  the  middle,  long  supposed  to  be  bottomless,  has  been 
recently  ascertained  to  be  thirtj  or  forty  fathoms  deep.  By  this  hole 
it  is  generally  imagined  to  be  'Connected  with  the  ocean,  though  doctors 
differ,  as  to  whether  or  not  it  is  aflected  by  the  tides.  This  uncertainty 
as  to  the  tidal  intluence  conclusively  shows  that  the  subterranean  pas- 
sage, if  it  exist  at  all,  is  far  from  being  free  and  open,  while  a  similar 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


47 


i{],  at  all  events, 
church  or  state. 
,  also  fell  under 
)oon  companion 
m  article  of  ex- 
cel thing  in  the 
:ause,  the  cofl'ee 
;d  by  fanaticism 
sady  mentioned, 
vn  in  sufficient 
ntage  to  almost 
is  yet  not  likely 
if  land  which  it 
rious  and  more 
on  has  only  ol 
;  the  article,  as 
sent  to  market, 
of  fine  quahty ; 
drying  the  arli- 
Hudson's  Bay 
s  spontaneously 
las  not  attracted 
the  most  favor- 
the  scarcity  of 
it  grand  stalf  of 

It  is  extracted 

unctuous,  that, 

ndies,  each  nut 

Taking  the  hint. 

>r  breaking  and 

sks.     The  oil, 

finds  a  market 

d  barrels ;  and 

d  States.    The 

le  article ;  and, 

es  of  miles  in 

extent. 

dso  be  reckoii- 

J,  in  a  crystal- 

iles  to  the  wcsi 

from  tiie  sea. 

knees,  except- 

nless,  has  been 

By  this  hole 

though  doctors 

his  uncertainty 

terranean  pas- 

vhile  a  similar 


inference  may  be  drawn  from  the  fact,  that  the  rains  of  the  brief  winter 
of  this  leeward  coast  freshen  the  lake  to  the  ext(!iit  of  making  the  salt 
entirely  disappear.  In  tiie  dry  season,  the  more  that  is  taken  away, 
the  more  still  seems  to  be  left;  and,  in  the  course  of  one  year,  as 
much  as  30,000  barrels  have  been  procured  from  the  spot.  Pearl 
shells  are  numerous;  and  they  may  be  said  to  cost  nothing,  inasmuch 
as  they  are  caught  for  the  sake  of  the  oysters  that  they  contain.  These 
Hsh  are  found  not  only  in  the  sea,  but  also  in  a  small  lake,  near  to  that 
just  described,  though  there  they  are  so  inferior  in  size  and  quality  as 
not  to  be  disturbed  by  man.  Sandal  ivood,  as  we  have  elsewhere 
shown,  has  been  nearly  exhausted,  excepting  that,  in  the  forests  of 
Hawaii,  a  few  trees  may  still  be  found.  Young  plants,  however,  are 
said  to  be  springing  up  throughout  the  group,  though  meanwliile  tlie 
('liinesc,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  may  put  an  end  to  the  demand  for  the  arti- 
cle by  discarding  the  gods  that  are  its  principal  consumers.  If  com- 
merce alone  achieved  the  good  work  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  surely 
commerce  and  Christianity  together  may  be  expected  to  make  some 
impression  on  China. 

But  the  group  contains  timber  of  intrinsic  and  permanent  value. 
Good  materials  for  ship-building  exist,  which,  though  not  easily  acces- 
sible in  the  present  state  of  the  communications,  may  ultimately  be 
worth  looking  after,  if  they  really  be,  as  people  say,  proof  against  the 
attacks  of  worms  and  insects.  Woods,  well  adapted  for  cabinet  work, 
are  also  various  and  abundant;  such  as  koa,  ko,  kamanu,  ebony,  &c. 
&c.  With  the  exception  of  the  ebony,  which  is  of  inferior  quality, 
most  of  these  woods,  of  which  there  are  fifteen  or  twenty  kinds,  pos- 
sess a  beautiful  grain,  and  are  nearly  as  hard  as  mahogany.  In  appear- 
ance, some  of  them  resemble  mahogany,  others  maple,  others  elm,  and 
so  on.  We  had  many  opportunities  of  seeing  these  woods,  as  most  of 
the  furniture  in  Honolulu  is  made  from  them.  The  prickly  pear,  also, 
may,  like  the  mulberry,  become  indirectly  usetul,  as  the  means  of  in- 
troducing the  cochineal  insect.  The  climate  may  be  considered  as  pe- 
culiarly propitious  to  any  attempt  of  the  kind,  while  the  tree,  besides 
lieing  already  common,  is  propagated  with  wonderful  facility;  and,  as 
the  attention  of  some  of  the  residents  has  been  drawn  to  the  subject, 
cochineal  may  soon  have  to  be  enumerated  among  the  productions  of 
the  Sandwich  Islands. 

On  the  uplands  of  Mowee,  which  present  a  kind  of  temperate  zone 
within  the  tropics,  wheat  and  })otatoes  grow  with  great  luxuriance. 
The  potatoes  are  of  uncommon  size ;  and  the  wheat  is  said  to  be  cut 
down,  harvest  after  harvest,  from  the  same  ground,  just  like  so  much 
hay.  To  say  nothing  of  domestic  consumption,  or  of  the  supply  of 
shipping,  these  articles,  particularly  the  wheat,  might  find  a  ready  and 
profitable  sale  in  foreign  countries.  The  price  of  flour,  as  we  have 
i^een,  is  very  high  in  California;  and  it  is  still  higher  on  all  the  Russian 
roasts  of  the  Pacific,  more  especially  in  Kamschatka  and  the  Sea  of 
Ochotsk,  while,  so  far  as  the  rivalry  of  the  Oregon  is  concerned,  the 
•Sandwich  Islands,  from  their  central  position,  will  always  have  the 
advantage  in  lowness  of  freight  and  opportunities  of  transport. 


■  it 


» '' 


4$ 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


■^■ 


l"i'V, 


111 


gj-iifi 


m/.^ 


In  closing  this  part  of  my  subject,  I  need  merely  enumerate  tlio 
skins  of  wild  goats,  and  the  hides,  and  tallow,  and  beef  of  the  herds, 
that  wander  at  will  among  the  mountains,  as  productions  that  have  an 
important  bearing  on  the  commerce  of  the  group. 

To  pass  from  productions  to  manufactures,  the  most  showy  speci- 
mens of  native  art  are  the  military  banners  of  the  chiefs.  The  ka/ii/e, 
as  the  banner  is  called,  consists  of  a  pole  elaborately  inlaid  with  ivory, 
tortoise  shell  and  human  bone,  at  the  upper  end  of  which  are  fixed 
plumes  of  feathers,  similar  to  those  that  are  used  at  funerals  in  Ensr- 
land,  excepting  that  the  colors,  instead  of  being  black,  are  the  brightest 
possible,  green,  yellow,  red,  &c.  These  kahiles,  as  I  have  elsewhere 
stated,  are  more  or  less  splendid  according  to  the  rank  of  the  owner?. 
The  great  banner  of  the  Kamehamehas,  M'hich,  now  that  they  don't  go 
to  war,  is  displayed  only  in  the  funeral  processions  of  the  members  of 
the  royal  family,  is  thirty  or  forty  feet  high,  and  requires  several  men 
to  support  it.  A  humbler,  but  more  useful,  article  of  native  manufac- 
ture, is  rope  for  rigging  the  double  canoes  or  for  any  other  purpose  to 
which  rope  can  be  applied.  Some  of  it  is  made  from  the  cocoa  nut, 
some  of  reeds,  and  some  of  grass;  but  all  is  strong  and  well  laid. 
But  the  principal  manufacture  of  the  group  is  the  kapa  or  cloth.  It  is 
made  of  the  inner  bark  of  the  wouty  tree  {morus  papyrifera),  which, 
after  being  reduced  to  a  pulp,  is  beaten  out  to  such  degree  of  thickness 
as  may  be  desired,  while  the  face  of  the  fabric  is  susceptible  of  infi- 
nite variety,  according  as  the  face  of  the  mallet  is  smooth,  or  grooved, 
checked,  or  marKed  with  diamonds  or  any  other  figures  whatever.  In 
itself  the  article  is  of  a  light  color,  while,  by  bleaching,  it  may  be  ren- 
dered perfectly  white.  But  to  the  simplicity  of  nature  the  aborigines 
of  both  sexes  generally  prefer  a  gayer  hue ;  and  for  this  purpose  they 
stain  the  cloth  with  a  number  of  indigenous  dyes,  comprising  all  the 
possible  shades  of  brown,  yellow,  green  and  red,  several  colors  being 
frequently  contrasted  in  a  kind  of  mosaic  on  one  and  the  same  piece 
or  web.  Of  all  the  native  manufactures  perhaps  this  alone  enters  into 
general  commerce.  It  is  used  for  the  sheathing  of  ships,  for  which 
purpose  it  is,  in  the  north  Pacific,  preferred  to  felt;  it  has  certainly 
the  recommendation  of  cheapness,  as  five  or  six  sheets  of  twelve  feet 
square  may  be  had  for  a  dollar.  In  this  article  the  king  is  the  princi- 
pal dealer,  for,  in  the  shape  of  taxes,  his  majesty  is  glutted  with  cloth, 
and  is  glad  to  part  with  it  at  a  reasonable  rate. 


TRADE. 


Under  the  preceding  head  I  have  been  the  more  minute  in  detailing 
the  internal  resources  of  the  country,  sensible,  as  I  am,  of  the  expe- 
diency of  finding  some  balance  against  the  heavy  imports.  At  present 
the  merchants  have  little  but  specie  to  remit  in  return  for  foreign 
commodities;  and,  in  consequence  of  this,  the  exchange  is,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  so  much  against  the  islands,  that  the  dollar,  which  in  London 
seldom  brings  more  than  four  shillings  one  and  a  half  pence  sterling, 
varies  in  Honolulu  from  four  shillings  six  pence  to  four  shillings  ten 
pence  of  the  same  standard.     Thus  are  the  trader's  nominal  receipts 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


49 


shillings  ten 
iiinal  receipts 


reduced,  by  a  single  blow,  from  eight  to  fifteen  per  cent.:  and,  taking 
his  selling  price  to  be  the  double  of  the  prime  cost,  his  nominal  profits 
are  diminished  from  sixteen  to  thirty  per  cent.  In  other  words,  an 
apparent  addition  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  turns  out  to  be  a  real  addi- 
tion, which  never  exceeds  eighty-four  and  sometimes  does  not  exceed 
seventy.  If,  however,  remittances  could  be  made  in  native  produc- 
tions, the  merchant  would  have  at  least  a  choice  as  to  his  mode  of 
operation ;  and,  if  articles  of  export  should  prove  to  be  more  advan- 
tageous in  the  premises  than  dollars  or  bills  of  exchange,  the  specie 
would,  in  the  same  proportion,  permanently  lose  pari  of  its  local 
Value. 

But,  after  all,  it  is  not  to  their  internal  resources  that  these  islands, 
as  a  whole,  must  look  for  prosperity.  Their  position  alone  has,  in  a 
great  measure,  made  their  fortune,  a  position  which  is  equally  admira- 
ble, whether  viewed  in  connection  with  the  length  or  with  the  breadth 
of  the  surrounding  ocean. 

For  all  practical  purposes,  the  Sandwich  Islands  are  on  the  direct 
route  from  Cape  Horn  to  all  the  coasts  of  the  Northern  Pacific.  With 
respect  to  Kamschatka  and  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk,  this  is  evident  at  a 
glance ;  with  respect  to  Japan,  when  its  ports  shall  be  opened,  vessels 
will  find  their  advantage,  even  without  regard  to  refuge  or  refreshment, 
in  deviating  to  the  right  of  their  straight  course,  in  order  to  make  the 
northeast  trades  above  the  equator  as  fair  a  wind  as  possible  ;  and  with 
respect  to  California  and  the  northwest  coast,  the  apparently  inconve- 
nient deviation  to  the  left  is  rendered  not  only  expedient  but  almost 
necessary,  by  the  prevailing  breezes  which  have  just  been  mentioned. 
On  this  last  point.  Cook's  accidental  discovery  of  the  Archipelago, 
while  he  was  making  his  way  to  New  Albion,  was  tolerably  conclu- 
sive. In  addition  to  finding  the  islands,  he  marked  out  the  best  track 
for  his  successors,  just  as  the  Portuguese,  on  their  second  voyage  to 
India,  were  driven  to  Brazil  by  a  necessity  to  which  modern  navigat- 
ors voluntarily  yield,  thus,  by  the  by,  stumbling  on  the  New  World 
by  chance,  within  eight  years  after  its  premeditated  discovery,  and 
showing  that  a  few  more  seasons  of  disappointment  and  delay  would 
have  prevented  the  human  mind  from  winning  one  of  its  proudest  tro- 
phies, in  the  sagaciously  planned  and  resolutely  executed  enterprise  of 
Columbus. 

But  the  group  as  naturally  connects  the  east  and  the  west  as  the 
south  and  the  north.  Lying  in  the  very  latitude  of  San  Bias  and  Ma- 
cao, with  an  open  sea  in  either  direction,  it  crosses  the  shortest  road 
from  Mexico  to  China,  while,  considering  its  great  distance  to  the  west- 
ward of  the  new  continent,  but  more  particularly  of  its  southern  divi- 
sion, it  may,  without  involving  any  inadequate  sacrifice,  be  regarded 
as  a  stepping-stone  from  the  whole  of  the  American  coast  to  the  Celes- 
tial empire.  With  respect,  in  fact,  to  the  remoter  points  of  departure, 
the  deviation  is  far  less  than  it  seems,  inasmuch  as  the  westerly  winds 
which  prevail  within  a  few  degrees  of  each  side  of  the  tropics,  and 
thereby  embarrass  any  direct  passage  to  the  westward  above  or  below 
the  limits  of  the  trades,  bring  California  and  all  to  the  north  of  it  into 

PART  II. 4 


Jit. 


50 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


;(■:'.,,    ' 


*%; 


* 


the  track  of  Mexico,  and  place  Chili  pretty  nearly  in  the  situation  of 
Peru. 

Again,  with  reference  to  each  of  the  last  two  paragraphs,  the  islands 
lie  but  little  out  of  the  way  of  the  returning  voyagers.  Situated  as 
they  are,  within  little  more  than  a  day's  sail  of  the  westerly  winds  that 
sweep  the  Northern  Pacific,  they  are  just  as  accessible  to  China  and 
Japan  as  China  and  Japan  are  to  them,  while  any  visitor  to  whom  the 
winds  in  question  may  still  be  requisite  for  the  ;>rosecution  of  his  east- 
erly course,  may  again  escape  from  the  influence  of  the  trades  without 
having  lost  a  week.  In  effect,  the  group  is  a  kind  of  station-house^ 
where  two  railroads  cross  one  another,  each  with  parallel  lines  for 
opposite  trains. 

The  position  of  the  Archipelago,  as  just  described,  is  the  more  valu- 
able on  this  account,  that  it  neither  is  nor  ever  can  be,  shared  by  any 
rival.  If  one  makes  no  account  of  the  comparative  vicinity  of  mere 
islets,  which  are  worthless  alike  for  refuge  and  for  refreshment,  the 
Sandwich  Islands  form,  perhaps,  the  most  secluded  spot  on  earth, 
being  at  least  twice  as  far  from  the  nearest  land  as  the  lonely  rock  of 
St.  Helena. 

But  it  is  not  merely  for  the  purposes  of  refuge  and  refreshment  that 
the  position  in  question  promises  to  be  avaUable.  Already  have  the 
Sandwich  Islands  begun  to  be  a  common  centre  of  traffic  for  some  of 
the  countries,  which  they  serve  to  link  together.  Even  now  their 
exports  comprise  a  larger  proportion  of  foreign  commodities  than  of 
native  productions,  such  as  hides  and  sea-otters  from  California,  silver 
from  Mexico,  teas  and  manufactures  from  China.  Though  the  system 
of  entrepots,  which,  in  a  great  measure,  nursed  Holland  and  Belgium 
into  wealth  and  populousness,  has  gone  by  in  Europe,  yet  it  seems  to 
be  well  fitted  to  regulate,  for  many  years  to  come,  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  ports  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  inasmuch  as  many  of  them  must 
long  be  unable  to  consume  whole  cargoes,  in  unbroken  bulk,  of  articles 
of  the  growth  or  manufacture  of  any  single  country.  In  this  respect, 
the  tendencies  of  nature  have,  to  some  extent,  been  strengthened  by 
the  capricious  administration  of  the  impolitic  laws  of  Mexico.  In  that 
republic,  the  duties,  which  are  always  high  in  the  terms  of  the  tariff, 
are  collected,  according  to  whim  or  necessity,  with  greater  or  less 
strictness,  each  port,  as  well  as  each  week,  having  its  own  peculiar 
mode  of  reducing  the  theory  to  practice;  so  that,  when  a  vessel  finds 
the  authorities  in  a  troublesome  or  extortionate  humor,  she  runs  for  it 
to  Honolulu,  there  disposing  of  her  cargo  at  better  prices,  or  at  least 
depositing  it  for  better  times.  As  an  instance  of  this,  the  "  Joseph 
Peabody,"  that  entered  the  harbor  along  with  us,  was  indeed  from 
Mazadan,  as  I  then  mentioned,  but  had  actually  brought  most  of  her 
goods  by  that  circuitous  route  from  China. 

When  the  ports  of  Japan  are  opened,  and  the  two  oceans  are  con- 
nected by  means  of  a  navigable  canal,  so  as  to  place  the  group  in  the 
direct  route  between  Europe  and  the  United  States  on  one  hand, 
and  the  whole  of  Eastern  Asia  on  the  other,  then  will  the  trade  in 
question  expand  in  amount  and  variety,  till  it  has  rendered  Woahoo 


•v.. 


he  situation  of 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


51 


the  emporium  of  at  least  the  Pacific  Ocean,  for  the  products,  natural 
and  artificial,  of  every  corner  of  the  globe.  Then  will  Honolulu  be 
one  of  the  marts  of  the  world,  one  of  those  exchanges  to  which  nature 
herself  grants  in  perpetuity  a  more  than  royal  charter. 

If  these  anticipations — and  even  now  they  are  not  dreams — be  ever 
realized,  the  internal  resources  of  the  islands  will  find  the  readiest  and 
amplest  development  in  the  increase  of  domestic  consumption,  and  the 
demands  of  foreign  commerce.  In  some  direction  or  other  every  native 
production  will  follow  its  appropriate  outlet;  and,  in  a  word,  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  will  become  the  West  Indies  of  all  the  less  favored  climes 
from  California  to  Japan.  As  I  have  already  remarked  of  one  or  two 
articles  in  particular,  the  greater  part  of  the  exports  will  most  probably 
meet  their  best  market  in  the  Russian  settlements.  In  them,  the  ne- 
cessaries, as  well  as  the  luxuries,  of  life  are  pearls  of  inestimable 
value;  and,  if  expediency  could  justify  aggression,  the  czar  might  more 
excusably  have  seized  this  Archipelago  than  ever  any  one  else  appro- 
priated a  foot  of  land  that  did  not  belong  to  him.  Even  now  France 
and  America  and  England  might  be  more  willing  to  let  the  Sandwich 
Islands  fall  into  the  hands  of  Russia,  than  to  see  them  continue  liable 
to  be  seized,  on  some  pretext  or  other,  by  any  one  of  themselves. 

In  all  this  mighty  work,  whether  it  be  wholly  or  partly  accomplish- 
ed, our  own  race  will  furnish  the  principal  actors.  The  commerce  of 
this  ocean  will  be  ruled  and  conducted  by  England,  aided  and  rivaled 
only  by  her  own  republican  oflTspring  of  America;  and  the  merchants 
of  these  two  nations,  the  most  enterprising  merchants  and  the  most 
powerful  nations  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  must  decide,  with  a 
sway  greater  than  that  of  princes,  the  destinies  of  this  sea  of  seas,  with 
its  boundless  shores  and  its  countless  isles.  In  this  respect  the  past 
and  the  present,  as  they  must  strike  the  most  superficial  observer,  are 
sufficient  guarantees  for  the  future. 

But  the  position  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  which  I  have  hitherto  con- 
sidered in  its  bearings,  or  international  intercourse,  is  not  less  command- 
ing with  respect  to  fisheries  than  to  commerce.  In  the  upper  half  of 
the  Pacific,  there  are  three  principal  whaling-grounds,  one  on  the 
Equator,  another  near  Japan,  and  the  third  towards  the  Russian  settle- 
ments, while,  generally  speaking,  the  same  vessels  pass,  according  to 
the  season,  from  one  scene  of  operations  to  another.  Now  this  Archi- 
pelago, as  the  hastiest  glance  at  the  map  must  show,  could  not  have 
been  better  placed,  if  it  had  been  exclusively  intended  by  Providence 
to  be  a  common  centre  for  the  whaling-grounds  in  question ;  and  if,  on 
the  intermediate  ocean,  there  be  specks  superior  in  mere  situation,  cer- 
tainly not  one  of  nature's  other  caravanseras,  within  the  assigned  limits, 
has  been  either  so  conveniently  fitted,  or  so  bountifully  supplied.  In 
consequence  of  these  unrivaled  advantages,  the  ports  of  the  group — 
particularly  Honolulu,  in  a  far  higher  proportion  than  all  the  other  ports 
put  together — have  long  been  visited  by  all  the  whalers  of  the  North 
Pacific  for  refuge  and  refreshment,  while  they  have  gradually  come  to 
be  frequented  for  ordinary  repairs,  and,  also,  for  stores  and  equipments 
of  every  description.     It  is  chiefly  with  reference  to  the  supply  of  these 


•y'' 


I 


I- 


-i 


.,1 


52 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


Ijllt! 


'ill 


civilized  wants,  that  foreign  merchants  and  foreign  mechanics  liave 
established  themselves  in  the  group,  thus  forming  such  a  nucleus  of 
local  enterprise  as  is  likely  to  eflect  a  material  change,  equally  bene- 
ficial to  all  parties,  in  the  system  of  prosecuting  the  fisheries.  As  has 
already  begun  to  be  the  case  with  the  adjacent  coasts,  so  has  it  been 
with  the  adjacent  waters;  in  the  one  instance,  as  well  as  in  the  other, 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  from  being  the  tavern  of  the  traders,  promise  to 
become  the  entrepot  of  the  trade.  Even  now,  several  small  whalers 
are  owned  in  Honolulu ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt,  that,  from  year 
to  year,  the  port  in  question,  like  Sydney  in  the  South  Pacific,  will 
engross  a  larger  share  of  the  business,  storing  the  oil  to  be  freighted  to 
its  ultimate  destination.  With  such  an  example  before  them,  the 
whalers  in  general  will  be  led  to  separate  the  two  naturally  distinct 
departments  of  the  work,  the  fishing  and  the  carrying — a  division  of 
labor,  which  will  be  profitable  in  more  ways  than  one.  At  present,  the 
vessel  loses  at  least  ten  or  twelve  months  in  going  and  coming;  and 
thus  a  year's  interest  on  the  heavy  expense  of  her  special  outfit,  is 
almost  literally  thrown  into  the  sea.  At  present,  the  oil,  instead  of  being 
sent,  fresh  and  fresh,  to  market,  lies,  on  an  average,  half  the  time  of  the 
cruize  in  the  hold ;  and  thus  are  two  capitals  hazarded  to  earn  the 
returns  of  one,  while,  in  order  to  aggravate  the  evil,  the  dead  stock  is 
stowed  away  in  the  most  costly  warehouse  in  the  world.  At  present, 
the  officers  and  crew  are  selected  with  almost  exclusive  reference  to 
their  skill  and  boldness  in  pursuing  and  capturing  the  whale  ;  and  thus, 
during  a  period  of  perhaps  three  years,  of  which,  at  least,  a  half  is  not 
spent  in  fishing,  the  owners  are  obliged  to  leave  their  property  at  the 
mercy  of  men,  who,  to  say  nothing  of  the  general  absence  of  the  higher 
qualities  of  a  mariner,  have  undertaken  the  management,  rather  of  the 
ship's  boats  than  of  the  ship  herself.  Surely,  the  remedying  of  these 
defects  would  be  worth  a  month  or  so  of  warehouse  rent,  and  the 
charges  of  transshipment. 

To  conclude  this  chapter  with  a  brief  view  of  the  actual  state  of  trade, 
there  arrived  in  Honolulu  alone,  from  1836  to  1839,  inclusive,  three 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  vessels.  Of  these,  the  whalers  amounted  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty-five,  all  but  five  being  either  American  or  British. 
As  many  of  the  whalers,  particularly  when  they  require  nothing  but 
such  refreshment  as  the  islands  themselves  yield,  call  at  other  ports, 
perhaps  the  annual  number  of  this  class  of  arrivals  cannot  be  estimated 
at  less  than  a  hundred.  During  the  same  period,  the  imports  of  Hono- 
lulu— equivalent,  I  take  it,  to  the  imports  of  the  group — averaged,  one 
year  with  another,  nearly  340,000  dollars  at  prime  cost ;  and,  what  is 
to  my  mind  far  more  worthy  of  notice  than  their  mere  value,  they  had 
been  brought  from  the  United  States,  England,  Prussia,  Chili,  Mexico, 
California,  Northwest  Coast,  Tahiti,  with  other  southern  islands,  China 
and  Manilla.  Again,  during  the  same  period, the  exports  avorage.',  one 
year  with  another,  about  78,000  dollars,  of  local  value,  consisting  of 
sandal  wood,  hides,  goat-skins,  salt,  tobacco,  sugar,  molasses,  kukui  oil, 
sperm  oil,  the  produce  of  a  vessel  fitted  out  from  Woahoo,  arrowroot, 
and  sundries.    All  these  articles,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  qualified 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


53 


:s  avoragli^.1,  one 


description  of  the  sperm  oil,  were  native  productions.  But  of  exports, 
properly  so  called,  the  true  amount  differed  considerahly  from  the  fore- 
going statement.  Under  the  head  of  sundries  was  included  little  or 
nothing  but  supplies  of  meat  and  vegetables  for  the  shipping;  and,  as 
the  head  in  question  amounted,  as  nearly  as  possible,  to  a  half  of  the 
whole,  the  exports,  in  the  technical  meaning  of  the  word,  would  be  not 
78,000,  but  39,000  dollars.  The  exports  proper,  however,  were  ra- 
pidly increasing.  In  1840,  down  to  the  middle  of  August,  as  compared 
with  the  whole  of  the  preceding  year,  hides,  at  two  dollars  each,  had 
risen  from  6,000  to  18,500  dollars,  goat-skins,  at  twenty-five  cents 
each,  had  risen  from  1,000  to  10,000  dollars;  sugar  had  risen  from 
6,000  dollars,  at  six  cents  a  pound,  to  18,000  dollars,  at  five  cents; 
molasses  had  risen  froui  3,000  dollars,  at  twenty-five  cents  a  gallon,  to 
7,300  dollars,  at  twenty-three  cents  ;  and  arrowroot  had  risen  from 
nothing,  in  1839,  the  average  of  the  preceding  three  years  having  been 
less  than  300  dollars,  to  1,700  dollars  in  the  part  aforesaid,  of  1840. 
To  add  one  particular  more  to  this  statement  of  arrivals,  and  imports 
and  exports,  there  were  owned  in  Honolulu,  in  1840,  ten  vessels  by 
foreign  residents,  seven  by  American  citizens,  and  three  by  British  sub- 
jects ;  and  besides  these  more  considerable  craft,  which  averaged  one 
hundred  and  thirty  tons,  there  were  five  small  schooners  owned  by 
natives. 

Of  the  imports  a  considerable  proportion,  as  I  have  elsewhere  stated, 
is  again  exported — a  feature,  by  the  by,  in  the  trade,  which  is  a  more 
characteristic  omen  of  the  future  than  any  amount  of  internal  demand. 

Of  such  imports  as  are  actually  consumed  in  the  islands,  a  con- 
siderable share,  of  course,  goes,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  pay  for  the 
native  articles  of  export.  Perhaps  about  the  same  amount  is  absorbed 
by  cans  of  the  expenditure  of  resident  foreigners:  the  missionaries, 
nun.bering  about  forty  families  in  the  group,  are  said,  whether  they  be 
ministers,  or  schoolmasters,  or  surgeons,  or  secular  agents,  to  receive 
six  hundred  dollars  a  year  each,  of  which  every  cent  must  find  its  way 
to  the  shop  to  supply  either  their  own  wants  or  the  wants  of  those 
natives  with  whom  they  deal ;  and  all  others  of  extraneous  origin, 
mustering  about  six  hundred  souls  in  Honolulu  and  elsewhere,  cannot 
be  estimated,  as  many  of  them  are  wealthy,  to  contribute,  either 
through  themselves  or  their  dependents,  less  than  fifty  dollars  a  year 
each  to  the  coffers  of  the  merchants.  Of  the  latter  class,  too,  there  are 
many  individuals,  who,  in  addition  to  their  regular  outlay,  circulate 
large  sums  of  money  through  the  instrumentality  of  native  women,  who 
are  sure  faithfully  to  squander  all  that  they  earn ;  and,  to  give  a  single 
instance,  a  young  Chinaman,  who  committed  suicide  during  our  visit, 
was  ascertained  to  have  kept  up  his  harem,  during  the  last  year  of  his 
life,  at  a  cost  of  5,000  dollars.  Again  the  whaling  trade  accounts,  in 
various  ways,  for  nearly  half  of  all  the  local  consumption.  The  vessels 
themselves  cannot  spend  less  than  1,000  dollars  each  on  equipments, 
repairs  and  provisions;  each  crew  must  add  about  a  fourth  to  this 
amount  in  dissipation  of  every  possible  description ;  and  the  natives, 
who  have  served  abroad  chiefly  in  the  fisheries,  must,  in  one  way  or 


■'»  ^1 


t-. 


f  >l 


<  .'  I! 
•  .11 


!  i- 


54 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


Other,  get  rid  of  savings  nearly  equivalent  to  the  sums  wasted  by  all  the 
actual  crews.  Over  and  above  all  this  is  to  be  reckoned  part  of  the 
consumption  among  the  natives.  So  far  as  the  common  people  are 
concerned,  the  greater  part  of  their  expenditure  has  already  been  in- 
cluded under  the  foregoing  heads;  but  the  king  and  chiefs,  viewed 
partly  as  individuals,  and  partly  as  the  government,  cannot  derive 
from  sources  independent  of  anything  that  has  been  stated,  less  than 
30,000  dollars  a  year,  converting  the  whole  into  imports  either  for 
their  own  gratification  or  for  the  maintenance  of  the  public  establish- 
ments. 


tl,  -^' 


t^. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 

The  very  day  after  oiir  own  arrival,  the  Vancouver,  one  of  The 
Hudson's  Bay  Company's  vessels,  touched  at  Honolulu  on  her  way  to 
the  Columbia,  and  after  remaining  about  a  month,  she  resumed  her 
voyage  in  the  middle  of  March,  carrying  with  her  nearly  the  whole  of 
my  immediate  party,  Mr.  McLaughlin,  and  Mr.  Rowand  for  their  respect- 
ive posts,  and  Mr.  Hopkins  for  England.  Mr.  Hopkins'  departure  I 
felt  as  a  serious  loss  with  respect  to  the  keeping  of  my  journal,  more 
particularly  .is  my  own  eyes  were  by  no  means  strong;  and  in  conse- 
quence of  this,  my  subsequent  notes  were  generally  rougher  and 
scantier  than  I  could  have  wished. 

When  the  Vancouver  was  ready  for  starting,  a  scene  occurred  on 
board  of  her,  which  forcibly  illurtrated,  at  least  in  the  case  of  long  and 
distant  voyages,  the  impolicy  of  the  laws  for  regulating  nautical  dis- 
cipline. The  boatswain,  whose  conduct  had  previously  been  good, 
had  got  intoxicated  immediately  on  entering  the  port,  and  after  being 
absent  for  some  time,  without  leave,  had  been  brought  on  board  by  the 
police;  but,  refusing  to  do  his  duty,  he  was  again  sent  on  shore  and 
confined  in  the  fort.  When  the  vessel  was  ready  for  sea,  he  was 
brought  out  to  her  in  irons  under  the  immediate  charge  of  the  British 
consul.  While  he  was  yet  in  the  boat,  he  attempted  to  strike  down 
Mr.  Charlton  with  his  manacles ;  and  when  he  reached  the  deck,  he 
threatened,  to  say  nothing  of  his  disgusting  obscenity,  that,  if  carried 
away,  he  would  excite  a  mutiny.  His  violence,  which,  in  fact,  amounted 
to  temporary  insanity,  elicited  a  murmur  of  applause  from  the  crew ; 
and,  as  it  was  out  of  the  question  to  admit  such  a  fellow  among  such 
comrades,  without  the  power  of  inflicting  adequate  punishment,  he 
was  remanded  to  the  fort,  to  be  dealt  with  as  the  consul  might  deem 
necessary  or  expedient.  As  might  have  been  expected,  this  example, 
however  inevitable,  of  yielding  to  the  demands  of  one  man  led  to  sub- 
sequent acts  of  insubordination  on  the  part  of  the  others.  In  the  pre- 
sent state  of  the  law,  tlie  master,  particularly  with  all  the  chances  of 
misrepresentation  against  him,  is  never  safe  in  proceeding  summarily 
against  an  ofTender.  The  men  act  accordingly,  unless  they  know  that 
they  are  within  easy  reach  of  a  ship  of  war  or  of  a  court  of  justice  ;  and 
thus  the  very  statute,  which  is  intended  to  prevent  mutiny,  not  unfre- 
quently  encourages  it.  All  these  defects  of  the  law  are  aggravated  by 
the  notorious  fact,  that  British  seamen  are  the  most  unmanageable  in 
the  world. 


S'i 


K? 


•       >  'A? 


t 


.1 


m 


66 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


After  tho  dcpiirturo  of  the  Vancouver,  I  accompanied  my  friend  Mr. 
Pelly  to  his  rural  retreat  in  the  valley  of  Nuanau.  The  change  of 
temperature  within  a  distance  of  four  miles  of  gentle  ascent  was  very 
remarkahle,  so  that,  at  our  journey's  end,  we  found  a  change  from  light 
grass  clothing  to  warm  pea-jackets  highly  acceptable.  Mr.  Pelly's 
residence  was  a  snug  little  cottage,  surrounded  by  a  great  variety  of 
tropical  plants,  particularly  by  beds  of  pine-apples  and  miniature  planta- 
tions of  cofl'ee.  In  Aict,  the  gardens  of  the  residents  generally  contain 
rich  displays  of  almost  every  (lower  and  shrub  under  the  sun,  orange, 
lemon,  citron,  lime,  pomegranate,  fig,  olive,  gooseberry,  strawberry, 
squash,  melon,  grape,  guava,  tomata,  batata  or  love  apple,  yams,  sweet 
potatoes,  with  many  other  fruits  and  all  sorts  of  esculent  vegetables. 
To  notice  one  or  two  of  the  rarer  specimens,  a  very  large  variety  of 
melon  produces  a  most  gorgeous  (lower,  far  more  beautiful  and  elaborate 
than  even  the  passiHora  in  Europe,  and  the  papia  causes  so  rapid  a 
decomposition  in  meats,  that  the  toughest  beef  or  the  most  venerable  of 
old  cocks,  if  steeped  in  an  infusion  of  the  fruit  or  the  stem  of  the  plant, 
becomes,  in  a  few  hours,  perfectly  tender.  In  addition  to  all  that  I 
have  just  enumerated,  may  be  mentioned,  the  prickly  pear,  the  oriental 
lilac,  the  date  palm,  the  camphor  tree,  in  short  nearly  all  the  plants 
of  all  the  groups  of  Polynesia ;  and,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  extend  the 
catalogue,  Mr.  Hopkins  left  in  the  hands  of  one  of  the  most  persevering 
horticulturists  some  seeds  of  the  cherry  and  apple,  which  he  had 
brought  from  England. 

At  the  head  of  the  valley,  distant  but  a  few  miles  from  the  house,  a 
pali  of  1,100  feet  in  height  overhangs  the  windward  side  of  the  island. 
I  had  intended  to  ride  to  this  precipice  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon, 
but  was  prevented  by  the  heavy  rain  ;  our  time,  however,  was  spent 
very  agreeably  in  receiving  visits  from  many  of  the  neighboring  na- 
tives. Next  morning,  though  the  rain  continued  to  fii>U  as  heavily  as 
ever,  and  the  clouds  and  mist  were  driving  down  tlu  ,L,'orge  before  the 
trade-wind,  I  was  trotting  away  at  dawn  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  storm. 

The  scenery  of  Nuanau  is  strikingly  picturesque  and  romantic.  On 
looking  downwards,  the  placid  ocean  breaking  on  the  coral  reefs  that 
gird  the  island,  the  white  houses  of  the  town  glancing  in  the  sun,  the 
ships  lying  at  anchor  in  the  harbor,  while  canoes  and  boats  are  ditting, 
as  if  in  play,  among  them,  form  together  a  view  which,  in  addition  to 
its  physical  beauty,  overwhelms  one  who  looks  back  to  the  past,  with 
a  flood  of  moral  associations.  In  the  opposite  direction  you  discover 
a  rugged  glen,  with  blackened  and  broken  mountains  on  either  side, 
which  are  partially  covered  with  low  trees,  while  from  crag  to  crag 
there  leaps  and  bubbles  many  a  stream,  as  if  glad  and  eager  to  drop  its 
fatness  through  its  dependent  aqueducts,  on  the  parched  plain  below. 
Nor  is  the  view  in  this  direction  destitute,  any  more  than  the  view  in 
the  other,  of  historical  interest.  It  was  up  this  very  pass  that  Kame- 
hameha,  after  gaining,  as  already  mentioned,  his  last  and  greatest  bat- 
tle, chased  with  "  his  red  pursuing  spear"  the  forces  of  Woahoo,  and 
his  own  recreant  followers  who  had  joined  them,  till  he  drove  them 
headlong,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred,  "death  in  their  front,  de- 


wd 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


57 


^.-'^'J 


struction  in  their  rear,"  down  the  ahnost  perpendicular  wall  that  .   nni- 
iiatos  the  valley. 

On  arrivinjr  at  the  pali,  I  saw,  as  it  were,  at  my  feet  a  chami^  ime 
country,  prettily  dotted  with  villatrcs,  frroves  and  plantations,  wh  in 
the  distance  there  lay,  screened,  however,  by  a  curtain  of  vapors,  the 
same  ocean  which  I  had  so  lately  left  behind  nic.  Though  the  wind, 
as  it  entered  the  gorge,  blew  in  such  gusts  as  ahnost  prevented  me  from 
standing,  yet  I  resolved  to  attempt  the  tlescent,  which  was  known  to  he 
practicable  for  those  who  had  not  Kainehameha  to  hurry  them.  I 
accordingly  scrambled  down,  having,  of  course,  dismounted,  for  some 
distance ;  but  as  the  path  was  slippery  from  the  wet,  I  was  fain  to  re- 
trace my  steps  before  reaching  the  bottom.  In  all  weathers,  however, 
the  natives,  when  they  arc  coming  to  market  with  pigs,  vegetables,  <fec., 
are  in  the  habit  of  safely  ascending  and  descending  the  precipice  with 
their  loads. 

While  I  was  drenched  on  this  excursion,  the  good  folks  of  Honolulu 
were  as  dry  and  dusty  as  usual,  the  showers  having  merely  peeped 
out  of  the  valley  to  tantalize  them.  For  domestic  use,  in  spite  of  the 
prevailing  droughts,  Honolulu  is  plentifully  supplied  with  water. 
Wells,  varying  in  depth  from  thirty  to  eighty  feet,  cost  very  little  in 
digging,  by  reason  of  the  peculiar  formation  of  the  soil.  This  consists 
of  a  layer  of  mould  from  two  to  six  feet  in  thickness,  then  of  a  similar 
layer  of  black  sand,  and  lastly,  of  a  deep  bed  of  coral.  When  first 
worked,  the  coral  is  found  to  be  quite  soft,  and  is  cut  with  the  same 
ease  as  stiff  clay ;  but  when  exposed  to  the  air  it  becomes  like  rock, 
thus  forming  walls  of  better  masonry  than  a  workman  could  lay  down. 
Under  ground,  in  fact,  fresh  water  appears  to  be  remarkably  abundant. 
A  few  years  ago,  in  the  operation  of  digging  for  a  well,  a  crowbar, 
when  pushed  into  the  bed  of  coral,  suddenly  disappeared ;  the  opening 
was  enlarged,  and  found  to  communicate  with  a  subterranean  brook  of 
pure  and  cool  water,  flowing  with  a  swift  current  in  the  direction  of 
the  sea.  This  brook  is  said  to  be  about  fifty  feet  wide,  and  from  two 
to  six  fathoms  in  depth;  but  beyond  these  particulars  nobody  has  had 
curiosity  enough  to  inquire  into  the  source  or  the  mouth  of  this  mys- 
terious stream. 

Before  I  say  anything  of  my  voyage  to  Mowee,  to  which  the  regular 
course  of  my  journal  has  now  brought  me,  I  shall  offer  a  few  desul- 
tory remarks  on  Honolulu  and  its  neighborhood,  such  as  did  not  fall 
under  any  of  the  heads  of  my  last  two  chapters. 

On  the  slope  of  an  extinct  volcano,  which  is  about  four  miles  from 
the  town,  are  the  ruins  of  one  of  the  temples  of  the  ancient  idolatry. 
An  area  of  about  two  hundred  feet  by  about  fifty,  is  surrounded  by  a 
wall  of  eight  or  ten  feet  in  height  and  six  or  eight  in  thickness,  built 
with  extreme  neatness  of  loose  blocks  of  stone,  lava  and  coral.  In 
this  enclosure  are  the  remains  of  three  or  four  small  squares  for  the 
altars,  within  which  the  bones  of  victims  are  said  to  be  still  plentiful. 
The  longer  sides  of  this  temple  look  to  the  north  and  south,  all  the 
altars  standing,  or  having  stood,  near  the  western  end.  In  addition  to 
the  human  sacrifices,  these  temples,  according  to  general  testimony, 


i' 


f. 


|§  SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 

woro  the  urcne  orrnnni!)aIi8m,  which,  a«  well  na  th«  preparatory  miir- 
d<T,  is  believed  to  hav<!  been  u  reli^fioiis  rite.  Whether  the  devourinj^ 
of  men  was  always  of  a  saered  eharaeler,  one  may  he  allowed  to 
d()ul)t;  but  that  it  Hornetitnes  was  so,  we  must  infer  with  certainty  from 
the  fact,  that,  when  the  assembled  chiefs  were  consulting  how  they 
could  best  honor  the  mortal  remains  of  Kamel.ameha,  one  of  thcin 
propounded  his  opinion  to  the  cllect,  that  they  should  "  eat  him  raw." 
Taking  this  proposal,  by  the  by,  as  a  sample  of  the  manners  of  IHIU, 
civilization  has  undeniably  made  rapid  strides  in  (lis  Archipelago, 
'i'hc  merit  of  the  change  is  quite  large  enough  to  satisfy  the  just  pride 
of  both  merchants  and  missionaries. 

During  our  stay  we  had  a  specimen  of  the  working  of  a  different 
system  of  paganism,  in  the  suicide  already  mentioned  of  a  young 
Chinaman.  This  practical  atheist  had  hanged  himself,  to  make  assur- 
ance doubly  sure,  with  a  rope  of  an  inch  and  a  half  in  thickness.  'I'ho 
malady  is  a  national  one, — an  instance  of  its  obstinacy  having  occurred 
in  our  own  service  on  the  northwest  coast.  A  Chinese  steward  on 
hoard  of  one  of  our  vessels,  getting  sick  of  life,  jumped  ovcrboaril 
while  the  ship  was  under  full  sail.  As  he  was  loo  expert  a  swimmer 
to  sink  on  any  terms,  he  held  down  his  head  as  if  he  hoped  to  got 
water-logged;  but,  before  he  could  drown,  he  was  picked  up  by  one 
of  the  boats.  On  reaching  the  deck,  he  merely  grinned,  saying  "  make 
muchee  cold,"  and  forthwith  proceeded  to  lay  the  cloth  for  dinner. 
But  where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way ;  and  the  fellow  was  subse- 
quently fortunate  enough  to  drown  himself  in  the  Columbia  River. 
But  to  return  to  Honolulu,  the  unhappy  youth,  having  inherited  a  con- 
siderable property  from  a  brother,  who  had  died  in  Mowee  of  the  same 
distemper,  had  at  once  rushed  into  an  extravagant  sort  of  life,  carrying 
the  passion  of  his  race  for  gambling  to  a  characteristic  extent,  and 
maintaining,  in  addition  to  a  lawful  wife,  a  whole  nest  of  houries  at  a 
ruinous  expense.  It  was  this  last  circumstance  that  led  to  his  death. 
The  police,  having  got  evidence  of  his  amours,  threatened  to  bring  him 
up  before  the  court;  and,  in  order  to  avoid  the  exposure,  he  destroyed 
himself.  No  sooner  was  his  corpse  laid  out  on  the  floor,  than  his 
bereaved  favorites,  howling  their  lamentations  over  him  in  dismal 
strains,  endeavored  to  shampoo  him  back  into  life;  but  he  was  too  far 
gone  for  that,  and  was  buried  the  same  afternoon  in  the  Protestant 
ground,  while  a  dense  crowd  followed  him  to  the  grave  with  a  hired 
band  of  music,  which  had  all  day  formed  a  curious  accompaniment  to 
the  wailing  of  the  women,  with  the  cheerful  notes  of  the  fife,  and  cor- 
net, and  drum.  This  scapegrace  was  in  partnership  with  Hungtai 
already  mentioned;  and  the  old  gendeman,  whether  it  was  that  he  was 
pround  of  his  countryman's  stoicism,  or  that  he  was  glad  to  have  got 
rid  of  so  unserviceable  an  associate,  had  no  sooner  seen  the  body  com- 
mitted to  the  earth,  than  he  returned  home  with  a  smiling  countenance, 
and  whiffed  off  all  recollection  of  his  friend  in  a  pipe  of  opium. 
Among  those,  by  whom  suicide  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  ordinary 
outlets  from  this  world,  sympathy  of  any  sort  is  not  to  be  expected, 
for  how  can  a  man,  who  does  not  value  his  own  life,  value  another's, 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC, 


69 


and  how  can  a  man,  who  does  not  drpldrr  the  dratli  of  a  nri>,'hhor, 
(leplorc!  any  of  his  h'ssor  iniNfortnrn'H  ?  To  nturii  to  iho  suhjrct  of  iho 
dccoasL'd  spendthrift,  hJH  (>xnni|)lr  Honnrd  to  lir  ronini^iotin  in  his 
harem,  for,  within  a  few  days,  hin  favorite  inistreMS  followed  him  hy 
(Irinkinj^  a  deeoction  of  some  pieees  of  old  copper. 

Of  the  Chinese  then;  are  altojrether  ahotit  forty  in  this  Archipelajjo, 
as  they  are,  in  fact,  8catt«Ted  wherever  they  can  earn  a  livelihood,  over 
a  hinidrcd  degrees  of  loni^itude,  from  W()aln)o  to  Sincapore.  Ah  dis- 
tinguished from  iheir  Tartar  mastern,  the  people  of  (Jhina  arc  not  tho 
bigoted  enemies  of  foreign  intercourse  that  tliey  are  siipposrd  to  he: 
they  are,  on  the  contrary,  ready  to  go  ahroad  either  as  resiilents  or  as 
wanderers,  combining  t'lc  laborious  habits  of  the  Irish  with  the  ped- 
dling disposition  of  the  .lews.  In  this  respect  they  ar»;  remarkably  dif- 
ferent from  the  Japanese,  who,  even  when  they  find  themselves  from 
home,  with  hardly  tlie  hope  of  returning,  can  think  of  nothing  but  their 
native  land.  This  was  eminently  the  case  with  the  two  little  bands, 
that  were  driven,  as  elsewhere  slated,  to  the  shores  of  this  group. 
Notwithstanding  all  the  kindness  that  they  experienced,  particularly 
from  the  missionaries,  they  pined  for  their  own  islanils,  the  young  as 
well  as  the  old,  the  single  as  well  as  tho  married.  One  of  their  remarks, 
by  the  by,  forcibly  shows  how  beneficial  the  previous  abolition  of  the 
idolatry  of  the  group  must  have  been  to  the  teachers  of  Christianity. 
When  pressed  on  tho  subject  of  religion,  the  poor  exiles  replied  with 
equal  pathos  and  firmness:  "The  gods  of  America  may  be  good  for 
Americans,  but  the  gods  of  our  country  are  good  for  us."  Though,  in 
their  case,  the  desire  of  revisiting  the  place  of  their  birth  may  have 
rendered  them  less  willing  to  abjure  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  yet  a 
similar  feeling  cannot,  to  the  same  extent, aflect  the  Chinese  residents; 
and  yet  every  one  of  them  says  every  day  of  his  life,  if  not  in  words 
at  least  in  effect,  that  his  own  creed  is  the  best  for  him.  Most  of  the 
Chinese  residents  have  originally  come  to  the  island  under  engage- 
ments of  some  kind  or  other,  gradually  establishing  themselves  in  busi- 
ness as  opportunities  might  occur, — two  industrious  fellows,  in  parti- 
cular, of  the  name  of  Sam  and  Mow,  having  recently  opened  shop  as 
bakers,  with  a  poetical  advertisement  worthy  of  "  Hunt's  Matchless" 
or  "  Warren's  I31acking."  Generally  speaking,  they  are  found  to  be  a 
great  acquisition  in  the  factories  and  the  stores,  and  moreover  make 
very  excellent  servants.  They  are  satisfied  with  moderate  wages,  and, 
living,  as  they  do,  principally  on  rice  and  vegetables,  are  maintained  at 
little  cost ;  and,  what  is  better  than  all,  they  are  honest,  patient  and 
cleanly.  Those  who  are  employed  as  shopmeil,  keep  their  accounts 
with  a  wonderful  degree  of  exactness,  making  all  their  calculations  by 
means  of  an  abacus.  Nearly  all  their  valuable  qualities  are  confirmed 
and  illustrated  by  the  following  instance.  Some  years  back,  my  in- 
formant had  sent  two  Chinese  from  Honolulu  to  Mowee,  in  charge  of  a 
cargo  to  be  sold  by  retail.  On  closing  the  transaction  at  the  end  of 
several  months,  they  handed  to  their  employer  an  accurate  accotint  of 
every  cent  that  had  passed  through  their  iiands ;  and  though  the  amount 
of  sales  exceeded  45,000  dollars,  yet  the  expenses  of  both  the  men  had 


t     V 


.: 


t  ■■ 


im 


60 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


;:^/;# 


♦ 


averaged  something  less  than  half  a  dollar  a  day  between  them.  Their 
good  conduct  of  course  did  not  go  unrewarded.  One  of  them  remained 
in  the  islands  with  every  prospect  of  doing  well,  while  the  other  was 
sent  back,  a  rich  man,  to  his  own  country,  where  doubtless  his  wealth 
would  operate  as  a  premium  on  emigration. 

Another  death  of  a  person  of  greater  consequence  than  the  young 
spendthrift  occurred  also  during  our  visit.  A  vessel,  with  her  colors 
half-mast  high,  arrived  from  Mowee ;  and  soon  afterwards  the  great 
flag  of  the  fort  was  displayed  in  the  same  ominous  manner,  betokening, 
for  the  information  of  the  lieges,  the  death  of  some  member  of  the  royal 
family;  and  rumor,  with  her  thousand  tongues,  forthwith  ran  about 
whispering,  that  the  heir  apparent,  just  as  his  elder  brother  had  been 
before  him,  had  been  summarily  put  out  of  the  way  of  the  more  favorite 
line  of  the  late  Kinau,  daughter  of  Kamehameha  and  wife  of  Kekuanaoa. 
However  this  might  be,  the  national  ensign  drooped  for  three  days ; 
young  Liho  Liho  again  became  heir  presumptive  to  the  throne ;  and 
Kekuanaoa  himself  walked  about  as  if  nothing  particular  had  happened. 
The  old  governor,  by  the  by,  is  always  on  the  move,  and  that,  too,  to 
some  purpose,  for  he  is  really  as  intelligent  as  he  is  active.  From 
morning  to  night  he  pays  visits  on  board  ships,  or  attends  his  hall  of 
justice,  always  accompanied,  as  I  have  elsewhere  hinted,  by  his  body- 
guard of  amazons.  In  the  proceedings  of  his  court,  one  peculiarity 
struck  me,  as  indicative  of  the  consistency  with  which  the  customs 
even  of  savages  must  have  been  observed.  In  the  presence  of  Excel- 
lency all  the  natives  used  to  evince  their  respect  not  by  standing  on 
their  feet  but  by  squatting  on  their  hams, — a  practice  which  may  be 
easily  and  satisfactorily  explained.  As  the  chiefs  were  almost  uni- 
formly taller  than  the  people,  it  was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 
world  for  servility  on  the  one  hand  or  for  pride  on  the  other  to  esta- 
blish a  sitting  posture  as  the  proper  attitude  of  an  inferior ;  and,  in 
fact,  so  rigorous  was  the  etiquette  on  the  subject  of  corporeal  eminence, 
that,  while  Kamehameha  was  in  the  cabin  of  any  ship,  his  very  chiefs, 
even  the  second  ruler  in  his  kingdom,  did  not  dare  to  tread  any  part  of 
the  deck  that  could  possibly  be  over  his  royal  head. 

Speaking  of  Kinau,  I  had  the  honor  of  entering  the  royal  mausoleum 
on  the  occasion  of  my  visiting  the  high  school,  which  is  not  inappro- 
priately situated  within  the  same  enclosure.  This  last  home  of  the 
great  of  these  islands  is  a  small  edifice  of  stone,  already  containing  five 
coffins,  those  of  Liho  Liho  and  Kamehamalu,  brought  from  England 
with  their  contents,  and  three  others,  equally  rich  and  elaborate,  manu- 
factured on  the  spot.  The  coffin  of  Kinau  or  Kaahumanu  II.  was 
elevated  on  a  frame  and  screened  by  silk  curtains ;  and  Kekuanaoa 
drew  back  the  elegant  hangings,  which  veiled  the  remains  of  his  wife 
and  one  of  iiis  children,  with  all  the  coolness  of  a  professional  show- 
man. The  bodies,  besides  being  embalmed,  are  enclosed  in  lead  which 
again  is  carefully  soldered;  but,  notwithstanding  these  precautions,  the 
lid  of  Liho  Liho's  coffin  has  been  warped  by  the  gases  escaping  from 
within.  The  remains  of  the  founder  of  the  family  are  not  to  be  seen 
in  this  building.     Though  his  body  was  not  eaten  raw,  according  to 


r»' 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


61 


the  suggestion  of  one  of  his  admirers,  yet  it  was  boiled  till  the  flesii 
fell  from  the  bones;  and  then  the  bones  were  distributed  among  the 
chiefs  with  a  due  regard  to  the  mutual  jealousies  of  the  aristocracy,  the 
skull  going  to  one,  a  rib  to  another,  and  perhaps  the  tip  of  a  finger  to 
a  third. 

Of  all  the  chiefs  of  the  first  rank  Kekuanaoa  alone  has  a  tolerable 
number  of  children.  Women  so  enormous  in  size,  as  most  of  the 
female  grandees  are,  cannot  possibly  be  prolific ;  and  even  when  they 
become  mothers,  they  take  nearly  as  little  care  of  their  oflspring,  with- 
out the  excuse  of  poverty  to  palliate  their  want  of  afiection,  as  the 
humblest  females  on  the  islands.  As  an  instance  of  this,  Kamehameha 
and  Keopuolani,  both  as  healthy  as  horses,  had  thirteen  children,  of 
whom  only  three,  Liho  Liho  and  the  present  king  with  his  late  wife, 
survived  their  father.  The  women  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  can  bear 
childr  .n,  if  they  will ;  and  the  children  will  live,  if  they  can.  During 
my  visit,  there  was  living  on  Woahoo  a  woman  of  twelve  years  of  age, 
who  had  already  presented  to  an  English  husband  three  thriving 
pledges  of  connubial  love. 

Before  concluding  this  record  of  our  proceedings  at  Honolulu,  I  can- 
not but  acknowledge  the  kindness  .ind  courtesy  that  we  experienced 
from  all  the  foreign  residents  of  respectability,  missionaries  as  well  as 
merchants,  during  the  whole  of  our  sojourn.  Our  pleasure,  however, 
was  sadly  marred  by  an  undisguised  want  of  cordiality  among  those 
who  were  so  hos]^  'ableto  ourselves. 

The  merchants  and  the  missionaries  are,  generally  speaking,  on  barely 
decent  terms  with  each  other.  The  missionaries  live  in  a  part  of  the 
town  by  themselves,  a  Goshen  in  the  midst  of  Egypt,  seldom  associat- 
ing with  the  laymen,  and  never  visiting  them,  while  the  merchants 
have  not  yet  forgotten  certain  clerical  proceedings  directed  against  their 
amusements.  In  justice,  however,  I  ought  to  state,  that  the  feud  had 
begun  before  the  parties  ever  met.  In  1820,  all  the  foreign  residents, 
with  the  single  exception  of  John  Young,  endeavored  to  persuade  the 
chiefs  to  prevent  the  missionaries  from  landing ;  and  the  missionaries,  if 
the  truth  were  known,  had,  doubtless,  been  imbued  with  much  unchari- 
table prejudice  against  the  mercantile  pioneers  of  civilization,  by  their 
exclusive  views  of  religion.  Unfortunately,  the  relation  of  pastor  and 
flock  was  perverted  to  the  widening  of  the  breach,  for  some  of  the  more 
violent  among  the  reverend  brethren,  sometimes  so  far  forgot  themselves 
as  to  rail  against  individual  whites  from  the  pulpit  in  terms  not  to  be 
misunderstood.  Partly  in  consequence  of  this  indiscretion,  and  partly 
from  a  preference  of  English  to  Hawaiian,  nearly  all  the  Protestant 
residents  attend  the  Seaman's  chapel,  which  is  distinct  from  the  other 
churches  and  has  a  minister  of  its  own.  During  our  stay,  however, 
the  missionaries  did  officiate  there,  inasmuch  as  Mr.  Deill,  the  late 
chaplain,  was  dead,  and  Mr.  Demon,  his  successor,  had  not  yet  arrived. 

Again,  between  the  government  and  the  merchants  there  is,  generally, 
some  ground  of  difl'erence  or  other,  over  and  above  the  general  fact, 
that  the  authorities  are  always  more  or  less  identified  with  the  mis- 
sionaries.    The  government  has  not  only  to  maintain  its  own  cause 


^f>.^ 


■   '•■>■ 


• . 


■  '  ■    hi 


I  ^1 

'  i; 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


I''    '   <^ 


mm 


iiiiliil! 

'ill'  :i,' ' '  ■-•  y- 


against  every  white  who  may  imagine  his  interest  to  be  injured,  or  his 
dignity  to  be  insulted  by  any  legislative,  or  executive,  or  judicial  mea- 
sures ;  but  it  is  worried  to  interfere  in  every  squabble  that  takes  place 
between  sections  or  individuals  of  the  mercantile  community,  being 
sure  to  be  abused  at  least  by  one  party  for  its  interposition,  or,  perhaps, 
by  both  for  its  neutrality. 

Then,  again,  among  the  merchants  themselves  there  is  no  imaginable 
limitation  of  the  sources  of  discord.  The  Americans  and  the  British 
pit  themselves  against  each  other  as  desperately,  as  if  the  dignity  and 
power  of  their  respective  countries  could  be  enhanced  or  diminished 
by  the  rancor  of  a  few  traders  in  the  midst  of  the  North  Pacific,  while 
the  French  and  the  Mexicans,  and  all  the  second-rate  factions  throw 
their  weight  sometimes  into  the  scale  of  one  of  the  first-rates,  and 
sometimes  into  that  of  the  other.  For  some  years  back,  moreover, 
religion  has  been  nearly  as  formidable  a  wedge  in  society  as  politics ; 
but,  in  the  controversy  between  Catholicism  and  Calvinism,  the  French 
and  Mexicans  are  the  principals  on  the  side  of  the  former,  while, 
through  hatred  of  the  latter,  or  rather  of  its  organs,  individual  Britons 
and  Americans  have  espoused  the  same  cause  in  the  character  of  aux- 
iliaries. In  many  cases,  however,  politics  and  religion  are  merely  a 
cloak  thrown  over  more  sordid  and  unworthy  motives.  Rivalry  in 
trade  often  lurks  at  the  root  of  the  evil ;  and,  in  a  small  community, 
this  jealousy  in  business,  instead  of  being  frowned  down  and  borne 
away,  as  is  the  case  in  larger  societies,  by  public  opinion,  is  caught  up 
and  imitated  by  the  interested  individual's  partisans  and  retainers,  thus 
ripening  into  the  badge  of  a  clique  or  coterie.  The  social  result  of  the 
whole  is  this,  that  the  one  half  of  all  the  strangers  in  this  strange  land 
are  not  on  speaking  terms  with  the  other,  while  every  now  and  then 
there  springs  up  some  unforeseen  trouble  to  make  the  friends  of  to-day 
the  enemies  of  to-morrow,  or  the  enemies  of  to-day  the  friends  of  to- 
morrow, eithei'  as  principals  or  as  auxiliaries.  In  this  universal  war  of 
partisanship,  a  house  is  not  unfrequently  divided  against  itself,  for  the 
wives  do  not  always  choose  to  veer  about  with  the  husbands  in  all  the 
little  matters  of  familiar  intercourse.  Mr.  A.  and  Mr.  B.,  from  having 
been  on  doubtful  terms,  are  now  great  allies,  though  Mrs.  A.  and  Mrs. 
B.  still  adhere  to  the  old  system  of  non-intercourse.  Mr.  C.  is  the 
sworn  friend  of  Mr.  D.,  but  won't  speak  to  Mrs.  D.,  while  Mrs.  A.'s 
mother  visits  Mrs.  D.,  but  won't  notice  Mr.  D.  In  this  manner  the 
whole  place  is  cut  up  into  such  minute  subdivisions,  that  a  visitor  is 
perfectly  at  a  loss  how  to  act,  being  almost  afraid  to  mention  where  he 
has  been  or  whither  he  is  going.  How  inferior,  in  this  single  respect, 
is  Honolulu  to  California  in  general,  and  to  Santa  Barbara  in  particular. 

This  belligerent  spirit  often  leads  to  serious  litigation,  forcing  into 
court  cases  which,  in  a  different  state  of  feeling,  would  be  settled  ami- 
cably by  the  parties  themselves.  During  my  short  stay  I  was,  I  be- 
lieve, useful  in  adjusting  some  of  these  differences.  In  an  action, 
which  involved  claims  to  the  amount  of  about  15,000  dollars,  I  had  the 
honor  to  be  foreman  of  the  jury ;  and  I  subsequently  had  the  high 
satisfaction  of  terminating,  as  arbitrator,  a  dispute  of  nearly  equal  im- 


'  m-PA 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


63 


portance,  which,  for  a  whole  year,  had  been  a  grand  bone  of  conten- 
tion between  the  claimants  and  their   espective  parties. 

Though  all  these  divisions  of  the  whites  are  indirectly  a  safeguard 
to  the  government,  yet,  when  they  assume  the  form  of  litigation,  they 
seldom  fail  to  place  it  in  a  very  unpleasant  predicament,  for,  while  one 
party  may  be  forcing  a  question  on  the  consideration  of  the  local  au- 
thorities, the  other  party,  perhaps,  denies  their  jurisdiction,  and  swag- 
gers and  threatens  away  about  appealing  to  his  own  country  for  re- 
dress. 

My  prayer  is,  that  the  residents  of  all  classes  and  denominations 
may  strive  to  heal  all  their  petty  divisions,  remembering  that  not  only 
to  their  own  real  interests,  but  also  to  that  great  cause  of  civilization 
and  Christianity  which  Providence  has  committed  to  their  charge, 
"  Union  is  strength,  discord  ruin." 

To  resume  my  journal,  I  returned  to  town  immediately  after  visit- 
ing the  pali^  intending  to  take  my  departure  for  Mowee  on  the  following 
day.  The  Cowlitz,  however,  proved  to  be  as  hard  to  move  as  the 
Vancouver.  Many  of  the  sailors,  with  the  second  mate  to  countenance 
them,  were  so  intoxicated  as  to  be  unfit  to  proceed  to  sea ;  four  fellows 
were  confined  in  the  fort  for  various  oflTences,  and  one  had  absconded. 
Such  conduct  is,  unfortunately,  too  common,  on  the  part  not  only  of 
the  men,  but  also  of  some  of  the  officers,  of  foreign  ships  in  general. 
Being  the  grand  source  of  disturbance  in  the  otherwise  quiet  town  of 
Honolulu,  it  sets  a  bad  example  to  the  natives,  and  lowers  the  whites 
in  their  estimation,  besides  giving  rise  to  such  profligacy,  as  tends 
powerfully  to  neutralize  the  labors  of  the  missionaries. 

Meanwhile  I  occupied  my  time  by  conferring  with  Kekuanaoa  and 
Dr.  Judd,  on  afl^airs  of  state,  more  particularly  on  the  subject  of  tax- 
ation. The  doctor,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  was  to  be  appointed 
treasurer,  and  would  probably  have  to  act  as  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer. The  crew  of  the  Cowlitz  having  been  at  length  mustered 
and  sobered,  we  left  Honolulu,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Charlton  and  Mr. 
Pelly,  on  Thursday,  the  17th  of  March,  under  a  salute  from  the  fort, 
an  honor  never  before  paid  to  any  but  vessels  of  war.  During  our 
voyage,  which  occupied  three  days,  the  weather  was  close,  damp,  and 
disagreeable,  without  anything  to  vary  the  monotony,  excepting  the 
squeamishness  of  some  of  our  passengers.  We  did,  however,  see  a 
kw  whales,  both  sperm  and  right,  besides  many  young  sharks ;  but 
young  as  the  sharks  were,  none  of  them  were  such  greenhorns  as  to 
take  the  bait,  though  they  followed  the  ship  for  several  hours  at  a 
time. 

The  channel  between  Molokoi  on  the  left,  and  Lanai  on  the  right, 
through  which  we  had  to  pass,  is  narrow,  being  at  some  points  only 
seven  or  eight  miles  in  width,  with  a  current  of  three  knots.  It  re- 
quires all  the  attention  of  navigators ;  but,  on  the  present  occasion,  our 
captain  was  much  distracted  and  annoyed  by  some  amateurs  of  our 
party,  who,  cloaking  a  great  deal  of  nervousness  under  an  appearance 
of  public  spirit,  remained  on  deck  in  order  to  give  him  their  valuable 
advice.    On  the  evening  of  the  19th,  we  came  in  sight  of  the  roadstead 


IN-'* 


^i^ 


*  '•'; 


-'ys{ 


:>i 


64 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


t 


of  Lahaina;  but,  as  both  wind  and  tide  were  against  us,  wc  could  not 
fetch  the  anchorage  that  night.  Next  morning,  however,  we  were  all 
snug  by  six  o'clock,  and  found  ourselves  in  company  with  nine  Ame- 
rican whalers  and  our  old  friend  Captain  Cooper,  who  had  just  arrived 
from  Acapulco  in  his  cranky  schooner,  but  brought  no  news.  As  soon 
as  convenient  after  breakfast,  we  went  ashore.  The  first  house  that 
we  entered,  was  that  of  Rekeke,  commandant  of  the  king's  body-guard, 
who  had,  in  imitation  probably  of  the  majors,  and  colonels,  and  gene- 
rals of  the  United  States,  opened  his  mansion  as  a  tavern,  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  public;  but  here  we  could  not  stop,  for,  besides 
hosts  of  flies  and  vermin,  we  found  several  whaling  skippers  and  mates 
carousing  in  a  style  which  did  not  exactly  suit  our  fancy. 

On  proceeding  from  Rekeke's  to  the  "Bethel,"  I  was  glad  to  see 
that  most  of  the  whaling  folks  had  preferred  the  church  to  the  hotel, 
for  there  were  present  in  the  chapel  twelve  or  fourteen  ofllicers  and 
about  twenty  sailors.  The  preacher  was  gesticulating  with  consider- 
able vehemence,  while  beneath  him  sat  the  Rev.  Mr.  Richards,  who, 
with  that  ardent  zeal  and  primitive  simplicity  which  characterize  him, 
did  not  disdain  to  act  as  clerk  to  his  former  colleague,  to  be  "  a  door- 
keeper," as  it  were,  "  in  the  house  of  God."  If  the  reverend  orator 
had  got  hold  of  Rekeke's  guests  at  their  orgies,  instead  of  the  decent 
men  that  had  come  voluntarily  to  a  place  of  worship,  he  could  not 
have  pelted  away  more  unmercifully  at  his  hearers,  setting  them  down 
as  the  greatest  sinners  under  the  sun,  and  then,  with  a  hit  at  smooth- 
tongued preachers,  triumphantly  adding  that  his  system  was  to  tell  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  He  was  doubtless 
zealous,  and  meant  well ;  but  his  exhibition  seemed  to  me  to  be  pecn- 
liarly  worthy  of  record,  as  furnishing  a  clue  to  much  of  the  dislike 
entertained  by  the  traders  towards  the  missionaries. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  service  I  was  introduced  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Richards,  and  found  him  to  be  as  shrewd  and  intelligent  as  he  was 
pious  and  humble. 

From  the  chapel  we  went  to  the  palace,  which,  like  some  other 
residences  of  royalty,  is  badly  situated,  occupying  a  low  spot  among 
stagnant  patches  of  the  kalo.  The  sentinels  on  duty,  who  were  neatly 
dressed  in  white  uniforms,  saluted  us  as  we  passed ;  in  point  of  stature 
and  carriage,  they  would  have  borne  a  comparison  any  day  with  our 
finest  grenadiers.  At  the  entrance  we  were  met  by  the  king,  accom- 
panied by  Haalilio,  his  secretary,  and  Keoni  Ana,  chamberlain  of  the 
establishment,  and  governor  of  the  island,  all  three  wearing  the  Wind- 
sor uniform,  and  appearing  to  be  much  about  the  same  age,  probably 
under  thirty.  Kauikeaouli  is  very  dark ;  he  is,  however,  good-humor- 
ed and  well  formed,  and  speaks  very  tolerable  English.  Haalilio,  who 
is  since  dead,  had  a  countenance  of  considerable  intelligence,  and,  to 
my  personal  knowledge,  did  not  belie  his  looks  in  that  respect.  Keoni 
Ana,  according  to  the  principles  of  enunciation  as  developed  under  a 
ff  rmer  head,  is  the  Hawaiian  disguise  for  John  Young,  the  present 
bearer  of  the  appellation  being  son  and  namesake  of  the  common  sailor 
whom  Kamehameha  elevated,  as  a  monument  of  the  immeasurable 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


65 


superiority  of  the  rudest  civilization  over  every  form  of  savage  life,  to 
be  governor  of  his  native  island,  and  viceroy  of  all  his  chief's.  If  in- 
ferior to  his  father  in  mental  qualities,  Keoni  Ana  possesses  a  good 
face  and  handsome  figure.  The  three  companions  welcomed  us  with 
a  cordial  shake  of  the  hand,  and  expressed  their  gratification  at  seeing 
us;  they  were  fluent  in  their  elocution,  and  easy  and  graceful  in  their 
manners. 

His  majesty  offered  us  everything  which  he  deemed  conducive  to  our 
comfort,  horses,  servants,  boats,  <fec.  &c. ;  and,  after  joining  in  a  glass 
of  wine,  we  were  conducted  by  him  to  visit  a  kind  of  rival  of  the 
grand  mausoleum  in  Honolulu,  the  tomb  of  his  mother,  who  was  one 
of  the  very  earliest  converts  to  Christianity,  his  first  wife,  who  was 
also  his  sister,  and  his  three  children,  all  deposited  in  handsomely 
mounted  coffins  of  native  manufacture.  The  conversation  turned  on 
fifty  different  topics,  in  which  the  king  was  likely  to  take  an  interest, 
such  as  railroads,  swimming,  dancing,  riding,  &c. ;  and  the  whole  of 
us  speedily  became  excellent  friends.  At  parting,  his  majesty  en- 
gaged to  bring  his  two  comrades  and  other  principal  authorities  to  dine 
on  Tuesday  on  board  of  the  Cowlitz. 

We  now  adjourned  to  a  half-finished  and  ill-furnished  stone  house 
in  the  fort,  to  pay  our  respects  to  the  premier,  who  in  power  and  rank 
is  next  to  the  king.  Kekauluohi,  more  popularly  known  as  the  "  Big- 
mouthed  Queen,"  for  she  is  one  of  Liho  Liho's  dowagers,  possesses 
at  least  two  of  the  ingredients  of  "  fat,  fair  and  forty ;"  and  as  she  was 
too  unwieldy  to  move  from  her  couch  without  a  good  deal  of  trouble, 
she  received  us  gracefully  in  a  recumbent  posture  and  made  herself 
very  agreeable.  Her  female  attendants,  who  were  all  of  the  class  of 
chiefs,  surpassed  other  maids  of  honor  as  much  in  affability  as  in  bulk, 
for,  as  we  all  sat  promiscuously  on  the  thick  matting  which  covered 
the  greater  part  of  the  room,  each  lady,  with  perfect  nonchalance,  pro- 
ceeded to  shampoo  the  gentleman  who  sat  next  her.  As  a  mere  matter 
of  form,  for  it  could  not  be  anything  else,  I  asked  the  huge  premier  to 
dine  on  board  of  our  vessel  with  his  majesty. 

After  eating,  or  trying  to  e.  t,  a  wretched  dinner  at  Rekeke's  Hotel, 
we  strolled  about  the  town,  which,  unlike  Honolulu,  presented  scene 
after  scene  of  drunkenness  and  debauchery,  with  several  ladies  among 
the  actors. 

At  night  we  had  excellent  quarters  prepared  for  us ;  and  three  of 
the  premier's  maids  of  honor,  of  whom  the  smallest  must  have  weighed 
upwards  of  twenty  stone,  came  in  the  evening,  with  a  plebeian  retinue 
of  their  own  sex,  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  making  our  beds.  Our 
residence,  the  property  of  Kekauluohi,  was  a  house  of  two  stories, 
built  of  stone  and  well  furnished,  with  a  gallery  or  verandah  in  front. 
The  upper  floor  was  divided  by  means  of  partitions,  screens  and  cur- 
tains, into  three  apartments,  a  dining  hall  and  two  bedrooms,  the  latter 
being  provided  with  piles  of  mats  and  other  conveniences  for  repose, 
covered  with  mosquito  nets.  After  the  labors  of  the  three  ladies  of 
quality,  we  might  be  supposed  to  have  passed  a  pleasant  night.  But 
the  sheets  of  kapa,  though  cool  and  agreeable,  crackled  and  rustled  at 

PART  II. — 5 


•fj- 


^:-ll 


w 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


mM 


our  every  movement;  and  this  fretting  noise,  combined  with  the  unre- 
mitting attentions  of  myriads  of  vermin,  disturbed,  in  no  small  degree, 
the  night's  repose.  A  refreshing  bath  in  the  morning,  however,  served 
to  remove  the  eflects  of  a  restless  night;  while,  on  my  return  from  the 
beach,  I  was  glad  to  find  that  we  were  no  longer  to  depend  on  Rekeke's 
tender  mercies.  An  excellent  breakfast  had  been  prepared  for  us  by 
order  of  our  royal  hostess,  who,  for  our  future  comfort,  had  farther  sent 
us  a  cook  and  half  a  dozen  other  attendants,  with  all  requisite  supplies. 

This  morning  I  received  an  early  visit  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Richards, 
accompanied  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Baldwin,  whose  performances  we  had 
heard  at  "  Bethel."  The  former,  by  referring  to  a  letter  which  he  had 
received  from  Dr.  Judd,  at  once  placed  us  m  a  confidential  footing. 
He  complained  loudly  of  the  overbearing  conduct  of  the  British  and 
French  consuls,  adding  that  letters  on  the  subject  had  been  written  to 
Queen  Victoria,  but  had  not  been  answered;  and,  at  his  request,  I  un- 
dertook to  become  the  bearer  of  farther  dispatches. 

In  the  course  of  the  forenoon  I  repeated  my  visits  to  the  premier 
and  the  king,  by  both  of  whom  I  was  most  graciously  received.  With 
his  majesty,  Kamchameha  III.,  I  found  several  of  his  officers  of  state 
assembled,  Ilaalilio  and  Keoni  Ana,  already  described,  Kewini,  go- 
vernor of  the  fort,  and  Rekeke,  commander  of  the  forces.  On  this  occa- 
sion I  had  the  honor  of  being  introduced  to  the  young  and  pretty  queen, 
who,  from  the  eflects  of  her  late  confinement,  and  still  more,  perhaps, 
through  grief  for  her  premature  bereavement,  was  still  lying  on  her 
couch  of  matting.  Kaluma,  as  I  have  elsewhere  mentioned,  is  the 
daughter  of  Captain  Jack,  who,  in  his  capacity  of  admiral  of  the  fleet, 
accompanied  the  late  king  and  queen  to  England.  Like  keoni  ana, 
kaluma  is  the  Hawaiian  disguise  for  part  of  our  vernacular,  being 
formed  of  ^a,  the,  evidently,  by  the  by,  one  and  the  same  word,  and 
luma,  ruin;  and  this  somewhat  undignified  name  for  a  queen  may, 
perhaps,  be  regarded,  on  the  principle  of  association  of  ideas,  as  a 
proof  of  her  having  been  the  old  tar's  favorite  child.  The  royal  couple 
appeared  to  be  devotedly  fond  of  each  other;  and,  though  her  ma- 
jesty has  no  ostensible  share  in  the  government,  she  must  exercise,  I 
apprehend,  a  good  deal  of  irresponsible  influence. 

I  was  invited  by  the  king  to  attend  a  social  entertainment  in  the 
evening;  but,  learning  that  his  majesty  had,  during  the  day,  been 
enjoying  himself  with  some  of  Rekeke's  whaling  friends,  I  excused 
myself,  when  the  hour  came,  on  the  score  of  indisposition. 

At  night,  I  again  visited  the  premier  by  special  appointment,  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Richards.  We  entered  the  fort  after  dark  by  the 
postern  gate,  where  the  sentries,  evidently  expecting  us,  permitted  us 
to  pass  without  challenge ;  and  we  were  then  conducted  into  the  house 
by  a  fellow  resembling,  in  oflSce  and  demeanor,  the  mutes  of  an  orien- 
tal harem.  We  found  Kekauluohi  in  a  large  ante-chamber,  at  the 
door  of  which  were  stationed  two  sentries,  while  in  an  adjoining  room 
were  several  large  women,  most  probably  our  ladies  of  the  bed-cham- 
ber being  of  the  number.  The  enormous  queen,  to  whom  poor  Ka- 
naina,  her  husband,  is  a  mere  spare  rib,  received  us,  as  before,  in  a 


lit 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


67 


nth  the  unre- 
small  degree, 
wever,  served 
turn  from  the 
1  on  Rekeke's 
ired  for  us  by 
id  farther  sent 
lisite  supplies. 
Mr.  Richards, 
ances  we  had 
which  he  had 
lential  footing, 
le  British  and 
een  written  to 
request,  I  un- 
to the  premier 
ceived.    With 
)fficers  of  state 
1,  Kewini,  go- 
On  this  occa- 
d  pretty  queen, 
more,  perhaps, 
I  lying  on  her 
intioned,  is  the 
•al  of  the  fleet, 
iike  keoni  ana, 
macular,  being 
ame  word,  and 
a  queen  may, 
of  ideas,  as  a 
le  royal  couple 
lough  her  ma- 
lust  exercise,  I 

linment  in  the 
the  day,  been 
nds,  I  excused 
ton. 

ntment,  accom- 

.   dark  by  the 

s,  permitted  us 

into  the  house 

tes  of  an  orien- 

hamber,  at  the 

adjoining  room 

the  bed-cham- 

hom  poor  Ka- 

as  before,  in  a 


recumbent  posture,  and  forthwith  began  to  discuss,  without  reserve  and 
with  considerable  acuteness,  the  affairs  of  the  government.  At  the 
close  of  our  interview,  which  lasted  from  right  o'clock  till  midnight, 
we  parted  the  best  friends  imaginable;  and  the  premier,  having  first 
got  me  to  plead  guilty  of  matrimony,  made  many  inquiries  about  my 
wife  and  young  folks,  promising  that,  if  I  would  bring  them  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  she  would  have  a  house  erected  for  us  better  than 
either  she  or  the  king  possessed. 

Huge  as  the  premier  is,  she  is  decidedly  surpassed  in  weight  by  one 
of  the  ornaments  of  her  court,  the  wife  of  our  old  friend  Kealiiahonui ; 
and,  whatever  Shakspeare,  or  anybody  else  may  have  said  to  the  con- 
trary, true  nobility  in  this  Archipelago,  is  rather  of  the  body  than  of  the 
mind.  Kealiiahonui  himself,  weighs  about  twenty-tive  stone,  whUe  his 
stupendous  consort  scores  ofl'  nine  pounds  and  a  half  more  in  her  pau. 
To  make  the  acquaintance  of  so  great  a  personage,  who  is  familiarly 
known  as  the  "  Jack  of  Clubs,"  was,  of  course,  a  thing  much  to  be  covet- 
ed ;  but,  on  calling  at  her  residence,  what  was  my  distress  to  find,  that  she 
and  some  other  aristocratic  dames,  had  started  off  in  two  double  canoes, 
with  twenty  or  thirty  followers,  for  the  Island  of  Molokoi,  there  to 
enjoy  a  little  pleasant  relaxation  from  the  dry  toils  of  public  life.  To 
compensate  me  for  my  disappointment,  I  was  introduced  to  twelve  or 
fourteen  interesting  girls,  maids  of  honor,  or  perhaps,  of  all  work,  who 
had  been  left  at  home  as  too  young  to  participate  in  the  present  con- 
vivialities. 

On  the  afternoon  of  Monday,  we  went  to  see  a  native  dance,  which 
was  to  be  got  up  with  more  than  ordinary  care  and  ceremony.  The 
ball-room  was  in  a  long  building,  the  walls  of  which  were  formed  of 
thick  mats  ;  and  the  centre  of  the  apartment  was  appropriated  to  the 
performers,  while  all  round  were  placed  seats  for  the  accommodation 
of  visitors,  a  very  conspicuous  place  being  reserved  for  my  party.  The 
musicians,  almost  all  old  men,  were  seated  on  their  heels  to  the  num- 
ber of  eighteen,  beating  time  to  their  song  on  large  double  calabashes, 
which  were  attached  to  their  left  wrists  ;  the  music  was  wild,  but  by 
no  means  destitute  of  melody,  while  the  words,  as  we  were  informed, 
referred  to  the  conquests  of  Kamehamelia,  to  the  nuptials  of  the  pre- 
sent king  and  queen,  and  to  the  birth  and  death  of  the  boy  of  whom 
she  had  just  been  so  suddenly  deprived.  The  performers,  having  each 
to  attend,  both  to  the  vocal  and  the  instrumental  departments,  were 
soon  perspiring  at  every  pore ;  still  they  did  their  double  work  admira- 
bly, and  kept  excellent  time.  Then  followed  a  dance  of  a  truly  in- 
digenous description,  between  three  lads  and  as  many  girls;  and  next 
came  a  pas  seitl,  executed  by  a  youth,  whose  elegance,  activity,  and 
pantomime,  surpassed  anything  of  the  kind  that  I  ever  witnessed  at 
our  own  theatres.  This  fellow's  dress  was  light  and  tasteful,  consist- 
ing of  a  tiara  of  feathers  and  flowers,  of  necklace,  bracelets,  and  anklets 
of  shells,  of  the  perpetual  malo,  and  of  leggings  adorned  with  various 
devices  in  shark's  teeth,  which  made  a  rattling  sound  in  unison  with 
his  motions. 

In  spile  of  all  the  good  premier's  endeavors  to  make  our  quarters 


II 


'    i\ 


r.m 


> 


p-' 


7  'y 
•  ''1 


68 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


t 


111: 


comfortable,  I  passed  another  restless  night  in  her  house,  havincf  been 
well  nigh  eaten  up  with  tleas  and  other  vermin ;  and  I  anxiously  watched 
the  approach  of  daylight,  that  I  might  be  able  to  bathe  my  coundess 
wounds  in  the  sea.  A  stranger  can  scarcely  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
luxury  of  a  bath  in  these  warm  regions,  where  both  air  and  water  arc  of 
nearly  the  same  temperature  ;  and  yet,  curiously  enough,  foreigners,  who 
have  resided  any  time,  seldom  or  never  bathe,  appearing  to  entertain 
even  an  aversion  to  the  sea,  through  a  dread  of  catching  cold  and  so  on, 
and  thus  neglecting,  through  groundless  fears,  a  practice  which  is  the 
best  antidote  to  the  enervating  influences  of  a  tropical  climate.  As  to  the 
natives,  they  may  almost  be  said  to  be  born  swimmers,  for  they  actually 
take  to  the  water  before  they  leave  the  breast.  At  Lahaina,  in  particu- 
lar, I  was  highly  amused  with  the  early  development  of  this  innate  ta- 
lent. Through  the  town  there  runs,  or  rather  creeps,  a  sluggish  streamlet, 
into  which  urchins,  that  were  hardly  able  to  stand,  used  to  crawl  on  all 
fours ;  but  no  sooner  did  they  gain  the  congenial  element,  than  they 
struck  out  like  young  fish,  diving,  and  ducking,  and  performing  a  va- 
riety of  feats,  with  confidence  and  ease. 

After  breakfast  I  took  a  ride  round  liahaina,  where  tliere  is  a  popu- 
lation of  about  5,000  souls,  a  little  more,  perhaps,  than  half  the  popu- 
lation of  Honolulu.  Though  the  place  has  nothing  of  a  harbor,  ex- 
cepting an  open  roadstead  lying  on  the  outside  of  the  reef,  yet  it  is  a 
good  deal  frequented  by  those  who  desire  refreshment  alone,  in  conse- 
quence of  provisions  being  cheaper  here  than  in  the  commercial  metro- 
polis. The  situation  of  the  town  is  by  no  means  agreeable,  being  low 
and  flat,  while  the  neighborhood  is  beset  by  marshes  and  stagnant 
pools,  which  send  forth  a  very  oflensive  perfume.  Still  the  locality  is 
considered  healthy.  I  was  glad,  however,  to  learn  from  the  king,  that 
he  intended  to  drain  the  marshes  and  pools,  and  to  remove  his  own 
residence  from  its  present  dull,  low,  damp  situation,  to  a  more  airy 
and  conspicuous  position  overlooking  the  roadstead.  The  houses  at 
Lahaina  are  neither  so  well  built  nor  so  comfortably  furnished  as  those 
of  Honolulu  ;  and  both  men  and  women  seem  to  have  been  more  con- 
taminated here  by  their  intercourse  with  the  whites,  many  of  both 
sexes  speaking  our  vulgar  tongue,  in  its  grossest  and  most  offensive 
terms,  with  great  fluency.  The  people  of  Lahaina  are,  moreover, 
evidently  addicted  to  liquor,  whereas,  at  Honolulu  I  did  not,  during  the 
whole  of  my  stay,  observe  a  single  instance  of  intoxication  among  the 
natives. 

Li  the  course  of  my  ride  I  visited  the  high  school,  a  substantial 
building  well  situated  on  the  face  of  a  hill,  above  the  town.  At  this 
establishment,  which  I  have  already  mentioned  as  being  entirely  under 
the  management  of  the  missionaries,  there  are  about  a  hundred  youths, 
varying  in  age  from  eight  to  twenty  years ;  and  a  large  printing  office, 
attached  to  the  seminary,  is  constantly  employed  in  publishing  peri- 
odicals and  books,  partly  written  by  natives,  besides  engravings  and 
lithographs  made  by  the  pupils.  The  boys  are  comfortably  lodged, 
two  in  a  room,  are  well  fed  on  their  favorite  poi,  with  a  small  season- 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


inj?  of  fish  and  moat,  and  are  clothed,  qnitc  sufficiently  in  so  warm  a 
climate,  in  a  shirt  and  the  inaln.  The  younfjsters  contribute,  in  a  small 
de<^rec,  to  their  own  maintenance,  hy  devotin;?  about  two  hours  a  day 
to  agricultural  and  other  labor  ;  but  their  condition,  contentment,  and 
conduct,  evidently  show,  that  so  far  from  bein^  over-worked,  they  are 
kindly  and  liberally  treated.  Hitherto. as  I  have  elsewhere  mentioned, 
no  other  language  than  their  own  is  spoken  or  studied;  English,  how- 
ever, is  intended  in  due  time  to  be  introduced,  now  that  the  intercourse 
with  Great  liritain  and  the  United  States  has  become  so  extensive. 
Such  of  the  young  men  as  may  evince  a  religious  turn  of  mind,  are  to 
be  sent  forth  as  missionaries ;  if  moral,  but  not  religious,  they  are  to 
be  employed  as  schoolmasters  ;  and  if  neither  religious  nor  moral,  they 
are  taught  trades  and  allowed  to  go  free  whenever  they  are  so  inclined. 
The  teachers  appeared  to  be  steady,  intelligent,  and  respectable  per- 
sons, and  to  be  well  qualified  for  their  arduous  and  important  tasks. 

The  hour  for  the  entertainment  of  royalty  now  approached ;  but  his 
majesty  proved  to  be  indisposed.  The  big-mouthed  queen,  of  course, 
did  not  come,  any  more  than  the  mountain  came  to  Mahomet ;  but 
still  our  table  mustered  Haalilio,  Keoni  Ana,  Kewini,  Mr.  Richards, 
Mr.  Charlton,  Mr.  Pelly,  and  my  own  immediate  party.  After  din- 
ner, which  was  a  highly  creditable  affair,  we  all  returned  on  shore  ; 
and  at  night,  Mr.  Richards  and  myself  again  repaired,  by  special  ap- 
pointment, to  the  premier,  to  have  another  conference  of  three  or  four 
hours  on  politics,  while  Mr.  Charlton,  partly  from  curiosity  and  partly 
from  a  suspicion  of  treason,  was  rendered  quite  restless  and  unhappy 
by  being  excluded  from  our  confidence. 

Next  morning  I  called  on  Mr.  Richards,  to  peruse  some  papers  pre- 
paring for  England,  which  were  to  be  put  under  my  charge.  At  noon 
the  papers  in  question  were  submitted  to  the  king  and  premier,  who 
then  decided  that,  agreeably  to  a  suggestion  of  mine,  Mr.  Richards 
should  proceed  to  England  as  envoy,  being  for  this  purpose  associated 
with  the  Governor  and  Deputy  Governor  of  The  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany and  myself;  and  that  we  should  have  authority  to  make  arrange- 
ments, on  behalf  of  the  Hawaiian  Government,  not  merely  with  Eng- 
land, but  also  with  France,  and  the  United  States.  Haalilio,  according 
to  a  subsequent  arrangement,  accompanied  Mr.  Richards.  This  native 
chief  attracted  much  attention  in  London,  on  account  of  his  gentlemanly 
bearing  and  amiable  disposition.  But  in  his  ease,  as  in  that  of  Liho 
Liho  and  Kamehamalu,  an  ungenial  climate  soon  did  its  work.  Though 
he  made  his  escape  from  England  without  having  sensibly  impaired  his 
constitution,  yet  in  the  winter  of  1843-4,  this  enlightened  son  of  a  bar- 
barous race  died,  on  his  homeward  voyage,  a  few  days  after  leaving 
New  York,  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  country,  which  had  been 
mainly  instrumental  in  rendering  him  what  he  was.  He  had  caught 
cold,  as  there  was  reason  to  believe,  while  visiting  me  at  Lachine  in 
the  previous  autumn;  and,  within  a  few  days  before  his  embarkation, I 
had  the  melancholy  satisfaction  of  seeing  him  with  his  doom  written 
on  his  manly  countenance. 


( 


V 1 


t 


.: ! 


^i 


70 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


I  spent  the  greater  part  of  llie  afternoon  in  company  with  the  king. 
His  majesty  and  suite  dined  with  us  on  board  of  the  ('owiitz,  when  we 
liad  a  very  convivial  party  of  about  twelve.  In  the  evening  I  visited 
Kahima,  for  whom  I  felt  a  lively  concern ;  she  is  said  to  possess 
strong  afTections,  and  many  amiable  qualities,  while  the  suspicion  with 
respect  to  her  infants,  more  particularly  as  it  is  cherished  by  herself  as 
well  as  by  the  world,  could  not  fail  to  render  her  an  object  of  interest 
and  commiseration.  She  was  attended  by  several  female  chiefs  of 
high  blood,  among  whom  was  the  wife  of  the  gigantic  Paki.  Of  these 
women  there  arc  but  few  that  speak  English ;  nor  indeed  are  tongues 
essential  to  render  those  agreeable,  who  are  such  perfect  mistresses  of 
the  Linguage  of  the  eyes.  Even  among  themselves  I  have  watchod  the 
native  belles,  I  might  almost  say  by  the  hour,  while  they  were  carry- 
ing on  an  animated  conversation  in  dumb  show;  and,  whether  it  was 
that  the  teachers  were  apt,  or  the  task  easy,  or  the  pupil  docile,  I  ^"und 
that  even  a  perfect  stranger  might  be  made  to  understand  and  pract;  e 
the  art,  after  a  single  lesson. 

From  all  that  1  have  observed,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  a  good 
deal  of  profound  policy  is  displayed  by  the  executive  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  chiefs.  Kamehameha,  as  is  well  known,  kept  his  grandees 
as  much  as  possible  under  his  own  inspection,  more  particularly  if  they 
were  disposed  to  be  disaffected;  and  Kekauluohi  and  Kekuanaoa,  the 
parties  most  deeply  interested  in  the  succession  of  Kinau's  line,  have 
contrived  to  improve  on  the  great  conquerer's  plan  by  means  of  a  divi- 
sion of  labor,  the  latter  holding  fast  the  husbands,  anrl  the  former 
monopolising  the  wives. 

After  dark  the  king,  the  premier,  Mr.  Richards,  and  myself,  met  at 
the  premier's ;  and,  on  this  occasion,  the  papers  already  mentioned, 
were  delivered  to  me.  About  eleven  o'clock,  the  king  accompanied 
me  to  my  quarters,  where  we  spent  the  evening  in  great  sociability 
and  cordiality  ;  and,  after  we  had  got  among  the  small  hours,  I  returned 
with  his  majesty  to  the  palace,  where  we  found  Haalilio  engaged  in 
study  with  a  large  volume  before  him. 

The  forenoon  of  Thursday,  the  twenty-fourth  of  March,  I  employed 
in  paying  farewell  visits.  The  premier  was  waiting  my  arrival, 
showily  dressed  for  the  occasion  and  surrounded  by  all  the  peeresses 
of  her  court.  She  thanked  me  kindly  for  the  interest  that  I  had  taken 
in  the  affairs  of  her  country,  expressed  an  earnest  wish  to  see  me  back 
among  them,  and  desired  her  warmest  regards  to  my  wife,  presenting 
to  her,  through  me,  a  very  handsome  feather  mantle,  such  as  is  worn 
only  by  royalty  itself.  Queen  Kaluma,  whom  I  next  visited,  likewise 
charged  me  with  presents  and  good  wishes  for  all  the  members  of  my 
family,  obviously  remembering  her  own  bereavements  when  she  spoke 
of  my  children. 

At  noon  the  king,  the  secretary,  Keoni  Ana,  Mr.  Richards  and 
others  accompanied  me  to  the  ship;  and,  on  our  dmost  immediately 
getting  under  way,  I  shook  hands  with  my  very  kind  friends  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  exchanged  salutes  with  the  fort,  and  returned  the 


^w 


^A^ 


SANDWICir  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


71 


three  hearty  cheers  which  the  king  and  his  party  gave  us  from  t\\o 
boats. 

The  change  of  temperature,  as  we  proceeded  to  the  northward,  was 
very  rapid,  being  ol)serval)h;,  at  least  to  our  sensations,  not  only  from 
day  to  day,  but  almost  from  hour  to  hour.  First  of  all,  (lies,  mosqui- 
toes and  insects  began  to  disappear ;  then  wc  found  great  coats,  M'hilc 
we  were  on  deck,  anything  but  a  burden  ;  and  lastly  wc  reinforced 
our  beds  with  a  large  increase  of  blankets.  On  the;  fourth  day  after 
leaving  Mowee,  our  recollections  of  the  temperate  zone  were  still  more 
vividly  refreshed  by  a  storm  of  snow  and  sh^ct.  This  sudden  transi- 
tion from  a  sunny  sky  and  a  balmy  atmosphere  to  cold,  damp  and 
searching  winds,  seriously  alFected  tlie  health  of  all  on  board,  espe- 
cially of  the  poor  Sandwich  Islanders.  Nor  did  the  lower  animals 
suffer  less  than  the  human  beings.  The  catUe  fell  off  from  day  to  day, 
till  they  were  mere  skin  and  bone;  and  the  goats  remained  close  by 
the  galley  fire  from  morning  to  night,  turning  themselves  round  and 
round,  as  if  roasting,  in  order  to  do  equal  justice  to  all  parts  of  their 
bodies. 

On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-second  day  from  Lahaina,  we  were 
roused  from  our  lethargy  by  the  cheerful  cry  of  "  Land,"  and  again 
came  in  sight  of  the  rugged  coast  at  the  entrance  of  Norfolk  Sound, 
witli  Mount  Edgecombe  on  the  north,  and  Point  Woodhousc  on  the 
south  of  the  opening.  Mount  Edgecombe,  so  named  by  Captain 
Cook,  is  an  excellent  landmark  for  making  the  harbor  of  Sitka,  rising 
from  the  water  in  the  form  of  an  almost  perfect  cone,  and  wearing  a 
"  diadem  of  snow"  nearly  all  the  year  round.  Though  at  present  it 
exhibits  no  traces  of  internal  fires,  yet  it  has  been  an  active  volcano 
during  the  resi  'ence  of  some  of  the  present  inhabitants  of  New  Arch- 
angel; and  many  indications  in  the  neighboring  country,  such  as  earth- 
quakes, hot  springs  and  occasional  eruptions  of  smoke  and  ashes,  tend 
to  prove  that  the  subterranean  energy  is  not  yet  wholly  extinct. 

A  heavy  squall  of  snow,  which  came  on  while  we  were  entering  the 
sound,  rendered  it  impossible  to  see  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  ves- 
sel, so  that  we  were  obliged  to  haul  our  wind  and  stand  off  for  the 
night.  Next  morning,  Saturday  the  IGth  of  April,  we  entered  the 
sound,  firing  two  guns,  at  the  early  hour  of  five,  as  a  signal  for  a  pilot. 
We  soon  received  an  answer  in  the  shape  of  an  old  fellow,  who,  after 
doing  honor  to  the  indispensable  dram,  took  charge  of  the  Cowlitz. 
The  channel  appeared  to  be  very  intricate,  winding  among  low  islands 
covered  with  pines,  which  at  present  were  almost  buried  in  snow ;  and 
it  was  not  till  we  were  close  upon  it,  that  the  establishment  of  New 
Archangel  suddenly  burst  on  our  view,  with  some  ten  or  twelve 
vessels  lying  at  anchor  under  its  batteries. 

Before  plunging  into  that  colossal  empire,  whose  length  is  to  occupy 
an  almost  uninterrupted  flight,  for  journey  I  cannot  call  it,  of  about  five 
months,  let  me  indulge  in  a  brief  retrospect  of  such  portion  of  my  wan- 
derings as  I  have  happily  accomplished.  I  have  threaded  my  way 
round  nearly  half  the  globe,  traversing  about  two  hundred  and  twenty 
degrees  of  longitude  and  upwards  of  a  hundred  of  latitude ;  and  in  this 


:■'§ 


"t\ 


I 


'.«[ 


:}f^ 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


cirfuilous  course  I  linvo  spent  more  tlinn  a  year,  I'ully  three-fourths  on 
the  hiiul  iiiul  barely  oite-t'ourth  on  tho  ocean.  NotwitliHtandingall  thia, 
I  huvu  unirorinly  felt  more  at  hoiius  with  the  exception  of  my  first 
Hojourn  at  Sitka,  than  1  should  have  hilt  in  Calais.  'J*u  say  nothing  of 
having  always  found  kindred  society,  I  have  everywhere  seen  our  race, 
under  a  great  variety  of  circumstances,  either  actually  or  virtually  in- 
vested with  tho  attributes  of  sovereignty.  I  have  seen  the  English 
citizens  of  a  young  republic,  which  has  already  doubled  its  original 
territory,  without  any  visible  or  conceivable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  its 
indefinite  extension;  I  have  seen  the  English  colonists  of  a  conquered 
province,  while  the  descendants  of  the  first  possessors,  however  infe- 
rior in  wealth  and  influence,  have  every  reason  to  rejoice  in  the  defeat 
of  their  fathers;  I  have  seen  the  English  posts,  that  stud  the  wilderness 
from  the  Canadian  Lakes  to  the  Pacific  Ocean;  I  have  seen  English 
adventurers,  with  that  innate  power  which  makes  every  individual, 
whether  Briton  or  American,  a  real  representative  of  his  country, 
monopolizing  the  trade  and  infiucncing  the  destinies  of  Spanish  Cali- 
fornia; and  lastly  I  have  seen  the  Engli.sh  merchants  and  English 
missionaries  of  a  Barbarian  Archipelago,  which  promises,  under  their 
care  and  guidance,  to  become  the  centre  of  the  traffic  of  the  east  and 
the  west,  of  the  New  World  and  the  Old.  In  seeing  all  this,  I  have 
seen  less  than  the  half  of  the  grandeur  of  the  English  race. 

How  insignificant  in  comparison  are  all  the  other  nations  of  the 
earth,  one  nation  alone  excepted.  With  the  paltry  reservation  of  the 
Swedish  Peninsula,  Kussia  and  Great  Britain  literally  gird  the  globe 
where  either  continent  has  the  greatest  breadth,— a  fact  which,  when 
taken  in  connection  with  their  early  annals,  can  scarcely  fail  to  be 
regarded  as  the  work  of  a  special  providence.  Hardly  was  the  west- 
ern empire  trodden  under  foot  by  the  tribes  that  were  commissioned 
for  the  task  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Amoor,  when  He,  who  systematically 
vindicates  his  own  glory  by  the  employment  of  the  feeblest  instruments, 
found  in  the  unknown  wilds  of  Scandinavia  the  germ  of  a  northern  hive 
of  wider  range  and  loftier  aim.  At  once,  as  if  by  a  miracle,  a  scanty 
and  obscure  people  burst  on  the  west  and  the  east  as  the  dominant  race 
of  the  times;  one  swarm  of  Normans  was  finding  its  way  through 
France  to  England,  while  another  was  establishing  its  supremacy  over 
the  Sclavonians  of  the  Borysthenes,  the  two  being  to  meet  in  opposite 
directions  at  the  end  of  a  thousand  years. 

It  is  in  this  view  of  the  matter  that  I  have,  in  these  pages,  preferred 
the  epithet  English,  as  comprising  both  British  and  American,  to  the 
more  sonorous  form  of  Anglo-Saxon.  The  latter  not  only  excludes 
the  true  objects  of  divine  preference;  but  also,  in  excluding  the  Nor- 
mans, it  loses  sight  of  the  co-operation  of  Russia  as  the  appointed 
auxiliary  of  England  in  promoting,  perhaps  by  different  means,  the 
grand  cause  of  commerce  and  civilization,  of  truth  and  peace.  Reflect- 
ing on  the  common  origin  and  common  destiny  of  Russians  and  Eng- 
lishmen, I  ought  to  feel  that  I  am  still  to  be  among  friends  and  kinsmen. 
Even  the  very  difference  of  language,  while  practically  it  makes  me  a 


rS-~if' 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS,  ETC. 


73 


stranger,  Hcrvos  to  confirm  my  (U'diictions.  In  addition  to  tlir  perma- 
nent conriucsts  already  mentioned,  the  Normans,  an  a  mere  epinodo  in 
their  liiHtory,  rivaled  (irecian  and  Italian  lame  on  the  soil  of  Italy  and 
(Jrcecc;  and  yet,  tlioujrii  iinilormly  victorious  in  all  the  climcvs  ol 
Kiirope,  they  were  never  mimeroiis  (Miouirh  to  enjfraft  their  own  speech 
on  that  of  those  whont  they  suhdned.  This  un[)arall('led  and  incredi- 
ble success  cannot  he  otherwise  explained  than  hy  lielieviny:,  that  the 
Normans  were  everywhere  strenjjthened  by  The  Almighty  to  accom- 
plish the  universal  purposed  of  his  omniscience. 


HI 


^■n 


■va 


ji 


74 


.-.v  I 


4         J 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


«f 


p : 


1^1 

1 

fii&i' 

?* 

^ 

^ 

'  't 

M 

yi 

ft 

ff: 

) 

;?-i 
& 

ill'    '^ 


SITKA. 

After  receiving  a  hearty  welcome  from  Governor  Etholine,  we  pro- 
ceeded to  the  house  assigned  for  our  use,  which  was  so  near  the  sea 
that  it  might  litemlly  have  been  described,  at  high  tide,  as  "  surf- 
beaten."  As  we  passed  through  the  village,  we  appeared  to  be  objects 
of  much  curiosity  to  the  inhabitants,  especially  to  the  fair  sex  ;  and 
out  of  every  door  and  window  there  peeped  forth  faces  of  all  possible 
degrees  of  unwashed  dinginess,  to  take  a  survey  of  the  strangers. 

The  day  of  our  arrival,  which  was  Saturday  with  us,  was,  of  course. 
Sunday  at  Sitka.  Consequently  no  progress  was  made  in  the  dis- 
charging of  our  vessel;  and  next  morning  both  the  officers  and  the 
men,  whether  through  scruples  of  conscience  or  a  spirit  of  patriotism. 
or  the  love  of  a  holiday,  strongly  remonstrated  against  turning  an 
English  Sabbath  into  a  Russian  Monday.  This,  however,  was  too 
much  ;  so  that,  after  assuring  them,  on  the  faith  of  the  proverb,  that 
at  Rome  they  ought  to  do  as  the  Romans  did,  I  sent  them  to  work, 
though  very  much  against  their  own  inclination. 

On  the  Friday  after  our  landing,  the  Bishop  of  Sitka  returned  from 
Kodiak,  distant  about  six  hundred  miles,  after  a  run  of  five  days.  His 
outward  voyage,  ^lowever,  had  occupied  precisely  four  weeks,  this  un- 
usual detention  having  led  to  a  good  deal  of  privation,  more  particu- 
larly as  the  vessel  was  crowded  with  passengers :  the  daily  allowance 
of  water  had  been  gradually  reduced  to  one  pint  for  each  person  ;  and, 
on  anchoring  at  Kodiack,  the  whole  of  the  remaining  stock  consisted 
of  a  single  bottle.  This  prelate's  diocese  is,  perhaps,  the  most  exten- 
sive in  existence,  comprising,  as  it  does,  not  only  the  whole  of  Rus- 
sian America,  but  also  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk,  Kamschatka,  and  the  Aleu- 
tian Archipelagos.  He  looks  as  if  intended  by  nature  for  the  bishopric 
of  two  worlds,  being  a  man  of  Herculean  frame ;  and  the  specimen 
of  his  travels  which  I  have  just  mentioned,  shows  that  he  is  likely  to 
need  all  his  constitution  for  an  episcopal  visitation. 

Finding  that  the  vessel  in  which  I  was  to  proceed  to  Ochotsk,  would 
not  sail  till  two  or  three  weeks  later  than  I  had  been  led  to  expect,  1 
was  anxious  to  employ  the  intermediate  month  as  usefully  as  possible; 
and  as  Governor  Etholine  kindly  afforded  me  the  use  of  the  Russian 
steamer  to  tow  the  Cowlitz  on  her  way  to  the  Columbia,  though  the 
more  intricate  and  dangerous  portion  of  the  inland  navigation,  I  deter- 
mined to  embrace  the  opportunity  which  this  arrangement  gave  me,  ot 
visiting  our  establishments  of  Tako  and  Stikine,  ,    . 


SITKA. 


75 


■i-^M 


Leaving  New  Archangel  on  the  day  after  that  of  the  hishop's  arrival, 
we  passed  through  Peril  Straits  into  Chatham  Sound,  and,  without 
having  halted  in  the  night,  anchored  at  Tako  next  evening  about  seven. 
After  shipping  furs  and  getting  a  supply  of  fuel,  we  again  started  at 
noon  of  the  following  day.  By  daybreak  on  Monday,  the  twenty-fifth 
of  April,  we  were  in  Wrangell's  Straits;  and  towards  evening,  as  we 
approached  Stikine,  my  apprehensions  were  awakened  by  observing 
the  two  national  flags,  the  Russian  and  the  English,  hoisted  half-mast 
high,  while,  on  landing  about  seven,  my  worst  fears  were  realized  by 
hearing  of  the  tragical  end  of  Mr.  John  McLaughlin,  junr.,  the  gentle- 
man recently  in  charge.  On  the  night  of  the  twentieth  a  dispute  had 
arisen  in  the  fort,  while  some  of  the  men,  as  I  was  grieved  to  hear, 
were  in  a  state  of  intoxication  ;  and  several  shots  were  fired,  by  one  of 
which  Mr.  McLaughlin  fell.  My  arrival  with  two  vessels  at  this  criti- 
cal juncture,  was  most  opportune,  for  otherwise  the  fort  might  probably 
have  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  the  savages,  who  were  assembled  round  it  to 
the  number  of  about  two  thousand,  justly  thinking  that  the  place  could 
make  but  a  feeble  resistance,  deprived,  as  it  was,  of  its  head,  and  gar- 
risoned by  men  in  a  state  of  complete  insubordination;  and,  if  the  fort 
had  fallen,  not  only  would  the  whites,  twenty-two  in  number,  have 
been  destroyed,  but  the  stock  of  ammunition  and  stores  would  have 
made  the  captors  dangerous  to  the  other  establishments  on  the  coast. 
In  fact,  it  was  to  the  treacherous  ferocity  of  the  neighboring  tribes  that 
the  recent  catastrophe  was  indirectly  to  be  imputed,  inasmuch  as  the 
disposition  in  question  rendered  necessary  such  a  strictness  of  disci- 
pline as  would,  in  a  great  measure,  account  for  Mr.  McLaughlin's  pre- 
mature death. 

From  the  depositions  of  the  men,  I  ascertained  beyond  a  doubt,  that 
a  Canadian  of  the  name  of  Urbain  Heroux  had  discharged  the  fatal 
shot.  How  to  bring  the  fellow  to  justice,  that  was  the  question.  In 
my  opinion,  the  jurisdiction  of  Canada,  as  established  by  43  Geo.  3, 
ch.  138,  and  1  &;  2  Geo.  4,  ch.  06,  did  not  extend  to  Russian  Ame- 
rica; and,  on  the  other  hand,  I  knew  that  the  Russians  had  no  court  of 
criminal  jurisdiction  in  America,  while,  at  the  same  time,  I  was  i)y  no 
means  certain,  that  even  if  they  had  such  a  tribunal,  they  would  take 
any  cogni/aiice  of  a  crime  that  did  not  concern  them.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, I  dotermined  to  take  Heroux  with  me  to  Sitka,  a  step 
whicli,  besides  being,  at  all  events,  a  lesser  evil  than  letting  him  go 
free,  appeared  to  oifer  the  only  chance  of  making  the  man  atone,  in 
some  degree,  for  his  ofl^ence. 

Having  so  far  settled  this  matter,  I  demanded  from  four  of  the 
neighboring  chiefs,  with  whom  I  had  an  interview,  some  explanation 
with  respect  to  their  designs  on  the  establishir.ent;  and  they,  while  re- 
pudiating any  imputation  of  the  kind  for  themselves,  admitted  that  an 
attack  on  the  fort  had  been  recommended  by  some  rash  youths,  but 
had  been  opposed  by  the  wiser  and  older  heads.  I  congratulated  them 
on  not  having  ccnimitted  any  overt  act  of  hostility,  assuring  them  that, 
in  that  case,  they  would  have  been  most  severely  punished  both  by  the 
Russians  and  by  ourselves.     The  chiefs  replied,  that  in  future  they 


:?.;:ril 


"}■-,, 


i  •■/.'  : 


76 


SITKA. 


» 


would  so  conduct  themselves  as  to  merit  our  entire  approbation,  and 
Avould  be  security  against  any  attacks  on  the  part  of  any  of  the  neigh- 
boring tribes.  I  farther  took  this  opportunity  uf  preparing  the  natives 
for  a  measure,  which  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  most  anxious 
to  introduce  in  this  quarter,  and  which  it  had  already  introduced  else- 
where with  the  happiest  results,  namely,  the  discontinuance  of  the  use 
of  spirituous  liquor  in  the  trade. 

I  placed  the  establishment  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Dodd,  chief  mate 
of  the  Cowlitz,  a  young  man  in  whom  I  had  much  confidence,  giving 
him,  as  assistant,  one  Blenkinsop,  who,  though  merely  a  common 
sailor,  was  of  regular  habits,  and  possessed  a  good  education. 

On  the  northwest  coast  dense  forests  of  pine  reach  the  water's 
edge,  both  on  the  continent  and  on  the  islands,  whence  might  be 
drawn  masts  and  spars  of  the  finest  timber  and  largest  dimensions; 
and  such  wood  is  peculiarly  abundant  about  Stikine,  where  there  is 
also  a  species  of  cypress,  which,  from  its  durability  and  lightness,  is 
almost  unequaled  for  boat-building.  Little  or  no  attention  has  hitherto 
been  bestowed  on  the  subject  of  turning  this  natural  wealth  to  useful 
account ;  but  I  now  gave  orders  that  a  number  of  logs  and  spars,  both 
of  cypress  and  pine,  should  be  prepared  for  shipment,  so  as  to  be 
always  in  readiness  to  be  conveyed  by  any  of  our  vessels,  as  opportu- 
nities might  occur,  to  our  depot  at  Vancouver. 

Every  arrangement  having  been  completed,  we  weighed  anchor  at 
dawn  on  Thursday,  the  twenty-eighth ;  and  after  both  vessels  had  ex- 
changed salutes  with  the  fort,  the  steamer  towed  the  Cowlitz  out  from 
the  anchorage,  and,  on  casting  her  off,  we  returned  straightway  to 
Sitka  without  touching  again  at  Tako.  We  anchored  the  first  night  at 
Point  Fanshaw  in  Prince  Frederick's  Sound,  and  the  second  in  Peril 
Straits,  deriving  their  name  from  their  dangerous  shoals,  and  also  from 
the  circumstance  that  a  great  many  Aleutian  hunters  and  their  families 
were  here  poisoned  by  eating  muscles.  During  our  voyage  %  good 
deal  of  snow  fell ;  and  the  weather  was  altogether  very  disagreeable, 
with  a  heavy  sea  on.  But,  notwithstanding  this,  the  steamer,  when 
she  had  the  wind  in  her  favor,  performed  six  or  seven  knots  an  hour — 
very  fair  work,  considering  that,  like  the  river-boats  of  the  Uriied 
States,  she  had  her  cabin  and  a  great  part  of  her  machinery  on  deck. 
She  was  commanded  by  a  very  active  and  intelligent  man.  Captain 
Lindenberg,  with  an  American  engineer  of  the  name  of  Moore,  an  ex- 
cellent pilot,  who  acted  also  as  first  mate,  a  purser  or  supercargo,  and 
a  crew,  including  the  assistant  engineer  and  the  stokers,  of  twenty-two, 
making  in  all  the  number  of  twenty-six  men. 

Having  now  taken  farewell  of  the  new  style  for  some  months,  1 
shall  hereafter  adopt  the  Russian  calendar,  while  the  English  reader 
can,  of  course,  rectify  any  date  merely  by  adding  twelve  days.  We 
reached  Sitka  about  nine  in  the  morning  on  Sunday,  the  eighteenth  of 
April,  being,  according  to  the  reckoning  of  the  Cowlitz,  Saturday,  the 
thirtieth.  All  the  people  were  decked  out  in  their  best  clothes ;  and 
many  of  them,  even  at  that  early  hour,  were  quite  tipsy.  In  short,  it 
was  Easter  Sunday,  a  festival  celebrated  with  extraordinary  solemnity 


SITKA. 


77 


in  the  Greek  Church,  wherever  its  celebration  is  not  absolutely  impos- 
sible. A  striking  instance  of  this,  and  that,  too,  of  a  somewhat  aflecting 
character,  occurs  in  the  account  of  my  friend  Baron  Wrangell's  north- 
ern voyages.  I  quote  the  very  words  of  the  translation,  premising 
that  the  worshipers  were  out  of  sight  of  land,  beset  by  fissures  in  the 
ice,  impassable  hummocks  and  open  water,  with  the  additional  discom- 
forts of  wearied  dogs  and  broken  sledges :  "  The  tenth  was  Easter-day, 
kept  as  a  festival  throughout  the  whole  Christian  world,  but  especially 
so  in  Russia.  "We  joined  in  the  prayers  of  our  far  distant  friends  by 
the  prescribed  service,  which  was  read  by  M.  Bereshnoi,  and  the 
hymns  were  sung  by  our  Cossacks  and  sledge-drivers.  A  block  of 
ice  was  carved  to  represent  an  altar,  and  the  only  wax-light  we  pos- 
sessed was  burnt  in  front  of  it.  The  day  was  one  of  rest  and  refresh- 
ment to  all;  our  festive  fare  was  frugal  enough;  we  had  reserved  for 
it  a  few  reindeers'  tongues,  and  a  little  brandy ;  a  much  greater  treat 
was  a  small  fire,  kept  up  during  great  part  of  the  day." 

From  midnight  till  four  in  the  morning  a  grand  service  had  been 
performed  by  the  bishop  and  his  priests,  at  the  conclusion  of  which 
the  revels  had  begun  in  good  earnest.  On  reaching  Governor  Etho- 
line's  residence,  I  was  ushered  into  the  banqueting  room,  where  a 
large  party  was  just  rising  from  the  remains  of  a  substantial  breakfast. 
There  were  present  the  bishop  and  priests,  the  Lutheran  clergyman, 
the  naval  uiT  ers,  the  secretaries,  accountants,  store  keepers,  clerks, 
masters  an;'  •:■  >•  of  vessels,  to  the  number  of  about  seventy,  while 
on  the  outsid  (.  <  le  circle  there  were  ranged  about  fifty  boys  belong- 
ing to  the  naval  school.  Every  person  was  arrayed  either  in  uniform 
or  at  least  in  his  Sunday's  best ;  and  altogether  such  a  display  was 
hardly  to  have  been  expected  on  the  northwest  coast  of  America.  The 
only  drawback  to  the  hilarity,  which  a  hearty  meal  was  sure  to  inspire 
after  a  fast  of  six  weeks,  was  the  absence  of  Madam  Etholine,  who 
had  been  confined  to  her  bed  for  several  days.  At  the  usual  hour  of 
one  o'clock,  about  fifty  of  the  guests  again  assembled  to  dinner,  which 
went  oflf  with  great  eclat;  and  the  rest  of  the  day  was  passed  with  the 
assistance  of  coffee,  smoking,  chatting  and  billiards,  while  the  good 
folks  of  the  village,  in  the  very  best  of  humors,  made  quite  a  business 
of  dancing,  singing,  and  carousing. 

From  morning  till  night  we  had  to  run  a  gauntlet  of  kisses.  When 
two  persons  met,  one  said  "Christ  has  risen,"  while  the  other  replied 
yes,  surely  "  he  has  risen;"  and  then  came  the  salutations,  some  of 
them  certainly  pleasant  enough,  but  many  of  them,  even  when  the  per- 
formers were  of  the  fair  sex,  perhaps  too  highly  flavored  for  perfect 
comfort.  In  plain  truth,  most  of  the  dames  of  the  village  had  been 
more  liberal  of  some  other  liquids  than  of  clean  water. 

Another  custom  of  the  Greek  church,  at  this  season,  reminded  me 
of  a  similar  practice  in  some  parts  of  Scotland.  People  carry  about 
with  them  a  number  of  eggs  boiled  into  stones,  either  dyed,  or  gilded, 
or  painted,  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  them  to  their  friends ;  and  the 
party,  who  receives  one  of  them  as  a  gift,  either  makes  an  immediate 
return  in  kind  or  gives  the  donor  a  trifling  acknowledgment  on  some 


I'-     '  Ju 

I   l--^ 

'  ^ul 

^. 

•      >v 

n 

- 1' 

« 

"Ir 

t 

'■^? 

'i 

,\: 


ni  ^ 


A 


.i'.p 


78 


SITKA. 


'■<m 


Other  occasion.     I  had  the  honor  of  bagging,  in  spite  of  my  heterodoxy, 
many  of  these  little  memorials  of  a  Russian  Easter. 

During  the  whole  week  a  third  custom  prevailed  in  the  shape  of  the 
incessant  ringing  of  all  the  bells  in  the  church.  From  morning  to 
night,  from  night  to  morning,  there  was  nothing  but  one  perpetual  peal 
of  discord,  for,  whether  by  chance  or  by  management,  every  rope  had 
its  own  motion,  and  every  clapper  its  own  tune.  From  this  custom 
there  was  no  escape.  The  eggs  were  harmless ;  and  the  kisses,  if  dis- 
agreeable, might  be  washed  off;  but  these  confounded  bells  would  be 
heard,  even  if  we  should  lie  awake  for  the  purpose  of  listening.  The 
sweetest  sound  that  had  previously  greeted  our  ears  was  that  of  the 
Sabbath-bell  of  Honolulu ;  but  here  we  had  so  much  of  a  good  thing 
that  I  was  positively  sick  of  it.  The  evil,  however,  might  have  been 
worse,  for  luckily  the  Lutheran  chapel  made  no  noise,  the  bell  being 
an  appendage  exclusively  of  the  national  church;  and  I  was  sincerely 
thankful  that  toleration  had  stopt  at  the  critical  point. 

On  Tuesday,  which,  as  Avell  as  Monday,  was  a  close  holiday,  I 
attended  divine  service,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  illness  of  the 
bishop,  was  celebrated  by  a  young  monk  with  the  assistance  of  three 
priests.  Beyond  the  richness  of  the  vestments  and  the  splendor  of  the 
ritual,  I  could  take  little  or  no  concern  in  what  I  did  not  understand; 
Avhile  the  absence  of  seats  rendered  a  detention  of  three  hours  as  fa- 
tiguing as  it  wiri  uninteresting. 

On  Wednesday,  to  my  great  relief,  business  once  more  resumed  its 
sway ;  and  the  establishment,  barring,  of  course,  the  saturnalia  of  the 
bells,  relapsed  into  its  old  routine  of  active  regularity. 

In  the  service  of  the  Russian  American  Company,  the  officers  are 
divided  into  two  classes.  The  captain  of  the  port,  the  secretaries, 
three  public  and  two  private,  two  masters  in  the  navy,  the  commercial 
agent,  two  doctors  and  the  Lutheran  clergyman  form,  at  present,  the 
first  class,  and  constantly  dine  by  general  invitation  with  the  governor; 
while  the  civilian  masters  of  vessels,  the  accountants,  the  head  engi- 
neer and  about  twenty  clerks  and  storekeepers  form  the  second  class, 
and  dine  together  in  a  club.  The  salaries  of  these  officers,  independ- 
endy  of  such  pay  as  they  may  have  according  to  their  rank  in  the 
imperial  navy,  range  between  3,000  and  12,000  roubles  a  year,  the 
rouble  being,  as  nearly  as  possible,  equal  to  the  franc,  while  they  are, 
moreover,  provided  with  firewood  and  candles,  with  a  room  for  each, 
and  with  a  servant  and  a  kitchen  between  two.  Generally  speaking, 
the  officers  are  extravagant,  those  of  5,000  roubles  and  upwards  spend- 
ing nearly  the  whole,  and  the  others  getting  into  debt  as  a  kind  of 
mortgage  on  their  future  promotion. 

For  the  amount  of  business  done  the  men,  as  well  as  the  officers, 
appear  to  be  unnecessarily  numerous,  amounting  this  season  to  nearly 
500,  who  with  their  families  make  about  1,200  souls  as  the  population 
of  the  establishment.  The  servants  are  kept  in  good  order  and  appear 
to  be  quiet  and  tractable.  They  work  from  five  in  the  morning  till 
seven  in  the  evening,  with  an  interval  of  about  an  hour  for  dinner;  as 
breakfast  is  seldom  eaten  among  Russians,  no  time  is  allowed  for  that 


« 


■;n 


SITKA. 


79 


my  heterodoxy, 


meal.  Among  the  servants  are  some  excellent  tradesmen,  such  as 
engineers,  armorers,  tinsmiths,  cabinet-makers,  jewelers,  watchmakers, 
tailors,  cobblers,  builders,  &;c.,  receiving  generally  350  roubles  a  year; 
they  have  come  originally  on  engagenAents  of  seven  years;  but  most 
of  them,  by  drinking  or  by  indulging  in  other  extravagance,  contrive  to 
be  so  regularly  in  debt  as  to  become  fixtures  for  life.  On  going  the 
round  of  the  tradesmen,  the  workshop  of  the  engineer  gratified  me 
most,  not  merely  because  Moore  was  a  man  of  superior  ingenuity,  but 
because  he  had  trained  five  or  six  Creoles  and  half-breeds  to  discharge 
all  the  mechanical  duties  of  his  business  nearly  as  well  as  himself.  As 
a  proof  of  the  efficiency  of  this  department,  the  whole  of  the  machinery 
of  a  tu^  of  seven-horse  power  was  cast  and  manufactured  here,  as  well 
as  of  two  pleasure  boats  of  two-horse  power  each,  one  belonging  to 
the  governor  and  the  other  to  Moore.  The  tug  is  usefully  employed 
in  towing  vessels  to  and  from  the  anchorage ;  and  something  of  the 
same  kind  is  much  wanted  in  the  Columbia  to  save  the  valuable  time 
that  is  now  lost,  I  mean,  of  course,  above  the  bar,  in  the  diflicult  navi- 
gation of  that  stream. 

Many  of  the  servants  have  Russian  wives ;  but  most  of  the  females 
of  the  establishment  are  Aleutian  and  Indian  half-breeds.  These  native 
women,  naturally  no  beauties,  are  begrimed  with  dirt,  while  many  of 
them,  like  their  lords  and  masters,  are  addicted  to  drunkenness,  which, 
in  their  case,  leads,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  other  vices.  The  majority 
of  the  people  look  sallow  and  unhealthy,  nther,  I  conceive,  through 
their  intemperate  habits,  than  through  the  effecis  of  the  climate.  Cases 
of  the  prevailing  disease  of  the  coast  are  here  frequent,  while  scurvy 
is  encouraged  by  the  absence  of  cleanliness,  and  the  dampness  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  not  by  the  nature  of  the  food,  which  is  always  fresh 
and  generally  nutritious. 

Of  all  the  dirty  and  wretched  places  that  I  have  ever  seen,  Sitka  is 
pre-eminently  the  most  wretched  and  most  dirty.  The  common  houses 
are  nothing  but  wooden  hovels,  huddled  together,  witliout  order  or 
design,  in  nasty  alleys,  the  hot-beds  of  such  odors  as  are  themselves 
sufficient,  independently  of  any  other  cause,  to  breed  all  sorts  of  fevers. 
In  a  word,  while  the  inhabitants  do  all  that  they  can  to  poison  the 
atmosphere,  the  place  itself  appears  to  have  been  planned  for  the 
express  purpose  of  checking  ventilation.  But  Governor  Etholine, 
whose  whole  management  does  him  infinite  credit,  sees  the  evil,  and  is 
introducing  many  improvements,  which,  when  completed,  will  mate- 
rially promote  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  the  lower  classes. 

Prevention  is  not  only  better  than  cure,  but  cheaper  also.  At  present, 
the  expense  of  the  hospital  must  be  very  heavy,  while  a  great  part  of 
it  is  doubtless  occasioned  by  such  circumstances,  as  money  is  quite 
competent  to  remove.  In  its  wards,  and,  in  short,  in  all  the  requisite 
appointments,  the  institution  in  question  would  do  no  disgrace  to  Eng- 
land. The  cases  consist  chiefly  of  typhus,  and  continued  fevers,  pul- 
monary complaints,  syphilis,  affections  of  the  eye,  and  htemoptysis, 
this  last  complaint,  nobody  knows  why,  being  very  common  ou  this 


coast. 


■« 


m 


'  ■  .  ill 

:'•-■  J 


'    I 


&.. 


■"■  •*■;.,'? 


:::i 


SITKA. 


On  Sunday  next,  the  first  after  Easter,  the  Bishop  of  Sitka,  who,  as 
already  mentioned,  had  just  returned  from  Kodiak,  preached  a  farewell 
sermon  on  the  eve  of  departing,  on  a  visitation  of  two  years,  for  the 
Asiatic  half  of  his  diocese.  In  addition  to  four  assistants  in  holy  orders, 
he  was  attended  by  a  number  of  youthful  acolytes,  all  as  proud  as  pos- 
sible i/f  their  embroidered  robes  of  silk  and  velvet ;  the  congregation 
vas  large,  and  well  dressed,  while,  so  far  as  I  could  judge  from  the 
3arnestness  of  the  preacher,  and  the  attention  of  the  hearers,  the  sermon 
was  more  than  ordinarily  impressive.  On  taking  leave  of  this  worthy 
prelate,  I  cannot  refrain  from  rendering  a  small  tribute  of  praise  to  his 
character  and  qualifications ;  and,  as  he  is  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  I 
trust  that  his  widely  scattered  flock  may  long  enjoy  the  benefit  of  those 
powers  of  mind  and  body,  which  combine  to  fit  him  for  his  important 
an«l  arduous  charge.  His  appearance,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded, 
impresses  a  stranger  with  something  of  awe,  while,  on  farther  inter- 
course, the  gentleness  which  characterizes  his  every  word  and  deed, 
insensibly  moulds  reverence  into  love ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  his  talents 
and  attainments  are  such  as  to  be  worthy  of  his  exalted  station.  With 
all  this,  the  bishop  is  sufliciently  a  man  of  the  world  to  disdain  any- 
thing like  cant.  His  conversation,  on  the  contrary,  teems  with  amuse- 
ment and  instruction ;  and  his  company  is  much  prized  by  all  who  have 
the  honor  of  his  acquaintance. 

The  conduct  of  the  clergy  in  general,  of  the  Greek  Church,  appeared 
to  me  to  deserve  great  commendation,  both  as  to  the  performance  of 
their  duty,  and  the  observance  of  their  vows.  With  respect  to  Lent  in 
particular,  not  only  the  priesthood,  but  also  the  laity,  exhibited  the 
greatest  strictness,  not  shamming  on  beef  like  the  Californians,  but 
really  fasting  according  to  rule.  On  Easter  Sunday,  I  was  peculiarly 
struck  by  the  contrast  between  the  haggard  and  emaciated  looks  of  the 
reverend  guests,  and  their  zeal  in  making  amends  for  their  past  absti- 
nence on  Governor  Etholine's  hospitable  fare.  As  to  the  laymen,  the 
termination  of  the  forty  days  is  by  them  hailed  with  undisguised  ecstasy, 
everything  being  previously  prepared  to  atone  for  lost  time.  On  the 
last  evening  of  the  long  fast,  sumptuous  repasts  feast  the  nostrils  at 
every  fire ;  and  no  sooner  does  time  toll  the  knell  of  the  enemy,  than 
the  good  folks  rush  like  wolves  to  the  rescue,  always  eating  to  repletion, 
and  sometimes  gorging  themselves  into  apoplexy.  In  fact,  on  the  occa- 
sion which  has  just  past,  a  young  lieutenant  in  the  establishment  had 
well  nigh  paid  his  life  as  the  price  of  his  indiscretion. 

The  presence  of  a  bishop  and  a  complete  body  of  ecclesiastics  in 
this  secluded  corner  of  the  empire, — at  a  distance  of  nearly  two  hun- 
dred degrees  of  longitude  from  the  capital, — is  merely  in  accordance 
with  the  long  tried  policy,  which  has  amalgamated  so  many  uncon- 
genial tribes  into  a  compact  people  by  means  of  one  law,  one  language, 
one  faith,— a  policy  which  England,  perhaps  through  the  freedom  of 
her  institutions,  has  too  much  neglected.  Through  this  policy,  Rus- 
sia, though  apparently  the  most  unwieldy  state  on  earth,  is  yet  more 
decide|ily  one  and  indivisible  than  any  other  dominion  in  existence, 
as  if ,  more  than  proved  by  the  fact,  that  a  single  one  of  the  three 


jIlH-fl. 


tf 


SITKA. 


81 


.    *■  ^n 


principles  of  cohesion,  which  cement  her  parts  into  a  whole,  vests  in 
her  an  almost  direct  sway  over  the  foreign  professors  of  her  creed. 
As  the  only  Christian  power  within  the  limits  of  the  eastern  church, 
Russia  succeeded,  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  to  the  reli- 
gious supremacy  of  the  dethroned  emperors  of  Constantinople  ;  and, 
within  twenty  years  after  the  fall  of  the  imperial  city,  she  openly 
assumed  her  new  position  by  changing  the  title  of  her  sovereign  from 
Grand  Duke  to  The  Czar  or  The  Cesar.  Since  tlien  she  has  been 
the  watchful  guardian  of  her  venerable  faith,  whether  existing  in 
Europe  or  in  Asia.  It  was  in  this  character  that  she  first  interfered 
in  the  internal  affairs  of  Poland,  where  the  Catholics  were  oppressing 
the  Greeks;  and  more  recently,  to  say  nothing  of  Wallachia  and  Mol- 
davia, she  has  become  the  virtual  sovereign  of  the  Christians  of 
Turkey,  simultaneously  acquiring,  at  the  very  least  in  the  same 
proportion,  an  influence  throughout  the  more  easterly  provinces  of 
Austria. 

But,  in  the  person  of  the  Lutheran  clergyman.  New  Archangel 
shows,  that  a  spirit  of  toleration  is  combined  with  this  zeal  for  the 
established  religion.  Though  the  Eastern  Church,  as  such,  had  never 
been  addicted  to  persecution  in  the  worst  sense  of  the  term,  yet  Peter 
the  Great  was  the  first  sovereign  of  Russia  who  treated  other  denomi- 
nations with  justice  and  liberality,  doing  so,  by  the  by,  at  the  very 
time  at  which  William  the  Third  was  introducing  the  same  equity  and 
humanity  into  England.  In  consequence  of  Peter's  amelioration  of 
the  ecclesiastical  system,  all  sects  now  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience 
in  Russia,  two  cases  perhaps  excepted.  The  Catholics,  partly  be- 
cause they  are  chiefly  Poles  and  partly  because  they  are  suspected  of 
clinging  to  papal  influence,  are  regarded  with  suspicion,  but  nothing 
more;  and  the  Roskolniaks,  a  most  fanatical  tribe  of  schismatics  from 
the  national  church,  are  sometimes  driven  about  unceremoniously 
enough  as  disturbers  of  the  public  peace.  Such  are  the  only  excep- 
tions; and  even  in  them  there  is  vastly  more  of  political  caution  than 
of  sectarian  intolerance. 

Next  day,  being  Monday  the  twenty-sixth,  I  started  in  the  small 
steamer  to  visit  some  hot  springs,  which  are  used  chiefly  as  baths, 
about  twenty  miles  to  the  north  of  New  Archangel,  and  arrived  at  my 
destination  about  three  in  the  afternoon.  The  establishment  in  the 
neighborhood  consisted  of  three  snug  cottages,  being  kept  in  order  by 
an  old  fellow  of  a  Russian  and  his  daughter,  both  of  whom,  whether 
from  choice  or  by  way  of  example,  took  a  plunge  every  day,  for  half 
an  hour  at  a  time.  The  damsel's  rosy  cheeks  seemed  to  speak 
volumes  in  favor  of  the  waters,  though,  perhaps,  they  were  merely  the 
result  of  being  cooked  every  forenoon  in  a  temperature  of  upwards  of 
130°  of  Fahrenheit.  This  establishment  is  employed  as  an  hospital 
for  invalids  from  Sitka,  and  is  found  to  be  efficacious  in  rheumatism, 
fevers,  syphilis  and  cutaneous  disorders,  the  process  being  to  bathe  in 
the  first  three  of  these  four  cases,  and  to  drink  in  the  last..  The  build- 
ings are  pleasantly  situated  on  the  sloping  face  of  a  bank  at  a  <^|tonce 
of  about  a  hundred  yards  from  the  sea.     In  the  front  lies  a  pr^j^Bttle 

PART   II. 6  ^r 


.'  .  ■■■^  i 


-  M 


82 


SITKA. 


bay,  completely  sheltered  by  an  archipelago  of  islands,  and  in  'he  rear 
is  a  barrier  of  rugged  mountains,  while  in  the  immediate  ^'cinity  there 
springs  up  a  luxuriant  verdure  in  consequence  of  the  genial  warmth 
diffused  by  the  waters,  which  send  up  a  column  of  vapor  to  mark  the 
spot  from  a  considerable  Jistance.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  this  green 
oasis  presented  a  variety  of  shrubs  in  full  blossom,  though  the  sur- 
rounding wilderness,  all  as  dead  as  cold  could  make  it,  still  wore  its 
mantle  of  snow.  Here,  moreover,  are  to  be  found  plants  that  grow 
nowhere  else  in  the  neighborhood,  as  also  many  rare  birds,  even  the 
humming  bird,  some  attractive  through  the  gayety  of  their  plumage,  and 
others  agreeable  from  the  melody  of  their  notes.  Altogether  this  is, 
indeed,  a  spot  on  which  the  senses  may  rest  with  pleasure,  when 
weary  of  the  savage  monotony  of  the  rocks  and  forests  of  the  coast. 
The  means  of  living  are  also  abundant,  the  water  being  alive  with  fish 
and  fowl,  and  the  land  teeming  with  deer  and  game. 

In  the  neighborhood  there  are  four  distinct  springs,  all  taking  their 
rise  from  fissures  in  the  granite  rock,  with  which  these  islands  abound. 
At  its  source  the  principal  spring  possesses  a  temperature  of  54°  of 
Reaumur,  or  1535°  of  Fahrenheit,  being  hot  enough,  as  we  found  by 
experiment,  to  cook  an  egg  in  eight  minutes.  From  this  spring  the 
two  baths,  one  for  the  natives  and  the  other  for  the  whites,  are  fed, 
while,  by  flowing  about  fifty  yards  through  several  small  channels, 
the  waters  are  reduced  to  an  average  temperature  of  130°  of  Fahrenheit 
or  432°  of  Reaumur. 

As  this  natural  "medicine"  is  held  in  high  estimation  by  the  sur- 
rounding tribes,  the  native  bath  enjoys  no  sinecure  of  it.  When  the 
country  is  sufiiciently  peaceable  for  moving  about  in  safety,  the  savages 
think  nothing  of  coming  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  miles  to  benefit 
by  the  healing  waters,  while  they  do  their  best  to  take  their  traveling 
expenses  out  of  them  by  lying  in  soak  for  hours  at  a  time  with  nothing 
but  their  heads  visible,  eating,  drinking,  and,  I  may  add,  sleeping  in 
the  bath.  I  can  certainly  vouch  to  the  extent  of  four  hours  for  two 
women,  one  of  them  with  an  ulcer  on  her  hip,  and  the  other  with  an 
affection  of  the  spine.  When  reduced  to  a  state  of  lassitude  by  the 
parboiling,  particularly  after  taking  a  meal  in  the  caldron,  the  patients . 
munch  a  little  snow,  when  such  a  luxury  is  attainable,  by  way  of 
desert. 

There  appear  to  be  several  substances  held  in  solution  by  the  water. 
The  main  ingredient,  however,  is  sulphur,  which  is  easily  detected  by 
the  taste  as  well  as  by  the  smell;  while  the  stones  in  the  channels  are 
also  encrusted  with  it.  In  fact,  the  Island  of  Sitka  is  principally  of 
volcanic  origin;  and,  in  proof  of  the  former  activity  of  internal  fires, 
to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  eighty-four  different  volcanoes  have 
been  in  operation,  in  the  country  under  the  jurisdiction  of  The  Rus- 
sian American  Company,  within  the  recollection  of  many  of  the 
inhabitants  of  New  Archangel. 

I  remained  only  one  night,  having  bathed  twice,— or  rather  once, 
for  QHj^c  second  occasion,  whether  the  temperature  was  higher  or 
my  dj^Hiad  been  rendered  more  sensitive  by  the  first  operation,  I  was 


SITKA. 


83 


4^ 


glad  to  scramble  out  immediately  as  red  as  a  lobster,  or,  to  liumor  tho 
locality  in  the  way  of  a  simile,  as  red  as  the  rosy  cheeks  aforesaid  of 
the  lady  of  the  ascendant.  This  tutelary  nymph,  by  the  by,  led  a 
recent  visitor  into  a  capital  mistake.  In  her  capacity  of  handmaid, 
she  hjid  frequent  occasion  to  enter  the  room  where  he  was  sitting;  and 
invariably,  on  coming  into  the  presence,  she  bowed  down  to  the  ground 
at  every  step,  crossing  herself  reverentially  all  the  while.  Whether 
she  meant  to  exorcise  him  or  to  worship  him,  or,  in  default  of  a  cap, 
to  set  her  rosy  cheeks  at  him,  he  could  not  tell;  but  by  means  of 
signs  he  kept  entreating  her  not  to  trouble  herself  on  his  account.  In 
spite  of  my  maturer  years,  the  pretty  maiden  behaved  towards  me  in 
the  same  extraordinary  way ;  and  what  was  far  more  mysterious,  she 
still  continued,  when  I  slipped  away  to  try  her,  to  rehearse  her  obei- 
sances before  the  empty  chair.  While  I  was  speculating  on  her  pro- 
ceedings, I  happened  to  cast  my  eye  on  the  grim  visage  of  an  image, 
which  occupied  a  niche  in  a  dark  corner  of  the  room  immediately 
behind  the  position  which  I  had  just  left.  The  bubble  was  now  burst; 
and  my  young  predecessor  was,  of  course,  mortified  to  find  on  my 
return  to  head-quarters,  that  the  naiad's  conspicuous  attentions  had 
been  directed  over  his  head  to  a  musty  old  saint. 

On  my  way  back,  I  stopped  at  what  is  called  the  redoubt,  lying  at 
about  equal  distances  from  the  baths  and  New  Archangel.  The  situa- 
tion of  this  spot  is  curiously  romantic.  With  little  or  no  land  in  sight 
but  lofty  mountains,  a  lake  empties  itself  by  a  picturesque  cascade  into 
a  channel  of  about  fifty  yards  in  width,  which  again  flows  between 
perpendicular  walls  of  nearly  eight  hundred  feet  in  height  into  a  deep 
indentation  of  the  sea.  Though,  as  a  military  position,  it  may  here- 
after be  valuable,  yet  at  present  it  is  applied  only  to  commercial  pur- 
poses. Mills  of  various  descriptions  avail  themselves  of  the  fall,  while 
the  salmon,  as  they  leap  upwards,  are  caught  in  weirs  to  the  number 
of  80,000  or  100,000  every  season.  The  buildings  stand  on  the  dry 
part  of  the  ledge  of  rocks,  down  which  the  lake  rushes  into  the  chan- 
nel beneath,  being  kept  in  good  order  by  an  old  soldier,  with  some 
twenty  men  under  his  command.  At  this  place,  from  which  escape 
must,  of  course,  be  peculiarly  difficult,  I  found  Urbain  Heroux,  whom 
I  had  brought  from  Stikine,  moving  about  as  a  prisoner  at  large,  as  the 
Russians  are  said  never  to  put  any  person  in  irons  before  conviction. 
Here,  however,  the  fellow,  I  apprehend,  was  as  secure  as  fetters  and 
manacles  could  have  rendered  him. 

We  reached  New  Archangel  just  in  time  to  avoid  some  boisterous 
weather,  in  which  the  small  steamer  could  not  possibly  have  put  to 
sea.  In  all  my  experience,  I  have  never  seen  anything  so  miserable 
as  the  almost  constant  damp,  fog  and  rain  of  the  last  three  weeks ;  and 
yet,  after  all,  the  climate  of  Petersburg  is  said  to  have  been  proved,  by 
actual  observation,  to  be  more  humid  than  that  of  Sitka. 

On  reaching  New  Archangel,  I  found  more  than  usua^  activity 
reigniilg  throughout  the  establishment,  as  several  vessels  were  simul- 
taneously taking  in  cargo,  and  making  preparations  for  their  r^nective 
voyages.     The  bustle,  in  fact,  was  sufficient  to  have  done  fljjP*  to  a 


■n 


■m 


84 


SITKA. 


350  tons. 

300 

200 

" 

200 

150 

80 

80 

150 

80 

150 

300 

00  horse-power. 

K 

it 

third-rate  seaport  in  the  civilized  world.     I  subjoin  a  list  of  the  ship- 
ping :—  .  •         . 

1.  Helen,  sliip, 

2.  Ah'xandcr,  barque, 

3.  IJichal,  brig, 

4.  Constantine,  brig, 

5.  Ocliotsk,  " 

6.  Promysle,  schooner, 

7.  Quah-pak, 

8.  ChichakofT,  brig, 

9.  Morischold,  schooner, 

10.  Polypheme,  brig, 

11.  Sitka, 
,                 12.  Nicholas,  steamer, 

13.  Moore,  tug  do. 

One  is  at  first  surprised  that  tlie  transport  of  so  limited  a  business 
requires  so  many  vessels;  but,  as  the  posts  are  widely  scattered,  and 
the  seasons  of  open  water  in  these  northern  latitudes  are  short,  the 
apparent  extravagance  is,  in  a  great  measure,  inevitable.  The  Alex- 
ander, which  is  to  be  our  ship,  is  fitted  more  like  a  man-of-war  than  a 
merchant  vessel,  the  whole  'tween  decks,  fore  and  aft,  Joeing  laid  out 
in  accommodations  for  the  crew,  and  the  cabin  being  arranged  and 
furnished  in  the  handsomest  style.  She  was  built  two  years  ago  at 
Abo,  in  Finland,  and  cost  about  JB5000;  and,  with  the  care  that  is 
here  taken  of  shipping,  she  is  expected  to  last  about  twenty-five  years. 

On  the  first  of  May,  the  Constantino  sailed  with  supplies  for  Atcha, 
in  the  Aleutian  Archipelago,  and  Chamchoo,  one  of  the  Kurile  Islands, 
thence  to  proceed  with  the  returns  of  those  places  to  Ochotsk.  She 
had  about  sixty  persons  on  board,  including  passengers,  of  whom  some 
were  bound  for  Ochotsk,  and  others  for  Europe.  Among  the  latter 
was  Mr.  Rotscheff,  already  mentioned,  with  his  family,  who  was  re- 
cently in  charge  of  Bodega,  in  California,  with  a  salary  of  five  thousand 
roubles  a  year — an  income  on  which,  besides  furnishing  his  house  and 
entertaining  visitors,  he  had  had  to  feed  and  clothe  Mrs.  RotscheflT  and 
himself  and  three  children.  Mr.  Rotscheff  is  a  very  good-looking  man, 
in  the  prime  of  life,  and  is  the  author  of  several  works  of  the  lighter 
order,  both  in  verse  and  prose.  He  had  been  doing  very  well  in  Pe- 
tersburg, as  a  translator  of  foreign  pieces  for  one  of  the  principal 
theatres,  when  he  was  so  fortunate,  or  so  unfortunate,  as  to  make  a 
conquest  of  a  daughter  of  Prince  Gargaren,  without  the  approbation  of 
her  family.  His  wife,  who  accompanied  him  to  the  far  east,  is  intel- 
lectual and  accomplished,  speaking  several  languages,  conversant  with 
many  branches  of  science,  and  divinely  musical.  This  poor  lady, 
"reared  in  the  halls  of  princes,"  and  accustomed  in  early  life  to  all  the 
luxuries  of  society,  meets  her  present  difiUculties  and  privations  with  a 
degree  of  firmness  which  does  her  infinite  honor.  There  she  sat  with 
all  thejortitude  and  cheerfulness  imaginable,  cooped  up  with  her  hus- 
band ^H^eeven  children,  four  of  them  not  her  own,  in  a  small  cabin, 


Mn:. 


fiyiki^<»> 


SITKA. 


86 


with  the  prospect  before  her  of  a  danfrerous  voynsfc  to  Oohotsk,  and 
an  equally  dangerous  ride  of  seven  thousand  miles  to  St.  Petersburjf. 
I  sincerely  trust  that  for  all  these  hardships  she  may  be  rewarded  by 
a  reconciliation  with  her  friends,  who,  notwithstandinjj  their  high  blood 
and  high  titles,  have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  this  fallen  member  of 
their  stock. 

The  Constantino  was  commanded  by  Mr.  Kashiooaroff,  a  lieutenant 
of  the  second  class  in  the  imperial  navy,  with  a  crew  of  two  mates 
and  eighteen  seamen.  By  the  regulations  of  the  Russian  American 
Company,  every  nautical  ofTicer  has  an  allowance  for  the  table,  a  cap- 
tain receiving  fifty  roubles  a  month,  and  a  mate  twenty-five.  This 
system  might,  I  think,  be  introduced  with  very  great  advantage  into  the 
commercial  marine  generally.  At  present,  a  skipper  is  hospitable  at 
his  owner's  cost,  giving  dinners,  balls,  &c.,  very  mucii  on  the  principle 
of  the  man. 

Will),  out  of  his  gront  ]x)unty, 

Built  a  bridgo  ut  tho  expoiiso  of  the  county. 

But  if  the  host  had  to  supply  everything  himself,  out  of  a  limited  sum, 
he  would  waste  less  of  the  ship's  time  in  convivial  entertainments. 

On  the  fourth  of  the  montii,  the  Ochotsk  sailed  for  Oonalashka,  and 
some  other  neighboring  stations.  She  had  the  good  bishop  as  a  pas- 
senger for  her  first-mentioned  destination,  whence  the  Bichal  was  to 
convey  him  to  Kamschatka.  She  was  also  carrying  Lieutenant  Zago- 
iskin  to  Norton  Sound,  who  was  thence  to  explore  the  interior  as  far 
as  Bristol  Bay  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  to  examine  the  Quah- 
pak,  a  large  river  falling  into  Beering's  Straits.  The  object  of  this  ex- 
pedition, was  to  occupy  the  country  by  posts,  in  order  to  protect  the 
trade  from  theSchuktchi  of  Siberia,  who  cross  the  straits  every  summer 
to  traffic  with  the  American  Indians,  carrying  their  furs,  ivory,  &c.,  to 
the  fair  of  Ostrovnoye,  and  there  receiving  in  exchange,  various  articles, 
but  more  particularly,  tobacco,  as  the  means  of  prosecuting  the  next 
season's  trip.  The  fair  in  question  is  held  on  the  Lesser  Aniuy,  which 
falls  through  the  Greater  Aniuy  into  the  Kolyma ;  and  it  is  described, 
in  a  very  lively  manner,  in  the  Journal  of  Captain  Cochrane,  who  had 
attended  it  with  the  view,  in  which,  however,  he  failed,  of  penetrating 
to  Beering's  Straits,  through  the  country  of  the  Schuktchi.  These 
mercantile  savages  are  certainly  very  clever  fellows,  being  equal,  if  not 
superior,  to  the  Russian  dealers,  according  to  the  gallant  traveler  just 
named.  They  are  first-rate  judges  of  tobacco  ;  and,  what  is  almost 
incredible,  they  can  weigh  a  pood  of  it  in  their  hands,  without  artificial 
aid,  accurately  enough  to  detect  any  attempt  whatever  at  imposition. 
In  their  eyes,  tobacco  is  peculiarly  valuable,  as  the  grand  instrument, 
at  once  of  pleasure  and  of  business  ;  and,  in  Baron  Wrangell's  Travels, 
one  chief  is  mentioned,  who  declared,  that  the  emperor,  in  return  for 
some  information  that  he  had  given,  could  not  possibly  make  him  so 
happy,  with  anything  else,  as  with  a  sack  of  the  precious  weed,  and 
an  iron  kettle. 

At  some  points,  Beering's  Straits  are  only  forty-five  miles  19  width, 


■•1 


Vjf 
>1 


f 


■■-Si 


III 


1 


U:l» 


86 


SITKA. 


iii 


^ 


mmmtmt^ 


with  a  nhnin  of  islanda,  like  so  m;my  Htepping  stonoH,  cxtcruling  from 
Hliure  to  Hhoro,  the  loii^cHt  travorMo  not  being  more  tliun  hcvvii  inilcH; 
80  that  the  navigation  is  praciieahle,  even  for  small  canoes.  In  the 
general  appeiaranco  of  the  two  coasts,  there  is  a  marked  difrerence,  the 
western  side  being  low,  flat,  and  sterile,  while  the  eastern  is  well  wood- 
»?d,  and  in  every  respect  better  adapted  than  the  other,  for  the  susten- 
ance both  f  man  and  beast.  Moreover,  the  soil  and  climate  improve 
rapidly  on  the  American  shore,  as  one  descends  ;  and  at  (Jook's  Inlet, 
potatoes  may  be  raised  with  ease,  though  they  hardly  ripen  in  any  pari 
of  Kamschatka,  which  extends  nearly  ten  degrees  farther  to  the  south. 
As,  in  addition  to  the  advantages  of  cultivation,  deer,  fish,  game,  and 
hay,  are  abundant.  The  Company  contemplates  the  forming  of  a  settle- 
ment here,  for  the  reception  of  its  old  servants.  In  the  neighborhood, 
on  an  island  near  Kodiak,  there  is  plenty  of  good  coal,  used  both  for 
the  hearth,  and  for  the  forge,  though  it  is  objectionable  for  the  latter 
purpose,  as  producing  too  great  a  quantity  of  ashes. 

In  point  of  climate  in  general,  there  is  nearly  the  same  difTnrcnro 
between  the  western  shore  of  America  and  the  eastern  shore  of  Asia, 
as  there  is  between  the  western  shore  of  Europe  and  the  eastern  shore 
of  America.  In  both  cases  the  same  cause  exists  to  produce  the  same 
effect.  In  the  temperate  latitudes,  the  prevailing  wind  is  from  the 
west,  being  a  kind  of  counter-current  to  the  easterly  trades  of  the 
tropics  ;  and,  with  reference  to  this  physical  fact,  the  leeward  coast  of 
either  continent  must  be  colder,  at  least  in  winter,  than  the  windward 
one,  inasmuch  as  the  former  receives  its  atmosphere  across  an  enor- 
mous zone  of  frozen  soil,  and  the  latter  across  a  considerable  brcadtli 
of  open  water.  But,  in  addition  to  this  common  ground  of  superiority, 
a  great  part  of  Russian  America  possesses  an  advantage  peculiar  to 
itself  in  being  shelleree'  from  the  northerly  gales.  Reckoning  upward;; 
from  Mount  St.  Elias  or  even  from  Cross  Sound,  the  more  southerly 
half  of  the  coast,  comprising,  of  course.  Cook's  Inlet  already  men- 
tioned, runs  pretty  nearly  east  and  west,  screened  towards  the  interior, 
within  a  very  short  distance  from  the  sea,  by  a  wall  of  mountains. 

To  place  in  the  most  striking  light,  the  contrast  in  point  of  climate 
between  the  opposite  shoies  of  each  continent,  Kamschatka  and  the 
British  Isles  may  be  said,  with  sufficient  accuracy  for  this  purpose,  to 
lie  in  the  same  latitudes  and  to  present  the  same  area,  and  even  to 
occupy  the  same  position  with  respect  to  the  proximity  of  water;  and 
yet,  while  the  British  Isles,  from  their  own  agricultural  resources, 
feed  at  least  twenty-five  millions  of  their  inhabitants,  Kamschatka, 
with  the  help  of  extraneous  supplies,  can  barely  prevent  its  popula- 
tion of  four  thousand  souls  from  starving.  How  difTerent  the  history 
of  man  would  have  been,  if  Providence  had  made  these  two  extremi- 
ties of  the  Old  World  exchange  climates,  merely  by  causing  the  tropical 
trades  to  blow  from  the  west,  and  the  counter-currents  of  the  tempe- 
rate zones  to  blow  from  the  east,  or,  to  express  the  same  thing,  I  ap- 
prehend, in  other  words,  merely  by  reversing  the  direction  of  the 
earth's  daily  revolution. 

Soon  after  my  return  from  the  baths,  I  witnessed  an  Indian  scene, 


^"I'l- 


SITKA. 


87 


»  ■,- 


Indian  scene, 


which  surpaflflod  in  wiUhiOHs  anythiiiir  of  tht;  kind  that  I  had  ovtT  seen. 
In  th(!  native*  villa^o,  whirh  lii>»  under  thc^uiiN  of  th*'  fort,  two  flava^oH, 
the  on(!  a  hi^h  chief  .md  tlie  other  a  man  of  t'onit;  c'ont*e(|uence  but 
still  inferior  in  rank  to  Win  companion,  had  (|uarreled  over  their  eups; 
and,  in  the  .scullle  that  ennued,  the  former  had  rihiin  thi!  hitter  by  Blab- 
bing him  through  the  lungs  with  his  dagger.  'Vlui  party  of  the  de- 
ccaHcd,  to  the  number  of  about  a  thouHand  men,  immediately  turned 
out  witli  horrible  yells  to  revenge  his  death,  painted  in  the  most  liide- 
ous  manner  and  armed  with  all  sorts  of  weapons,  such  as  spears, 
bludgeons,  dirks  and  firearms,  while  the  women,  more  ferocious,  if 
possible,  than  the  warriors  theiniiclvcs,  w(!re  exciting  the  tumultuary 
band  to  actual  violence  by  the  most  fiendish  screams  and  gestures. 
From  the  battery,  where  v  i'  had  all  taken  our  stand  to  watch  the  pro- 
ceedings, (fovernor  E'lioliiie  endeavored,  but  in  vain,  to  appease  the 
fury  of  the  mob;  happily,  however,  the  approach  of  night  jirevented 
the  immediate  commencement  of  the  civil  war.  IJy  six  in  the  morn- 
ing I  was  roused  from  my  l»ed  by  information,  that,  with  a  new  day 
before  them,  the  friends  of  the  deceased  were  determined  to  carry 
their  threats  of  the  preceding  afternoon  into  execution.  The  scene, 
when  we  were  all  again  collected  on  the  battery,  wou  d  beggar  descrijC 
tion, — several  thousands  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes,  unac'ustor.ed  at 
any  time  to  put  the  slightest  restraint  on  their  passions,  and  now  mad- 
dened into  demons,  most  of  them  with  arms,  parUy  by  tlieir  own  vin- 
dictivcness  and  partly  by  the  exhortations  of  their  schamans  oi  priests. 
The  chief's  life  was  demanded  as  an  atonement,  i)ut  refused  by  hii 
party  as  being  of  more  value  than  that  of  the  person  slain.  At  iiifi 
point  the  Governor  and  the  Bishop  interposed  on  behalf  of  b**  chief, 
as  being  a  baptized  member  of  the  church,  while,  by  way  jf  u  eking 
the  remonstrance,  the  guns  of  the  battery,  already  pointed  i  the  right 
direction,  were  made  ready  for  action.  This  strong  hint  in  favor  of  a 
compromise  was  not  lost.  The  parties  met  with  a  loud  wur-whoop; 
for  a  minute  or  two  a  clashing  of  arms  was  heard ;  and,  when  both 
sides  simultaneously  receded  from  the  spot,  we  beheld  the  bodies  of 
two  slaves  that  had  been  sacrificed  in  lieu  of  the  chief.  The  ig- 
noble blood  of  the  unfortunate  substitutes, — quantity  making  up  for 
quality, — was  accepted  as  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  the  feud;  and 
the  village  again  resumed  its  wonted  appearance.  By  the  by,  the 
combatants  wore,  as  defensive  armor,  leathern  jerkins  and  wooden 
cuirasses,  which  protected  the  body  down  to  th^  knees  against  spears 
but  not  against  bullets. 

This  scene  of  violence,  and  the  recent  tragedy  ai  iStikine,  both  events 
being  clearly  the  result  of  drinking  to  intoxication,  determined  Go- 
vernor Etholine  and  myself,  on  behalf  of  oi'*  respective  companies,  to 
discontinue  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors  ir  trading  with  the  natives  of 
this  coast;  and  we  immediately  enteieJ  into  an  agreement  to  that 
effect,  which  was  to  come  into  operation  at  Sitka  from  the  date  of 
signature,  and  at  every  other  post  from  the  day  on  which  it  might  be- 
come known.  The  practice  of  selling  spirits  to  Indians,  was  adopted 
at  Sitka  by  the  Russians,  in  the  year  1832,  in  order  to  protect  them- 


■.'  1 


r 


■'m 


-i  ;t :, 


3 


88 


SITKA. 


H:f 


selves  against  some  American  adventurers,  who  had  introduced  the 
liquid  fire;  and  it  was  in  consequence  of  a  similar  necessity,  that  The 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  induced  to  countenance  the  pernicious 
system.  Everywhere,  in  fact,  competition  and  rum  go  hand  in  hand, 
in  trafficking  with  aboriginal  tribes,  while  an  exclusive  privilege  gives 
its  possessor  a  palpable  interest  in  preventing  intemperate  habits,  as 
the  unfailing  source  of  the  savage's  moral  and  physical  deterioration. 

At  the  more  northerly  posts  on  the  continent,  and  generally  through- 
out the  islands,  the  Russians  did  not  use  spirituous  liquors.  Even  at 
Sitka,  they  were  intending  gradually  to  withhold  the  means  of  intoxi- 
cation from  their  own  servants.  Such  a  measure  would  have  been 
impracticable  previously  to  the  arrangement,  which  had  just  been  com- 
pleted, inasmuch  as  many  of  the  thirstier  souls,  when  stinted  in  the 
shop,  often  purchased  the  needful  from  the  savages,  at  a  ruinous  ad- 
vance, of  course,  on  what  the  sellers  had  themselves  paid.  Even  now 
an  immediate  abolition  would  be  by  no  means  advisable,  as  most  o*" 
the  best  artisans,  if  condemned  to  be  sober,  would  as  soon  as  possible 
quit  so  dry  a  service,  and  thus  involve  the  company  in  a  considerable 
amount  of  expense  and  inconvenience.  Some  reformation  certainly 
was  wanted  in  this  respect,  for  of  all  the  drunken,  as  well  as  of  all  the 
dirty,  places  that  I  had  visited,  New  Archangel  was  the  worst.  On 
the  holidays,  in  particular,  of  which,  Sundays  included,  there  are  one 
hundred  and  sixty-five  in  the  year,  men,  women,  and  even  children, 
were  to  be  seen  staggering  about  in  all  directions. 

The  treaiy  between  Governor  Etholine  and  myself  was  speedily  put 
to  the  test.  In  order  to  drown  all  remains  of  former  animosity  in  an- 
other debauch,  the  savages  made  application,  as  a  matter  of  course,  for 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  rum.  Judge  the  astonishment  of  the  poor  crea- 
tures on  learning,  that  without  their  own  consent,  we  had  been  making 
them  take  ♦he  pledge  of  total  and  perpetual  abstinence.  They  retired 
in  sullen  silence ;  and  we  had  no  doubt  that  many  a  grave  council 
would  be  held  on  the  northwest  coast,  to  devise  means  of  removing 
the  obnoxious  restriction.  , 

The  aborigines  of  America,  as  the  reader  must  have  gathered  from 
these  details,  are  not  subjects  of  Russia  in  tlio  same  sense  as  the  abo- 
rigines of  Siberia  and  the  intervening  islands.  They  do  not  exhibit  that 
badge  of  servitude  which,  having  been  introduced  by  the  earliest  con- 
querors, has  traveled  eastward  from  the  Gulf  of  Finland  to  Beering's 
Straits.  A  tribute  in  skins  was  exacted  by  Rurick  and  his  Normans, 
from  the  Sclavonians  on  Lak^s  Ilmen  and  Ladoga ;  a  similar  Yassack 
formed  the  temptation,  and  the  reward  of  the  Cossacks,  who,  with  un- 
daunted courage  and  unwearied  patience,  subdued  tribe  after  tribe  to 
the  eastward,  following  every  river  in  Siberia  to  its  own  sea  ;  and  even 
the  same  acknowledgment  of  vassalage  is  annually  rendered  at  the  fair 
of  Ostrovnoye  by  the  Schuktchi,  through  whose  territory  not  a  single 
servant  of  the  government  has  ever  penetrated  by  force.  Thus,  curi- 
ously enough,  the  fur  trade  has  been,  for  ten  centuries,  the  pervad- 
ing thread  of  Russian  politics,  as  well  as  of  Russian  commerce,  from 
the  Baltic  to  the  Sea  of  Kamschatka,  from  the  Altai  Mountains  to  the 
Frozen  Ocean. 


SITKA. 


89 


While  I  was  at  New  Archangel,  a  funeral  took  place  among  the 
Kaluscians,  the  name  of  the  tribe  inhabiting  the  native  village.  Tiie 
body,  arrayed  in  the  gayest  apparel  of  the  deceased,  lay  in  state  for 
two  or  three  days,  which  were  spent  by  the  relatives  in  fasUngs  and 
lamentations.  At  the  end  of  this  period  it  was  placed  on  a  funeral 
pile,  round  which  the  mourners  ranged  themselves,  their  faces  painted 
black,  their  hair  clipped  short  and  their  heads  covered  with  eagles' 
down.  The  pipe  was  next  passed  round  two  or  three  times ;  and  then, 
at  some  secret  signal,  the  lire  was  kindled  in  several  places,  while  a  dis- 
cord of  drumming  and  wailing  deafened  one  till  the  pile  was  con- 
sumed. Lastly,  the  ashes  were  collected  into  an  ornamented  box, 
which  was  ultimately  to  be  elevated  on  a  scalfold  or  on  the  top  of  a 
pole.  On  the  side  of  a  neighboring  hill,  we  saw  a  vast  number  of 
these  monuments,  which  presented  a  very  curious  appearance. 

The  Kaluscians  are  a  numerous  tribe,  their  language  being  spoken 
all  the  way  to  the  northward  from  Stikine  as  far  as  Admiralty  Bay, 
near  Mount  St.  Elias ;  thence  to  Prince  William's  Sound  is  another 
language ;  and  four  or  five  more  languages  divide  between  them  the  coast 
up  to  Icy  Cape. 

New  Archangel,  notwithstanding  its  isolated  position,  is  a  very  gay 
place.  Much  of  the  time  of  its  inhabitants  is  devoted  to  festivity ;  din- 
ners and  balls  run  a  perpetual  round,  and  are  managed  in  a  style  which, 
in  this  part  of  the  world,  may  be  deemed  extravagant.  Amongst  other 
gayeties,  that  took  place  during  my  visit,  was  a  wedding  between  one 
PaufofF,  mate  of  a  vessel,  and  a  rather  good-looking  creole  girl,  about 
twenty  years  old  and  named  Archimanditoffra.  Attended  by  their 
friends,  and  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  establishment,  the  happy 
couple  proceeded  about  six  in  the  evening  to  church,  where  a  tedious 
service  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  was  solemnized  by  the  monk.  At  the 
close  of  the  ceremony,  which  comprised  lully  the  usual  proportion  of 
dumb-show,  the  bridegroom  led  off  his  bride  to  the  ball-room.  I  was 
foing  to  say  that  he  was  followed  by  his  guests;  but  the  expression 
would  have  been  incorrect,  for  the  guests  were  not  his.  The  sufferer 
in  these  cases,  according  to  the  rule  made  and  provided  in  Russia,  is 
the  individual,  who  has  enjoyed  the  honor  of  giving  away  the  lady — 
an  honor  which,  however  unpleasant  in  itself  or  in  its  incidents,  no 
man  is  expected  to  decline.  Archimanditoffra's  father,  for  the  occa- 
sion, was  Lieutenant  Bertram,  one  of  the  company's  principal  officers. 
On  entering  the  ball-room,  the  bride  and  bridegroom  took  their  station 
at  the  upper  end,  where  Lieutenant  Bertram  described  a  variety  of 
mystic  signs  on  their  breasts  with  the  bridal  cake,  which,  being  thus 
consecrated,  was  sent  off  as  fit  for  use.  The  newly  married  pair  sat 
side  by  side,  while  every  gentlemar,  in  his  turn,  drank  to  their  health 
and  happiness  in  a  glass  of  champagne. 

On  this  occasion  were  assembled  nearly  all  the  beauty  and  fashion 
of  Sitka,  the  latter  quality,  if  I  may  presume  to  offer  an  opinion,  being 
perhaps  more  conspicuous  than  the  fornier.  The  ladies  were  showily 
attired  in  clear  muslin  dresses,  w'aite  satin  shoes,  silk  stockings,  kid 
gloves,  fans  and  all  other  necessary  or  unnecessary  appendages ;  aa-X 


T 

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■i 

■'■  *.^ffl 

' '  Ml 

» 

k'-sIS; 

"•iVf 

'U. 

••l! 

*    ■  "■'•■■' 

.  -.  vi 

•        '.   >'," 

.  irt. 

^  :  V 

'CM 

.:  il 

{ 

' « 

:*' 

■  '  '■'':. 

;j  ■ 

■f 

i---^\ 

J    .•'!". 


90 


SITKA. 


■V 


'ih^; 


these  fair  ones  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  being  at  a  high  premium,  in- 
asmuch as  the  gentlemen,  who  amounted  to  about  fifty,  outnumbered 
them  in  the  proportion  of  nearly  two  to  one.  The  ball  was  opened 
by  the  bride  and  the  highest  officer  present ;  quadrilles  and  waltzes 
followed  in  quick  succession ;  and  the  business  was  kept  up  with  great 
spirit  till  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  band  was  of  a  superior 
description,  some  of  the  clerks  and  servants  being  fine  performers, 
who  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost.  The  master  and  paymaster  of 
the  ceremonies  did  his  duty  like  a  prince.  Tea,  coffee,  chocolate,  and 
champagne  were  handed  about  in  profusion,  varied,  at  proper  intervals, 
with  sandwiches  and  liqueurs,  while  a  smoking  room,  besides  being 
a  necessary  of  life  to  many,  afforded  a  place  of  retreat  to  all  such  as 
did  not  wish  to  take  part  in  the  dancing. 

On  these  matrimonial  occasions,  the  father  of  the  bride,  however 
hard  his  lot,  gets  off  much  more  cheaply  than  some  of  the  other  aux- 
iliaries in  the  drama.  According  to  a  law  of  the  church,  the  brides- 
maids and  bridesmen  are  prohibited  from  marrying  each  other;  but 
as,  in  the  limited  society  of  New  Archangel  where  the  lottery  consists 
of  so  few  tickets,  youths  and  maidens  would  never  officiate  together  on 
such  forbidding  terms,  the  church  has  indulged  Sitka  with  a  special 
dispensation  in  this  respect. 

At  length  the  day  arrived,  Sunday  the  ninth,  on  which  I  was  to  bid 
adieu  to  the  New  World.  Governor  Etholine,  being  punctual  in  all  his 
engagements,  had,  according  to  appointment,  completed  everything  in 
time  for  the  vessel  to  sail  this  afternoon.  At  eleven  in  the  forenoon, 
I  accompanied  him  on  board  of  the  Alexander,  on  his  usual  visit  of 
inspection  previously  to  her  taking  her  departure ;  and  on  this  grand 
occasion,  all  the  men  and  officers  were  dressed  in  full  uniform,  while 
the  vessel  and  all  her  appurtenances  were  in  complete  order.  We 
were  formally  received  at  the  gangway,  under  a  salute,  by  Captain 
Kadnikoff,  and  found  on  deck  a  monk  and  two  assistants  waiting  to 
bless  the  ship  for  her  long  voyage.  When  prayers  had  been  read 
below,  the  monk  returned  on  deck,  and,  after  pronouncing  the  custom- 
ary form  of  words,  sprinkled  the  flag,  which  was  lowered  for  the  pur- 
pose, with  holy  water,  as  also  the  mainmast  and  crew,  using  in  the 
ceremony  a  silver-handled  brush  of  elaborate  workmanship.  The  peo- 
ple having  been  inspected  by  Governor  Etholine,  a  basin  of  thl?hien's 
soup  was  brought  for  him  to  taste,  which,  though  to  my  eye  rather 
washy  and  transparent,  he  pronounced  to  be  excellent.  The  ship's 
company  amounted  a  all  to  thirty-six,  consisting  of  the  captain,  two 
mates,  a  pilot,  boatswain  and  boatswain's  mate,  gunner  and  gunner's 
mate,  and  twenty-eight  seamen,  all  man-of-war's-men,  and  decidedly 
the  stoutest  body  of  fellows  that  I  ever  saw.  In  addition  to  the  crew 
there  were  four  supernumerary  boys  belonging  to  the  naval  school  of 
Sitka,  who  had  been  placed  on  board  to  acquire  some  practical  know- 
ledge of  their  future  profession.  A  very  elegant  cold  collation  had 
been  provided  by  the  captain,  of  which  about  twenty  of  us  partook, 
washing  it  down  with  abundance  of  champagne ;  and,  when  we  re- 
turned to  the  establishment,  I  was  much  pleased  again  to  see  Madame 
Etholine  for  the  first  time  since  I  started  in  the  Cowlitz  for  Stikine. 


SITKA. 


91 


The  farewell  dinner  to  which  about  thirty  of  us  sat  down,  exceeded  in 
sumptuousness  anything  that  I  had  yet  seen  even  at  the  same  hospitable 
board.  The  glass,  the  plate,  and  the  appointments,  in  general,  wore 
very  costly ;  the  viands  were  excellent ;  and  (Jovernor  Etholinc  played 
the  part  of  host  to  perfection.  After  dinner  I  took,  for  the  last  time,  my 
accustomed  walk  with  the  governor  by  the  only  path,  which,  owing  to 
tiie  swampy  character  of  the  neighborhood,  is  at  all  practicable,  wind- 
ing on  the  beach  round  a  small  bay  till  intercepted  by  what  is  called 
the  Little  River.  During  this  walk  I  took  leave  of  several  of  my  old 
friends,  particularly  of  Kathrine,  the  acknowledged  belle  of  the  place, 
who,  though  the  tailor's  daughter,  has  a  host  of  suitors  of  all  ranks. 

A  dense  fog,  which  came  on  after  dinner,  prevented  our  immediate 
departure  ;  but,  as  all  my  baggage  had  been  sent  on  board  during  the 
day,  I  went  off  to  the  vessel  to  sleep.  The  passengers  by  the  Alex- 
ander were  my  own  party,  and  an  officer  of  the  Russian  American 
Company,  besides  the  clerks  who  had  charge  of  the  valuable  cargo  of 
furs.  Next  forenoon  the  continuance  of  the  thick  weather  afforded  an 
opportunity  to  our  friends  to  pay  us  farewell  visits ;  and  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  receiving  in  ray  new  quarters,  the  governor  and  his  con- 
fidential secretary  Mr.  Teil,  the  two  doctors,  Lieutenant  Villachkoffsky, 
and  several  others.  The  fog  soon  dispersing,  the  anchor  was  weighed  ; 
and  with  deep  regret  I  bade  adieu,  probably  for  the  last  time  in  life,  to 
the  kind-hearted  denizens  of  Sitka,  and  more  especially  to  their  cour- 
teous and  hospitable  chief.  The  unremitting  attentions  of  all  had  made 
me  regard  them  rather  as  brothers  than  as  strangers ;  and  I  felt  that  I 
should  long  cherish  the  recollection  of  the  many  happy  hours  that  I 
had  enjoyed  among  them. 

We  were  towed  out  of  the  harbor  by  the  Nicholas  steamer,  while 
the  Moore  tug  accompanied  us  for  a  short  distance  with  Governor 
Edioline  and  several  of  our  other  visitors  on  board,  who,  before  putting 
d^t,  gave  us  nine  hearty  cheers,  which  we  returned  with  interest. 
Inpassing  we  saluted  the  fort  with  seven  guns ;  and  about  one  in  the 
afternoon  the  steamer  cast  us  off,  and,  cheering  us  as  she  departed,  left 
us  to  perform  a  voyage  of  eighty-two  degrees  of  longitude  and  nearly 
twenty  of  latitude. 

Having  now  fairly  lost  sight  of  New  Archangel,  let  me  once  more 
record  thy  thanks  to  Governor  Etholine  and  his  staff  of  highly  enlight- 
ened officers  for  all  the  civility  and  politeness,  which  they  lavished  on 
me  even  at  this  the  busiest  season  of  their  year;  and,  if  circumstances 
had  permitted  me  to  prolong  my  stay  among  them  till  the  busde  was 
all  over,  they  would  doubtless,  as  their  kindness  evidently  came  from 
the  heart,  have  surpassed  themselves  in  hospitality  and  friendship. 
Speaking,  by  the  by,  of  the  season,  the  pressure  of  work  in  spring  has 
reference  rather  to  Ochotsk,  which  is  seldom  accessible  before  the  end 
of  June  according  to  the  old  style,  than  to  Sitka  itself,  which  is  one  of 
the  very  few  harbors  in  the  empire  that  are  open  all  the  year  round. 

As  the  wind  was  free,  an  hour  brought  us  abreast  of  Mount  Edge- 
combe, which,  independently  of  a  grandeur  peculiarly  its  own,  we 
continued  to  watch  with  considerable  interest,  as  being  the  last  land  ia 
our  wake. 


»     If:  .V  >! 


m 


■«,? 

%, 


i-m 


fim 


92 


CHAPTER  XV. 


ii' 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 

Throughout  the  voyage  the  winds,  as  is  almost  constantly  the  case 
here  in  summer,  were  remarkably  variable,  seldom  holding  longer  than 
twenty-four  hours  in  one  direction ;  and  the  weather  was  so  calm  and 
the  swell  so  gentle,  that,  between  the  middle  of  May  and  the  end  of 
August,  an  open  boat  might  traverse  these  seas  in  safety. 

The  greatest  order  and  quiet  prevailed  on  board,  all  the  duties  beins 
performed  with  the  regularity  of  clock-work.  Our  mess  was  small, 
consisting  of  Captain  Kadnikofr,my  own  party,  and  the  officer  already 
mentioned,  while  Mr.  Bagenot,  the  supercargo,  had  a  general  invitation 
to  join  us;  and  on  Sundays  our  circle  was  increased  by  the  addition 
of  the  first  and  second  mates,  the  ship's  clerk,  and  the  purser.  Having 
an  abundant  supply  of  provisions,  and  a  cook  who  was  a  master  of  his 
art,  we  fared  sumptuously  on  board  of  the  Alexander. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  the  month,  being  our  first  Sunday  at  sea,  the 
people  were  all  mustered  for  inspection;  and  Captain  Kadnikoff  in 
full  uniform,  after  exchanging  something  like  "good  morning"  witii 
the  men,  reminded  them  in  a  few  words,  that,  though  they  were  in  the 
employment  of  the  company,  they  yet  also  served  the  Emperor,  the 
great  master  of  all.  Divine  service  was  then  performed  in  the  'tween 
decks,  illuminated  for  the  occasion  by  wax  candles,  and  embellished 
with  some  image  or  other,  while  the  congregation,  which  consisted  of 
all  and  sundry,  kept  crossing  and  bowing  with  little  or  no  intermission 
from  first  to  last.  Though  the  Alexander  did  not  carry  a  chaplain  of 
her  own,  yet  she  happened  to  have  a  priest  on  board,  who  had  been 
degraded  at  Sitka  for  drunkenness.  Having  been  kept  sober  on  pur- 
pose, our  reverend  friend  went  through  the  duty  in  the  most  impressive 
manner,  being  a  man  of  commanding  appearance,  with  a  voice  of  sur- 
passing mellowness  and  strength. 

By  noon  on  the  following  Wednesday,  we  had  reached  the  longi- 
tude of  Kodiak,  the  first  of  the  chain  of  isles  that  connects  the  two 
continents,  and  the  latitude  of  Cape  Lopatka,  the  most  southerly  point 
of  Kamschatka,  having  run  about  a  hundred  and  eighty  miles  before  a 
southeaster  in  the  preceding  twenty-four  hours.  To  put  us  in  still  bet- 
ter spirits,  we  perceived,  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  a  large  ship 
looming  through  the  fog  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  us.  On  our 
nearer  approach  we  distinguished  the  stars  and  stripes,  while  her  stock 
of  boats  told  her  business  as  plainly  as  her  flag  indicated  her  nation; 
and,  on  passing  close  under  her  stern,  we  read  her  name,  "  Parachute 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


93^ 


,    *  ,v.?! 


mstantly  the  case 
Iding  longer  than 
was  so  cahn  and 
'  and  the  end  of 
;ty. 

1  the  duties  beins 
mess  was  small, 
le  officer  already 
general  invitation 
by  the  addition 
purser.  Having 
is  a  master  of  his 

inday  at  sea,  the 
iin  Kadnikoff  in 
morning"  with 
they  were  in  the 
le  Emperor,  the 
led  in  the  'tween 
and  embellished 
ich  consisted  of 
rno  intermission 
ry  a  chaplain  of 
,  who  had  been 
pt  sober  on  pur- 
most  impressive 
h  a  voice  of  sur- 

ached  the  longi- 
onnects  the  two 
t  southerly  point 
y  miles  before  a 
)ut  us  in  still  bet- 
on,  a  large  ship 
of  us.  On  our 
while  her  stock 
ated  her  nation; 
me,  "  Parachute 


of  New  Bedford."  On  our  firing  a  gun,  both  vessels  backed  their 
maintopsails  for  a  parley.  A  boat  was  lowered  by  the  American,  and 
a  man,  whom  we  had  no  reason  to  consider  as  a  skipper,  scrambled  up 
annong  us.  According  to  his  account,  the  Parachute  had  been  out 
nineteen  months,  and  had  got  2200  barrels  of  oil,  1500  of  them  the 
produce  of  thirteen  right  whales,  taken  last  summer  between  lats. 
49°  and  56°  and  longs.  140°  and  152°;  at  the  close  of  the  season  she 
had  been  within  thirty  miles  of  the  southeastern  corner  of  Kodiak, 
having  thence  proceeded  by  way  of  California,  fishing  as  she  went 
with  very  little  success,  to  the  Equator,  where  she  caught  four  sperm 
whales;  she  had  again,  within  these  few  days, reached  her  old  ground, 
described  by  our  informant  as  the  best  at  present  known,  expecting  to 
have  about  two  hundred  competitors  this  year  instead  of  the  fifty  that 
she  had  had  last;  she  had  twenty-seven  men  on  board,  all  engaged  on 
lays  or  shares,  and  had  lost  two  i;r.  the  preceding  summer  from  the 
stroke  of  a  whale;  finally,  she  had  a  captain  of  the  name  of  Wilcox, 
who  gloried  in  being  a  real  "  teetotaller." 

Singularly  enough,  we  were  able  to  ofTer  to  the  good  ship  Parachute 
more  than  an  equivalent  in  kind  for  her  bit  of  autobiography.  In  con- 
versation with  my  servant  one  of  her  mates  discovered  that,  in  travel- 
ing from  Boston  to  Montreal,  we  had  changed  horses  at  his  father's 
house,  at  Richmond  in  Vermont,  thus  bringing  the  poor  fellow  intelli- 
gence of  his  relatives  later  by  eight  or  nine  months  than  what  he  him- 
self possessed.  Under  the  circumstances,  the  recognition,  if  I  may  so 
speak,  was  as  agreeahle  as  it  was  unexpected. 

Captain  Kadnikoflf  having  asked  our  communicative  visitor  whether 
he  would  drink,  Jonathan  promptly  replied,  "  I  guess  I  don't  care  if  I 
do;"  but,  when  presented  accordingly  witii  half  a  tumbler  of  rum  on 
deck,  he  appeared  to  have  changed  his  mind,  saying,  "I  guess  I  don't 
care  if  I  don't."  Suspecting  the  cause  of  his  refusal,  I  suggested  to 
Captain  Kadnikofl*  to  ask  him  below ;  and  our  shaggy  friend,  after  half 
an  hour's  chat,  returned  to  the  Parachute,  to  say  nothing  of  a  few 
bundles  of  Manillas  in  his  pocket,  with  a  tumbler  or  two  of  port  in  his 
stomach — pretty  well  for  Captain  Wilcox,  the  real  "teetotaller,"  in 
his  own  proper  person. 

From  Captain  Kadnikoff  and  other  persons  acquainted  with  these 
waters,  I  have  learnt  that  whales  of  huge  size,  some  of  them  a  hundred 
and  twenty  feet  in  length,  are  extremely  numerous  in  the  Sea  of  Kam- 
schatka,  ati.l  about  the  Aleutian  Islands;  and  that  they  are  frequently 
killed  by  the  natives  by  means  of  spears  and  arrows  shod  with  stone. 
As  these  whales  are  by  far  too  large  to  be  dragged  to  land  by  the 
savages,  the  plan  is  merely  to  wound  the  monster  as  seriously  as  pos- 
sible, and  then  to  trust  to  the  winds  to  strand  him  in  a  few  days.  On 
or  before  the  third  day  he  generally  dies,  for,  however  powerful  to 
resist  his  persecutors  at  the  moment  of  attack,  the  whale,  when  wound- 
ed, is  by  no  means  tenacious  of  life,  in  proportion  to  his  size  and 
strength. 

To  return  to  Captain  Wilcox's  story,  it  is  surprising  that  the  RuiSfeian 
Government  allows  its  coasts  to  be  scoured,  in  the  way  described,  by 


M 


^ 


F-- 


h^^ 


IN' 

Ik 


94 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


'W 


fleets  of  foreign  vessels.  Every  state  is  surely  entitled  to  the  fisheries 
of  her  own  shores  ;  and  moreover,  with  respect  to  the  particular  fish- 
ery in  question,  all  the  whales  in  the  ocean  must  soon  be  exterminated, 
if  those,  who  have  no  permanent  interest  in  preserving  them,  to  control 
their  temporary  interest  in  destroying  them,  are  permitted  to  pursue, 
into  its  most  secret  haunts,  an  animal,  which,  besides  being  too  large 
to  hide  itself,  multiplies  so  slowly. 

Next  morning,  the  wind  fell  oflT  to  a  dead  calm,  which  continued  all 
day,  with  a  good  deal  of  sea-weed,  some  gulls,  and  two  whales  around 
the  ship.  In  consequence  of  the  presence  of  the  sea-weed,  a  cast  of 
the  lead  was  taken  ;  but  no  bottom  was  found  with  a  hundred  fathoms. 
We  were  here  told  of  an  unknown  island,  supposed  to  exist  about  a 
hundred  miles  to  the  north  of  our  position,  and  I  give  the  story,  as  I 
got  it,  not  on  account  of  the  island  itself,  but  on  account  of  the  circum- 
stance that  is  said  to  have  led  to  the  alleged  discovery.  Though  the 
aborigines  of  the  islands  between  Asia  and  America,  were  found  to  live, 
according  to  their  own  expression,  as  the  otters  and  seals  lived,  yet 
they  were,  through  the  influence  of  Russian  Missionaries,  gradually  so 
far  weaned  from  this  habit  of  promiscuous  intercourse,  as  to  see  it  in  its 
true  light.  In  this  improved  state  of  public  feeling,  an  Aleutian  and 
his  daughter,  who  had  committed  incest  together  about  two  years  ago, 
found  themselves  to  be  outcasts  among  their  own  people,  and,  pushing 
off"  in  a  baidarka  from  Kodiak,  they  paddled  steadily  to  the  southward 
for  four  days,  till  they  came  to  an  island  which  was  previously  un- 
known. After  a  year's  sojourn,  they  returned  to  Kodiak ;  and,  in  con- 
sequence of  their  report,  a  vessel  was  dispatched  to  search,  but  in  vain, 
for  this  terra  australis  incognita. 

It  is  not  uncommon  for  the  Aleutians,  to  make  long  voyages  in  their 
small  baidarkas,  often  going  fifty  or  sixty  miles  from  land,  to  hunt  the 
sea  otter.  For  this  purpose,  they  keep  together  in  fleets  of  perhaps  a 
hundred  baidL.rkas  each.  Proceeding  in  calm  weather  to  some  spot, 
known  to  be  a  favorite  haunt  of  the  animal,  they  form  their  little  ves- 
sels, end  to  end,  in  a  line  ;  and,  as  soon  as  any  symptoms  of  the  game 
are  perceived,  a  single  canoe  approaches,  while,  if  all  is  right,  one  of 
its  two  inmates  holds  up  his  paddle,  as  a  signal  for  the  others  to  range 
themselves  in  a  circle,  round  the  spot.  Meanwhile  the  creature  must 
rise  to  breathe  ;  and  no  sooner  does  he  show  his  nose,  than  oflT  fly  the 
arrows  of  the  nearest  hunters.  If  he  escapes,  as  is  generally  the  case, 
from  the  first  attack,  another  ring  is  formed  round  the  place  where  he 
may  be  expected  again  to  appear;  and  so  the  process  is  continued,  till 
the  victim  is  exhausted  and  destroyed.  All  these  movements  are  executed 
with  an  incredible  degree  of  silence,  the  hunters  being  so  skilful,  as  to 
prevent  even  the  dip  of  the  paddles,  from  being  heard  by  the  object  of 
their  pursuit. 

These  distant  expeditions  are  not  unattended  with  danger.  The  bai- 
darka, being  merely  a  frame  of  bones,  with  a  covering  of  skins,  cannot 
withstand  the  action  of  the^  water  for  many  days  on  end ;  and  if  it 
springs  a  leak,  or  is  otherwise  injured,  its  tenants  have  hothing  but  cer- 
tain and  immediate  death  before  them,  for  no  other  vessel  can  take 


to  the  fislicrics 
1  particular  fish- 
»e  exterminated, 
tlieiii,  to  control 
itted  to  pursue, 
being  too  large 

ih  continued  all 
I  whales  around 
-weed,  a  cast  of 
mdrcd  fathoms. 
0  exist  about  a 

the  story,  as  I 
It  of  the  circum- 
r.  Though  the 
ire  found  to  live, 

seals  lived,  yet 
ies,  gradually  so 
IS  to  see  it  in  it3 
an  Aleutian  and 
;  two  years  ago, 
lie,  and,  pushing 
o  the  southward 
3  previously  un- 
ak ;  and,  in  con- 
rch,  but  in  vain, 

voyages  in  their 

md,  to  hunt  the 

ts  of  perhaps  a 

to  some  spot, 

their  little  ves- 

>ms  of  the  game 

is  right,  one  of 

others  to  range 

B  creature  must 

than  off  fly  the 

lerally  the  case, 

place  where  he 

s  continued,  till 

nts  are  executed 

so  skilful,  as  to 

)y  the  object  of 

nger.    The  bai- 

o{  skins,  cannot 

end  ;  and  if  it 

lOthing  but  cer- 

vessel  can  take 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


more  than  its  own  complement  on  board  ;  and,  calling  their  comrades 
around  their  sinking  craft,  they  send  kind  messages  to  their  wives  and 
families,  and  then  lie  down  to  die,  without  a  single  cifort  at  self-pre- 
servation. 

During  the  last  few  days,  I  have  occupied  myself  in  reading  Wran- 
gell's  Siberian  Voyages,  a  work  which,  interesting  as  it  must  be,  even 
to  the  general  reader,  is  peculiarly  so  to  myself  under  my  present  cir- 
cumstances. But,  with  all  my  respect  for  the  noble  author,  I  must  do 
battle  with  the  very  first  sentence  of  his  introduction  : 

"The  whole  of  the  immense  extent  of  country,  from  the  White  Sea 
to  Beering's  Straits,  embracing  145°  of  longitude  along  the  coast  of 
Asia  and  Europe,  has  been  discovered,  surveyed  and  described  by  Rus- 
sians. All  the  attempts  of  other  maritime  nations  to  find  a  passage  by 
the  Polar  Sea  from  Europe  to  China,  or  from  the  Pacific  into  the  At- 
lantic, have  been  limited,  in  the  West  by  the  Karskoie  Sea,  and  in  the 
East  by  the  meridian  of  the  Cape  North.  The  impediments  which 
stopped  the  progress  of  others,  have  been  conquered  by  Russians,  accus- 
tomed to  the  severity  of  the  climate,  and  to  the  privations  inseparable 
from  it." 

The  third  sentence,  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  second,  clearly 
implies  that  the  Russians  have  found  that  "  passage  by  the  Polar  Sea 
from  Europe  to  China,"  which  "other  maritime  nations"  have  failed 
to  find.  Now,  what  are  the  facts  as  recorded  by  my  friend  himaelf  ? 
Rather  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  expeditions  were  simultaneously 
undertaken  from  different  points  on  the  coast,  at  the  public  expense, 
in  order  to  ascertain  how  far  the  route  in  question  was  practicable,  or 
otherwise.  In  passing  from  the  White  Sea  to  the  Gulf  of  Oby,  four 
seasons  were  consumed;  from  the  Gulf  of  Oby  to  the  River  Yenisei, 
four  seasons ;  from  the  Yenisei  to  the  Lena,  season  after  season  was 
spent  in  both  directions,  without  success.  Cape  Taimura  having  not 
only  never  been  doubled  by  water,  but  never  even  been  visited  by  land  ; 
from  the  Lena  to  the  Kolyma,  six  seasons  were  occupied ;  from  the 
Kolyma  to  the  Pacific,  every  effort  was  fruitless,  though,  about  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Simon  Deshneff,  a  Cossack,  had 
sailed,  in  a  single  summer,  from  the  Kolyma  through  Beering's  Straits 
as  far  as  the  Anadyr.  To  sum  up  all  in  one  word,  fourteen  years  were 
required  for  accomplishing  the  easiest  three  of  the  five  grand  divisions 
of  the  coast;  while  of  the  two  other  divisions  the  more  easterly  has 
never  been  accomplished  within  these  hundred  and  ninety  years  and 
upwards ;  and  the  more  westerly  always  has  defied,  and  probably 
always  will  defy,  every  human  effort.  But  these  achievements,  how- 
ever much  they  fall  short  of  "  a  passage  by  the  Polar  Sea  from  Europe 
to  China,"  do  certainly  speak  volumes,  as  every  reader  of  the  baron's 
details  must  admit,  in  favor  of  the  skill,  hardihood,  and  patience  of  the 
various  explorers  who  have  uniformly  done  all  that  men  could  do. 
Still,  however,  the  Russians,  in  contrasting  their  success  with  the  failure 
of  "other  maritime  nations,"  should  reflect  that,  besides  having  by  far  the 
most  direct  interest  in  the  result,  they  were  immeasurably  nearer  to 
their  resources,  an  advantage  which,  as  my  brief  summary  must  have 


-   .  .i. 

-i. 


7!!: 


^ 


[f    Vi'l 


.>.  A.M 


VOYAGE  TO  0CHOT8K. 


ll 


\^ 


shown,  alone  enabled  them  to  perform  what,  to  any  other  people  what- 
ever, would  have  been  utterly  and  absolutely  impossible. 

In  this  view  of  the  case,  even  if  the  Russians  had  been  completely 
successful,  there  was  really  no  room  for  comparison.  All  that  could 
be  said  with  respect  to  the  result,  as  distinguished  from  the  merits  of 
the  afifents,  would  be  that  the  Russians,  issuing  from  their  own  rivers, 
surveyed  their  own  shores.  But  even  this  limited  honor  of  attending 
to  her  own  work,  Russia  must  share  with  England ;  or  rather,  wher- 
ever distant  resources  were  at  all  available,  England  has  done  nearly 
everything  and  left  Russia  almost  nothing  to  do.  The  Russians  have 
been  anticipated  by  English  navigators  and  travelers  on  every  foot  of 
the  northern  coast  of  their  share  of  America;  Cook  was  the  first,  with- 
out ever  being  followed  by  a  second,  to  penetrate  as  far  as  Cape  North, 
on  the  corresponding  coast  of  Asia ;  and  the  same  illustrious  voyager 
was  the  true  and  only  discoverer  of  Beering's  Straits,  for  the  mariner, 
after  whom  he  generously  named  them,  passed  through  them  withort 
having  ascertained  the  proximity  of  the  two  continents,  or  even  their 
separation,  Avhile  the  Cossack  Deshneff,  already  mentioned  as  having 
sailed  from  the  Kolyma  to  the  Anadyr,  perliaps  ascertained  their  sepa- 
ration, but  certainly  not  their  proximity.  But,  at  the  opposite  ex- 
tremity of  her  boundless  coast,  Russia  has  been  far  more  deeply  in- 
debted to  England.  When  Richard  Chancellor,  about  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  anchored  in  the  White  Sea,  he  not  only  dis- 
covered a  considerable  portion  of  the  coast  for  Russia,  but  also  rescued 
her  by  means  of  commerce  from  that  state  of  isolation  into  which  reli- 
gion had  thrown  her ;  and  in  the  enterprise  of  this  gallant  sailor,  the 
Czar,  who  was  then  exulting  in  the  final  conquest  of  the  Tartars,  had 
the  sagacity  to  take  nearly  as  much  interest  as  in  the  capture  of  Kazan 
and  Astracan.  For  the  service  of  connecting  the  White  Sea  with  the 
German  Ocean,  Russia,  I  admit,  paid  handsomely  in  allowing  England 
to  enjoy,  for  nearly  a  century,  the  monopoly  of  the  newly  opened 
trade  ;  and,  as  a  curious  proof  of  the  value  of  Archangel  at  a  much 
later  period,  to  both  the  powers  in  question,  I  cannot  refrain  from 
quoting  part  of  a  speech  of  the  late  Lord  Sydenham,  delivered  in 
1829: 

"  He,  whose  armies  successively  occupied  every  capital  in  Europe, 
who  made  and  unmade  kings  with  a  breath,  was  set  at  naught  by  the 
lowest  of  his  subjects.  The  smuggler  bearded  him  in  the  streets  of 
his  capital,  and  set  his  power  at  defiance  in  his  own  ports  and  cities. 
The  goods  which  he  refused  to  admit,  found  their  way  through  the 
Frozen  Ocean  into  the  heart  of  France.  I  speak  from  personal  know- 
ledge when  I  say,  that  an  uninterrupted  line  of  communication  was 
established  between  Archangel  and  Paris;  and  goods,  even  the  bulky 
articles  of  sugar,  coffee,  and  manufactures,  were  conveyed  with  as 
much  ease  and  safety,  though  at  a  proportionally  increased  cost,  as 
from  London  to  Havre." 

To  return  to  my  original  quotation,  I  ought,  in  justice,  to  add,  that, 
with  the  exception  of  the  general  compliment  already  discussed,  Baron 
Wrangell  by  no  means  displays  any  undue  partiality  in  favor  of  his 


>^1 


VOYAGE  TO  OCnOTSK. 


97 


countrymen,  for,  on  the  contrary,  he  admits  that,  in  point  of  geography 
and  hydrography,  the  voyages  of  (Jook  and  Billings,  the  lalier  an 
English  oliicer  of  Cook's  training,  employed  in  the  imperial  service, 
alone  "  afforded  any  really  satisfactory  result." 

Had  time  and  opportunity  permitted,  I  should  have  liked  mucli  to 
visit  the  Aleutian  Archipelago,  in  which  one  cannot  help  taking  an 
interest,  as  being  probably  the  main  route  by  which  the  Old  Continent 
must  have  peopled  the  New.  Beering's  Straits,  though,  as  already 
stated,  they  were  doubtless  one  channel  of  communication  just  as  cer- 
tainly as  if  their  place  had  been  occupied  by  solid  land,  were  yet,  in 
all  likelihood,  only  of  subordinate  utility  in  the  premises,  when  com- 
pared with  the  more  .accessible  and  more  commodious  bridge  towards 
the  south.  Looking  merely  at  these  two  highways  between  the  two 
worlds,  and  putting  all  others,  as  irrelevant  to  the  present  purpose,  out 
of  the  question,  there  were  only  three  roads  by  winch  the  destined 
colonists  of  America,  or  rather  their  forefathers,  could  stumble  either 
on  Beering's  Straits,  or  on  the  Aleutian  Archipelago.  If  they  came 
up  the  coast  along  the  Japanese  and  Kurile  Islands,  they  would,  more 
particularly  with  their  maritime  habits  and  their  insular  notions,  if  one 
may  so  speak,  of  the  geography  of  the  globe,  they  would,  I  say,  be 
almost  certain,  before  sojourning  many  years  in  Kamschatka,  to  dis- 
cover and  occupy  the  more  westerly  of  the  adjacent  isles;  if  again 
they  followed  the  rivers  that  flow  eastward  into  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk, 
they  would,  in  all  probability,  strike  the  path  of  the  wanderers  under 
the  preceding  supposition;  and,  even  if  they  proceeded  from  the  Lower 
Lena  across  the  valleys  of  the  Gana,  the  Indigirka,  the  Alasei  and  the 
Kolyma,  they  would  still  be  more  likely  to  climb  the  height  of  land 
between  the  easterly  tributaries  of  the  last-named  river  and  tlie  Anadyr, 
than  to  plunge,  without  a  single  one  of  nature's  tracks  to  tempt  them, 
into  the  perpetually  bleak  and  barren  country  of  the  Schuktchi,  while 
from  the  valley  of  the  Anadyr  they  would  clearly  have  a  stronger  mo- 
tive for  diverging  to  the  south  with  its  milder  climate  than  for  returning 
to  the  north  which  they  had  already  shunned.  These  are  not  such 
theories  as  look  well  merely  on  paper,  for  the  most  questionable  one, 
and  perhaps  the  only  questionable  one  of  the  three,  namely,  the  last,  has 
literally  been  reduced  to  practice  in  modern  experience.  In  their  progress 
down  the  valley  of  the  Amoor,  the  Russians  were  arrested  by  the  Chinese 
towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  so  as  to  be  prevented  from 
reaching  the  Kurile  Islands  in  that  direction ;  and,  though  they  penetrated 
to  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk  in  a  higher  latitude,  yet  they  were  deterred,  partly 
by  the  want  of  local  resources,  and  partly  by  the  belief  that  they  had 
penetrated  to  the  open  ocean,  from  prosecuting  their  easterly  course  till 
after  Kamschatka  had  been  discovered  from  another  quarter.  Starting 
from  Yakutsk  on  the  Lower  Lena,  the  Cossacks  passed  in  succession 
all  the  more  easterly  feeders  of  the  Polar  Sea,  ascended  the  Greater 
Aniny,  an  auxiliary  of  the  Kolyma,  to  the  height  of  land,  descended 
the  Anadyr  to  the  Eastern  Ocean,  and  subsequently  overran  Kam- 
schatka, spending  on  this  long  and  circuitous  journey,  as  if  to  show 
that  the  necessities  of  nature  had  more  to  do  in  the  matter  than  the 

PART    II. 7 


.     »   vr;: 


.  I 


08 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


m 


caprices  of  man,  the  lives  of  two  ^generations.  In  another  period  of 
nearly  llie  same  Uinglh,  they  jrrasped  link  after  link  of  the  int(!rmcMlialo 
chain,  ferrying  themselves,  as  it  were,  across  the  Pa(Mfic,  merely  by 
making  a  long  arm,  till  at  last,  in  178.'i,  they  moored  their  fortunes  to 
the  farthest  end  of  the  line,  by  phuiting  a  settlement  on  the  Island  of 
Kodiak.  Might  not  the  elfcct  which  was  produced  by  the  force  of 
physical  circumstances  in  the  seveiiicenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
have  been  produced  by  the  same  cause  two  or  thr(  e  thousand  years 
before  ? 

From  this  detail  of  facts, — a  detail  entirely  independent  of  any  and 
every  hypothesis, — one  may  reasonably  doubt,  whether  Bearing's 
Straits,  as  a  channel  of  communication  between  the  two  continents, 
have  not  rather  carried  the  tide  of  population  from  America  to  Asia 
than  from  Asia  to  America.  In  other  words,  the  Schuktchi  of  Siberia 
are  more  likely  to  have  come  from  the  east  than  from  the  west.  When 
human  beings  first  reached  the  Kolyma,  not  only  would  the  inland 
routes  of  nature's  making  lead  tiuMu,  as  already  mentioned,  to  the 
waters  of  the  Anadyr,  but  the  inhospitable  character  of  the  coast, 
which,  for  ten  degrees  to  the  eastward  of  the  Kolyma,  does  not  contain 
one  living  inhabitant,  would  also  help  to  force  them  to  the  same  con- 
clusion. But  the  American  origin  of  the  Schuktchi  appears  to  be 
susceptible  of  something  like  direct  proof.  Another  branch  of  the 
same  tribe  actually  occupies  the  opposite  shores,  while  the  fact  already 
mentioned,  that  the  western  division  regularly  visit  their  eastern  kin- 
dred without  being  revisited  in  turn,  appears,  in  a  great  measure,  to 
imply,  that  the  former  are  the  children  and  the  latter  the  parents,  that 
the  Old  World  has  here  been  colonized  from  the  New ;  and  still  more 
positive  evidence,  though  less  direct  in  its  character,  is  furnished  by 
Captain  Cochrane  in  the  apparently  insignificant  fact,  that,  while  ail 
the  other  aborigines  within  his  remarkably  extensive  experience,  Kam- 
schadales  included,  were  passionately  fond  of  chess,  the  Schuktchi 
alone  ridiculed  the  game  as  a  mere  waste  of  time. 

In  support  of  these  views  may  be  cited  the  ethnographic  character- 
istics of  the  Aleutian  islanders.  According  to  Governor  Etholine,  the 
savages  in  question  resemble  the  Japanese  in  various  respects,  while, 
according  to  the  concurring  testimony  of  all  visitors,  they  form,  in 
many  other  particulars,  a  connecting  link  between  the  aborigines  of 
Siberia  and  those  of  the  northwest  coast.  Their  language, — the  most 
decisive  test  of  a  community  of  origin, — is  said  to  have  many  words  in 
common  with  that  of  the  Esquimaux.  Nor  is  this  fact  repugnant  to 
any  of  the  foregoing  opinions.  In  the  Aleutian  Archipelago,  the  grand 
staple  of  human  subsistence,  even  with  all  the  aids  of  a  comparative 
degree  of  civilization,  is  the  blubber  of  the  whale  and  the  flesh  of  the 
walrus ;  and  those  primeval  voyagers,  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
such  food,  would,  on  reaching  America,  be  more  likely  at  first  to  go 
to  the  north  in  quest  of  their  peculiar  staff  of  life  than  to  turn  to  the 
south  in  search  of  such  unknown  luxuries  as  a  fertile  soil  and  a  sunny 
sky.  In  all  probability,  however,  the  islanders  would  reach  the  con- 
tinent at  some  point  of  that  section  of  the  coast,  where  they  would 


a 


VOYAGE  TO  OCII0T8K. 


99 


liavc  to  choose  not  between  south  and  north  hut  between  east  and 
west;  and  the  chances,  therefore,  wouUl  be  in  favor  of  their  spreading, 
even  on  their  immediate  arrival,  in  both  directions. 

Such  speculations,  to  which,  howevcT  useless  in  themselves,  one 
feels  hiniHolf  drawn  as  if  by  a  .-liariu,  are  daily  becoming  more  dilfi- 
cul'.  through  the  gradual  diffusion  of  civilization  and  Christiatiity 
among  the  aborif^inal  tribes,  to  say  notlun|i[  of  their  rapiil  depopulation. 
My  acquiring  new  ideas  and  feelings,  and  adopting  n(;w  habits  and 
customs,  savages  are  naturally  led  to  corrupt,  or  even  to  neglect,  their 
ancient  traditions,  to  varnish,  or  peradventure  to  wash,  their  original 
features,  in  short  to  overlay  the  past  with  the  present. 

'I'hc  Aleutian  Islands  arc  now  far  less  valuable  than  they  once 
were.  The  human  inhabitants  hardly  muster  one  to  ten  of  their  early 
numbers,  having  been  thinned,  and  thinned,  and  thinned  again,  for 
here  there  is  no  mystery  in  the  case,  by  hardships  and  oppression. 
They  were  ground  down  through  the  instrumentality  of  ihc  natural 
wealth  of  their  country  ;  they  experienced  the  same  curse  in  their  fur 
seal  and  their  sea  otter,  as  the  Ilawaiians  in  iheir  sandal  wood  and  the 
Indians  of  Spanish  America  in  their  mines  of  silver.  To  hunt  was 
their  task;  to  be  drowned,  or  starved,  or  exhausted  was  tiieir  reward. 
Even  now,  under  belter  auspices  and  more  humane  management,  the 
Aleuthins  are,  in  evt  ry  respect,  servants  of  the  Russian  American 
Company,  acting  as  laborers  at  the  establishments  and  as  hunters 
throughout  the  whole  country  from  Ileering's  Straits  to  California, 
while  they  almost  entirely  feed  and  clothe  themselves  without  obtain- 
ing supplies.  The  lower  animals  of  the  Archipelago  have  diiuinished 
in  fully  as  high  a  proportion  as  its  human  inhabitants.  Oonalashka, 
and  Atcha,  and  Kodiak  produce  nearly  all  the  sea  otters  that  are  now 
collected,  the  whole  stock  not  exceeding  one  thousand  in  a  year.  'I'he 
fur  seal  is  principally  found  on  St.  Paul  and  St.  (ieorge,  which  lie  a 
little  to  the  north  of  the  main  line  of  the  islands,  the  annual  booty 
amounting  to  not  more  than  ten  thousand  or  twelve  thousand  skins. 
The  walrus  or  sea  horse  is  still  very  abundant,  while  the  natives  turn 
every  part  of  his  carcase  to  account.  Thus  the  teeth,  besides  being 
valuable  in  commerce  as  ivory,  servo  to  barb  spears  and  arrows;  the 
flesh  affords  food ;  the  oil  warms  the  huts  and  cooks  the  victuals ;  the 
bones  and  skin  form  the  materials  of  the  baidarka.  But  the  skin  of 
the  animal  is  converted  to  more  than  one  useful  purpose  by  civilized 
men.  First  it  covers  the  packages  of  furs  that  are  sent  to  Kiachta, 
then  the  chests  of  tea  that  are  carried  to  Moscow ;  and  having,  by  this 
time,  been  coined,  as  it  were,  with  a  great  variety  of  stamps  on  its 
travels,  it  again  visits  its  native  seas,  cut  up  into  a  circulating  medium 
of  small  change  for  the  company's  posts. 

The  soil  and  climate  of  some  of  the  more  easterly  islands  of  the 
Aleutian  Archipelagos  are  sufHciently  good  for  the  production  of  pota- 
toes and  the  maintenance  of  domestic  catUe,  while  at  Kodiak  there  are 
also  gardens  for  vegetables.  On  this  last  mentioned  island,  which 
possesses  a  tolerable  surface  of  pulverized  lava  and  vegetable  mould, 
there  exists  a  village  of  about  four  hundred  inhabitants,  the  oldest 


'kI 


100 


VOYAGE  TO  OCflOTSK. 


V 


It 


i.>     ''I 
t 


scttlcmml,  as  nlrrmly  niontionnd,  to  the  north  of  (/alifornin.  The 
KussianH  arc  certainly  cntitlfMl  to  tlir  rrcdit  of  liavin^  Ixicn  the  firHt  to 
plant  rivili/ation  on  tlu;  northwest  coast;  und,  in  fact,  they  liave  ^(mic- 
rally  been  more  aHsiduous  than  any  other  people  in  attemj^'in^  to  iiii> 

{)rove  the  economical  condition  of  ahorijjfinal  trihes.  *.  mrt,  tluy 
lad  been  led,  l)y  the  example  of  Peter  the  (Jrcat,  to  re^  k  i  .-iv<li7,atioii 
not  as  an  incident  of  anything  elne,  but  as  a  substanti  m.  incHH  in 
itself;  and  on  this  account  ont;  cannot  peruse,  without  a  peculiar  in'.'- 
rest,  Shelekuir's  narrative  of  his  proceedings  ut  Kodiuk.  i  quote  two 
passages : 

"'1  hey  were  fdied  with  astonishnient  on  seeing  the  expedition  with 
which  we  constructed  our  houses,  because  they,  who  possessed  only 
small  iron  tools  to  cleave  the  wood  and  form  planks,  employed  several 
years  in  building  a  single  hut.  On  observing  the  revcirbcrators,  which 
were  suspended  in  dark  nights,  they  believed  that  we  had  stolen  the 
sun  from  heaven.  I  pitied  their  extreme  ignorance,  and  could  not 
suffer  them  to  continue  long«T  under  such  impressions  of  error,  without 
attempting  to  enlighten  their  minds  as  much  as  lay  in  my  power:  I 
explained  to  them  that  the  reverberator  was  the  work  of  men  like  them- 
selves, and  added,  as  long  as  they  did  not  live  peaceably,  an<l  adopt  our 
customs  and  mode  of  life,  they  would  never  acquire  a  similar  degree 
of  knowledge.  I  labored  to  persuade  them  to  quit  their  savagT)  life, 
which  was  a  perpetual  scene  of  massacre  and  warfare,  for  a  better  and 
more  happy  state.  I  showed  them  the  comforts  and  advantages  of  our 
houses,  clothes,  and  provisions ;  I  explained  to  them  the  method  of 
digging,  sowing,  and  planting  gardens,  and  I  distributed  fruit  and  vege- 
tables, and  some  of  our  provisions  amongst  them,  with  which  they 
were  highly  delighted. 

•*I  endeavored  to  give  them  some  notion  of  books,  oflered  to  teach 
some  of  their  children  to  read,  and  several  brought  them  to  me  for  that 
purpose.  I  must  do  these  people  the  justice  to  allow,  that  they  were 
by  no  means  deficient  in  capacity ;  for  the  children  easily  compre- 
hended the  instructions,  and  several  of  them,  before  my  departure, 
spoke  the  Russian  tongue  so  well,  that  they  were  understood  without 
difficulty ;  and  I  left  five  and  twenty  scholars  who  could  read  and 
write,  and  who  would  much  rather  have  preferred  living  with  the  Rus- 
sians than  with  their  parents." 

On  Saturday,  the  twelfth  of  June,  we  were  at  our  nearest  to  Kam- 
schatka.  The  preceding  week  had  been  productive  of  much  variety 
in  the  shape  of  weather,  every  twelve  hours,  in  fact,  having  had  their 
own  rule  in  this  matter.  Calms  and  winds  of  every  name  and  of 
almost  every  degree  of  force,  were  most  curiously  interwoven,  even 
the  strongest  breezes  not  living  long  enough  to  raise  a  sea ;  and,  though 
the  fog  was  pretty  constant,  yet  observations  were  got  almost  every 
day.  Albatrosses,  boobies,  and  sea  parrots  hovered  about  us,  while 
several  land  birds,  that  had  been  blown  off  the  coast,  fluttered  wildly 
among  them.  One  morning  the  clamor  and  restlessness  of  our  poultry 
drew  our  attention  to  a  half-famished  hawk ;  the  poor  chickens,  though 
they  did  not  know  much  about  the  matter,  had  good  reason  to  dread 


iipif'  ' 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTfiK. 


101 


flio  HhnrpnPHH  of  the  rasral'H  appetite,  at  a  iliHtancc  of  iwo  huiulrcd  ami 
lil'iy  tnilrH  from  the  lu'an'st  ri;HtinL'-|)lace. 

KaniHclialka,  which  we  were  now  passinir,  was  to  lie  vi«ite«l  l)y  the 
Alexander  on  her  return  to  Sitka  in  the;  fall;  and  tliere  was,  in  liM-t.  u 
report  that  the  peninsiila  hm'M'  was  to  he  phieed  under  the  a(hnini»tra- 
lion  of  the  Kussian  Atneriean  ('oinpany*  on  nearly  th(!  sainn  fo(»tinif  as 
the  opposite  eontinent  and  the  intervening^  inlands.  On  many  ^roundii 
this  would  he  a  lihissed  ehanire  (or  the  inhahitants.  The  favorite 
maxim  of  m(»Ht  of  tin;  jnihlic  oflleerH,  frreat  and  .small,  in  Silieria,  is  that 
"(Jod  is  hiifh  and  the  emperor  far  oil',''  and  of  this  watchword  the 
Kamsehadal(!s  are  sure,  trom  their  un(brtunat(!  place  on  the  map,  to 
I'tijoy  the  fullest  henelit.  Kvery  functionary,  moreover,  dabhles  in 
trade  as  well  as  in  government,  while  the  priests  eompourul  a  similar 
medley  of  trallic  and  religion;  and  what  is  worst  of  all,  these  ama- 
teur peddlers,  both  the  reverends  and  the  honorahles,  find  artlent  spirits 
the  easiest  thinjj  to  carry  and  the  readiest  thinjf  to  sell,  lint,  as  if  to  com- 
plete their  misfortunes,  the  Kamsehadales,  alone  of  all  the  nations  and 
tnutfues  in  the  liussian  empire,  arc  still  farther  exposed  to  be  (lecced 
l»y  foreigners.  C'ertain  supplies  of  grain,  tea,  sugar,  manufactures,  ttc, 
are  sent  annually  from  Oehotsk,  in  three  small  vessels  so  badly  com- 
manded and  so  badly  equipped,  that  every  two  or  three  years  one  (»f 
them  is  sure  to  be  lost  on  her  outward  voyage,  while  the  whole  outfit, 
oven  without  such  an  accident,  is  by  no  means  adecjuate  to  the  demand. 
As  a  lesser  evil  than  absolute  famine,  the  port  of  I'etropaulosk  iso|)ened 
to  the  extortion  of  strangers;  and  an  American  resident  at  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  has,  with  the  interested  connivance  of  the  authorities, 
been  in  the  habit  of  availing  himself  very  liberally  of  the  privilege. 
All  these  mischiefs  would,  in  a  great  measure,  be  remedied  by  the 
proposed  transfer  of  the  province  from  the  imperial  government  to  the 
Russian  American  Company. 

It  is  a  popular  notion,  that,  in  a  despotic  monarchy,  everything  is 
the  work  of  what  is  styled  the  pervading  will.  Though,  in  a  small 
state,  this  doctrine  may  be  correct,  yet,  in  Russia,  it  is  an  impracticable 
delusion,  for  the  emperor,  so  far  from  being  the  actual  ruler  of  Kam- 
schatka,  pays  about  500,000  roubles  a  year  beyond  the  amount  of  the 
local  revenue,  to  those  who  plunder  the  subjects  whom  he  himself  cer- 
tainly desires  to  protect.  An  extensive  empire,  that  has  neither  free 
institutions  to  check  oppression,  nor  a  public  press  to  expose  it,  must 
be  governed,  whether  its  name  be  China  or  Russia,  rather  by  the  local 
functionaries  than  by  the  central  authorities,  rather  by  interested  caprice, 
than  by  impartial  law. 

On  Sunday  the  thirteenth  of  June,  having  then  been  twenty-seven 
(lays  out  from  New  Archangel,  we  entered  the  Sea  of  Oehotsk,  passing 
through  its  breastwork  of  the  Kurile  Islands  by  a  strait  of  about  twenty 
miles  in  width.  Though,  at  first  sight,  such  a  passage  appears  to  be 
broad  enough,  more  particularly  as  it  is  free  from  currents  and  rocks, 
yet  its  navigation  is  rendered  dangerous  by  the  almost  constant  fogs 
which  are  produced  by  the  nearly  direct  collision  between  the  warm 
Hood,  already  mentioned,  from  the  south,  and  the  cold  waters  of  the 


T 

1 

1 

-  ,     1 

i 


102 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


1 

¥ 

11 

m 

i' 

^K. 


Sea  of  Ochotsk.  These  fogs  arc  often  so  dense,  as  not  only  to  render 
observations  impracticable,  but  even  to  prevent  one  from  seeing  to  the 
distance  o^"  a  hundred  yards.  But,  if  the  former  evil  be  incurable,  the 
latter,  as  we  had  an  opportunity  of  perceiving,  is  not  altogether  without 
its  remedy.  An  Aleutian  on  board,  with  the  characteristic  sharpness 
of  vision  of  his  race,  discerned  land  at  a  distance  of  several  miles  through 
a  mist  as  impervious  to  ordinary  eyes,  as  a  solid  wall ;  and  Captain 
KadnikofF,  by  firing  a  gun  now  and  then,  and  catching  its  echo,  was 
able  to  ascertain,  within  limits  sufficiently  accurate  to  be  very  useful, 
both  the  direction  and  the  distance  of  the  nearest  shore.  One  of  our 
guns,  by  the  by,  disturbed  a  whale,  nearly  as  big  as  our  ship,  lounging 
on  the  surface  within  twenty  yards  of  us ;  he  raised  his  head  as  if  to 
ask  why  we  interrupted  his  slumbers,  and  remained  gazing  stupidly  at 
us  till  we  lost  sight  of  him  in  the  fog. 

In  consequence  of  the  thickness  ot  the  weather  in  this  neighborhood, 
vessels  have  occasionally  been  obliged,  after  beating  about  until  they 
could  beat  about  no  longer,  to  return  to  Sitka  without  breaking  bulk. 
A  few  years  back,  an  unfortunate  wight,  of  the  name  of  Erasmus,  was 
sent  to  inspect  the  Company's  posts  on  these  islands,  whence  he  was 
to  proceed  the  following  season  to  St.  Petersburg  to  join  his  wife  and 
children,  who  had  gone  thither  before  him.  Next  year,  however,  he 
was  left  to  his  fate,  for  Lieutenant  Zagaiskin,  who  was  to  carry  him  to 
Ochotsk,  could  not  stumble  on  the  island,  where  the  poor  man  was 
anxiously  waiting  his  arrival ;  and  again  in  the  ensuing  summer,  when 
found  by  Lieutenant  Villachkoffsky,  he  actually  did  get  his  baggage  on 
board  and  was  himself  rowing  off  to  the  vessel,  when,  in  consequence 
of  a  sudden  gale,  the  ship  v/as  obliged  to  run  for  it,  either  proceeding 
contentedly  on  her  voyage  as  if  she  had  not  "left  one  breaking  heart 
behind,"  or,  to  take  a  more  ciiaritable  view  of  the  case,  perhaps  return- 
ing to  grope  about  in  vain  for  Mr.  Erasmus  and  his  island. 

The  Kuriles  appear  to  be  principally  of  volcanic  origin ;  they  are, 
moreover,  so  rugged  and  sterile  as  to  look  in  all  respects  like  a  con- 
tinuation of  Kamschatka.  Nor  is  the  climate,  as  indeed  one  may 
expect  from  the  perpetual  fogs,  superior  to  the  soil.  Here  wc  were  in 
the  latitude  of  Paris  and  on  the  hot  side  of  midsummer,  while  the  high 
grounds  were  covered  with  snow,  and  even  the  low  grounds  exhibited 
scarcely  a  symptom  of  vegetation.  The  three  posts,  which  the  Rus- 
sian American  Company  has  on  the  group,  are  maintained  merely  to 
collect  furs,  chiefly  those  of  marine  animals. 

This  archipelago,  of  which  the  more  southwesterly  islands  belong 
to  the  Japanese,  completes  the  line  on  which  Russia  directly  and  im- 
mediately influences  nearly  all  the  powers  of  the  Old  Continent, — 
Sweden  now  extending  to  the  Atlantic,  Prussia  virtually  including  all 
the  minor  states  of  Germany,  Austria  with  her  vassals  of  Rome  and 
Naples,  Turkey  grasping  the  Danube  with  one  hand  and  with  the 
other  overreaching  the  cataracts  of  the  Nile,  Persia  bordering  on  the 
sea  that  washes  the  coast  of  Malabar,  Central  Asia  marked  by  the 
footsteps  of  nearly  all  the  conquerors  of  Hindostan,  Thibet  containing 
the  sources  of  the  Burrampoota  and  the  Ganges,  China  meeting  Spain 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


103 


.:  "i^^.^■^ 


in  the  Philippines  and  Portugal  and  England  in  her  own  islands,  and 
lastly  that  mysterious  empire  which  stands  aloof  alike  from  the  com- 
merce and  the  warfare  of  the  world. 

The  Sea  of  Ochotsk  is  completely  land-locked,  being,  in  this  respect 
as  well  as  in  size  and  general  situation,  not  unlike  Hudson's  Bay. 
The  waters  are  shallow,  not  exceeding,  about  fifty  miles  from  land,  an 
equal  number  of  fathoms,  and  rarely  giving,  even  in  the  centre,  above 
four  times  the  depth  just  mentioned.  As  the  height  of  land  nearly  all 
round  is  at  an  inconsiderable  distance,  the  only  river  of  any  magnitude, 
that  flows  into  this  vast  inlet,  is  the  Amoor,  if  indeed  the  Amoor  can 
fairly  be  said  to  do  so,  terminating,  as  it  does,  in  a  bay,  which,  being 
bounded  in  front  by  the  Island  of  Sagalin,  opens  by  one  strait  into  the 
Sea  of  Ochotsk  and  by  another  into  the  Sea  of  Japan.  In  almost  every 
point  of  view,  the  Amoor  is  the  most  valuable  stream  in  Northern 
Asia.  Of  all  the  large  rivers  of  that  boundless  region  it  is  the  only 
one  that  empties  itself  into  a  navigable  part  of  the  universal  ocean. 
The  Oby,  the  Yenisei  and  the  Lena  carry  the  waters  of  the  Altai 
Mountains  to  the  Polar  Sea,  there  to  be  lost  to  commerce  as  efl'ectually 
as  if  buried  in  the  sands  of  a  burning  desert;  the  Yana,  the  Indigirka. 
the  Alazaeia  and  the  Kolyma,  which  rise  in  a  subordinate  range,  waste 
their  respective  tributes  on  the  same  hopeless  wilderness  of  ice;  and 
the  Anadyr  and  the  Kamschatka,  though  they  do  find  their  way  to  the 
Pacific,  are  yet  of  secondary  volume  in  themselves,  while  the  countries 
which  they  drain,  have  little  or  no  use  for  maritime  outlets.  The 
Amoor,  in  fact,  is  the  only  highway  of  nature  that  directly  connects 
the  Central  steppes,  of  Asia  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  But  the  politi- 
cal arrangements  of  man  have  decreed  otherwise;  and  at  this  moment 
the  Amoor  is  infinitely  less  useful,  as  a  channel  of  traffic,  than  almost 
any  one  of  all  the  land-locked  rivers  of  Siberia.  In  one  word,  it 
belongs  not  to  Russia  but  to  China. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  in  the  first  quarter 
of  the  seventeenth,  a  few  handfuls  of  Cossacks  were  successfully  cutting 
their  way  from  the  Uraiian  Chain  to  the  Lena,  there  to  encounter  and 
subdue  the  Tungusian  hordes,  which,  by  the  most  extraordinary  con- 
trast in  the  history  of  the  world,  were,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  fall- 
ing before  the  mere  outposts  of  Russia,  and  trampling  under  foot  the 
ancient  dynasty  of  China.  By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
the  Russians  had  advanced  a  considerable  way  down  both  sides  of  the 
Amoor,  having  the  Pacific  Ocean,  as  it  were,  already  in  their  view, 
when  China,  having  acquired  a  new  interest  to  the  northward  through 
her  involuntary  connection  with  the  Tartars,  turned  her  arms  towards 
tlie  same  quarter.  After  a  good  deal  of  fighting,  in  which  the  Russians, 
noiwithstanding  their  uniform  inferiority  in  numbers,  always  dealt  the 
iiardest  blows,  the  Chinese,  partly  by  trickery  and  partly  by  being  much 
nearer  to  their  resources,  forced  their  dangerous  enemy  by  treaty  to  recede 
from  the  Amoor  to  a  line  of  boundary  terminating  in  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk 
on  nearh"-  the  same  parallel  of  latitude  rs  afterwa'-ds  divided  Russia 
from  England  or  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Pacific.  The  treaty  ia  ques- 
tion was  made  in  1689,  soon  alter  the  commencement  of  tlie  reign  of 


« 

fi 

i 

i 

u 


»  . 


■i-^ii  ■>■■ 


IV\ 


:^v 


m^ 


104 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


:0.'n^ 


Peter  the  Great;  and  this  most  ambitions  of  the  Czars  was  doubtless 
the  more  ready  to  ratify  the  dishonorable  and  disadvantageous  com- 
pact, inasmuch  as  one  of  its  collateral  stipulations  provided  for  the 
opening  of  a  regular  trade  by  land  between  the  two  empires. 

Though,  at  first,  the  Russians  were  doubtless  gainers  by  the  com- 
promise, yet  they  were  gradually  led  to  feel,  that  a  fair  at  Kiachta  or  a 
factory  in  Pekin  was  a  poor  exchange  for  the  only  direct  channel  of 
communication  with  the  Pacific.  Through  the  loss  of  the  Amoor, 
the  discovery  of  Kamschatka,  and  the  consequent  discoveries  of  the 
islands  and  continent  beyond,  were  reduced  to  half  their  value,  even 
without  relerence  to  anything  rise  th?n  the  mere  expense  of  a  more 
circuitous  and  less  commodious  route.  But  it  was  not  only  as  a  means 
of  transit,  that  the  Amoor  would  have  been  serviceable  to  the  more 
easterly  adventurers.  The  grain,  and  the  sails,  and  the  cordage,  and 
generally  all  such  necessaries  as  any  part  of  the  empire  could  produce, 
^and  the  iron  too  from  the  mines  of  Nertshinsk, — could  have  been 
found  on  the  banks  of  the  very  stream  which  was  to  waft  them  to  the 
oceari,  thus  not  only  supplying  the  sterile  settlements  to  the  eastward 
at  a  vastly  cheaper  rate,  but  also  planting  an  agricultural  population 
within  reach  of  the  sea. 

But,  even  if  neither  America  nor  Kamschatka,  nor  the  intervening 
isles  had  over  been  discovered,  or  ever  existed,  the  Amoor  would  have 
been  invaluable  to  Russia,  both  on  commercial  and  political  grounds. 
It  would  have  been  the  means  of  conducting  a  trade  with  China  and 
the  other  countries  of  the  east,  more  extensive  and  more  advantageous 
than  any  overland  commerce,  furnishing  not  only  a  receptacle  for  ves- 
sels, but  also  materials  for  building  them.  Again,  by  its  position,  as 
already  mentioned,  with  respect  to  the  Sea  of  Japan,  it  might  have 
been  made  the  station  of  such  a  navy  as  would  have  brought  Russia, 
even  as  a  maritime  power,  into  influential  contact  with  both  her  opu- 
lent neighbors ;  and  it  was  probably  to  keep  her  within  her  own  pro- 
per sphere,  as  a  military  colossus,  and  to  prevent  her  from  encroach- 
ing on  the  peculiar  province  of  her  destined  associate,  that  Providence 
so  unexpectedly  gave  her  the  only  check  that  she  ever  sustained  in  her 
career  of  eastern  conquest.  If  this  be  certain,  as  every  thinking  man 
must  admit,  that  England  and  Russir.  are  to  be  the  grand  instruments  of 
a  higher  power  in  regulating  the  future  fortunes  of  the  world,  then  tiiis 
also  is  at  least  as  certain,  that  the  sea  and  the  land  are  to  be,  generally 
speaking,  the  respective  theatres  r'' their  glory. 

During  the  first  four  days  after  entering  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk,  wo 
kept  running  from  four  to  ten  knots  an  hour,  so  that  we  were  now 
rapidly  advancing  to  the  termination  of  our  long  and  tedious  voyage. 
Everything  betokened  our  near  approach  to  our  port.  Cables  were 
clearcl;  the  work  of  holystoning  the  decks  was  diligently  pursued; 
and,  in  short,  all  sorts  of  appurtenances  and  operations,  that  could  be 
either  useful  or  ornamental,  were  put  in  training  against  the  moment  ol 
our  arrival.  Of  all  the  vessels  of  my  acquaintance,  recommend  me  to 
the  Alexander,  just  as  she  was  then  commanded  and  manned.  Her 
captain  was  thoroughly  conversant  with  his  profession,  and  remarkahly 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


105 


was  doubtless 
ntageous  com- 
Dvidod  for  the 
)ires. 

s  by  the  com- 
it  Kiachta  or  a 
ect  channel  of 
)f  the  Amoor, 
joveries  of  the 
3ir  value,  even 
nse  of  a  more 
uly  as  a  means 
3  to  the  more 
e  cordage,  and 
could  produce, 
uld  have  been 
ift  them  to  the 
0  the  eastward 
iral  population 

he  intervening 
or  would  have 
itical  grounds, 
ith  China  and 
!  advantageous 
ptacle  for  ves- 
Is  position,  as 
it  might  have 
ought  Russia, 
both  her  opu- 

her  own  pro- 
om  encroach- 
at  Providence 
stained  in  her 

thinking  man 
instruments  of 
orld,  then  this 

be,  generally 

Ochotsk,  we 
ve  were  now 
dious  voyage. 

Cables  were 
itly  pursued; 

that  couUl  be 
he  moment  of 
nimend  me  to 
lanned.  Her 
d  remarkably 


attentive  to  his  passengers;  the  officers  appeared  to  be  each  more 
skillful  and  vigilant  than  another;  and  the  men  were  fine,  steady,  active 
fellows,  whose  voices  were  never  heard.  The  sailors  in  the  Russian 
navy  are  quite  conspicuous  for  their  good  conduct;  and,  as  an  eminent 
proof  of  this,  tiiey  are  rarely  guilty  of  desertion,  though  they  have 
more  liberty  than  those  in  any  other  service,  and  are  never  watched, 
being  considered  to  be  upon  honor. 

At  length  on  the  seventeenth,  about  nine  in  the  morning,  our  Aleu- 
tian friend,  who  had  for  several  hours  been  looking  out  from  the  mast- 
head, raised  the  joyful  shout  of  "land."  In  about  an  hour  and  a  half 
the  outline  of  a  range  of  hills  became  visible  even  lo  unpractised  eyes; 
and  though  the  prospe(;t  was  dismal  enough  in  the  distance,  I  yet  hailed 
with  joy  and  thankfulness  this  first  glimpse  of  Asia,  which  was,  by 
comparison,  to  me  the  threshold  of  my  home,  after  all  my  doubling 
and  turning  on  the  Pacific  to  the  extent  of  fully  half  the  circumference 
of  the  globe.  As  soon  as  we  were  certain  that  there  was  no  mistake, 
all  hands  in  the  cabin  proceeded  with  nervous  haste  to  pack  up  clothes, 
books,  and  papers,  and  all  kinds  of  odds  and  ends,  to  shave,  dress,  and 
civilize,  and  so  forth,  when  we  had  the  inexpressible  mortilication  to 
find  that  the  coast  was  still  cased  in  its  wintry  barrier.  About  one  in 
the  afternoon,  we  entered  the  broken  ice,  forcing  our  way  so  boldly 
among  the  floating  masses,  as  to  strike  heavily  and  injure  the  copper; 
but  when  we  were  within  twenty  miles  of  Cape  Mariean,  we  were 
obliged,  to  our  great  chagrin,  to  beat  a  retreat,  and  to  await  in  patience 
the  removal  of  the  insuperable  obstacle.  This  consummation,  so  de- 
voutly to  be  wished,  could  only  be  effected,  within  any  reasonable 
time,  by  a  strong  wind,  for  very  little  good  could  be  expected  from  the 
ordinary  process  of  thawing,  in  an  atmosphere  which  had  just  com- 
pelled us  to  mount  cloaks  and  great-coats. 

What  a  tantalizing  situation  was  ours !  If  we  could  not  get  across 
the  continent  bc*''^re  the  close  of  summer,  we  ?'hculd  ])e  doomed  to 
spend  die  broken  weather  of  the  fall  at  Irkutsk,  r>y  perhaps  some  far 
worse  place,  till  the  snow  should  again  render  the  joucs  pasra^le;  nnd 
we,  of  course,  did  our  best  to  persuade  oji'seiv;  s.  That  ov.c  present 
delay  was  sure  to  make  all  the  difference.  ?f  wt  had  ben  Jvancing 
at  any  pace,  we  should  not  have  uespaired;  ju'  ic  lie  like  a  log  in  the 
water,  ".nd  to  feel  that  we  might  continue  to  do  ^o  till  the  tt-ra^ierature, 
that  made  ourselves  shiver,  should  melt  the  enenr^y  that  \,  as  "  tlio  ua- 
kindest  cut  of  all.'"  We  became,  I  am  afra'  J,  very  bad  company  to 
each  other;  and,  as  if  to  overdraw  our  patience  entirely,  we  were,  at 
this  unfortunate  crisis,  reduced  from  fresh  provisions  to  salt  junk. 

To  gain  a  more  genial  climate,  besides  varyiri;^  the  scene,  we  some- 
times took  a  run  out  to  the  south,  though  ihe  greatest  heat,  that  we 
ever  attained,  did  not  rise  to  40"  of  Fah>-enheit,  and  th?.',  oo,  in  the 
beginning  of  our  English  July.  The  cheerlessiiess,  hovever,  of  our 
position  was,  in  some  measure,  counterbalanced  by  the  shortness  of 
the  night.  In  fact,  the  two  twilights,  each  almost  rivaling  t!  3  day, 
met  each  other ;  and  I  actually  read  a  newspaper — an  old  enough  one 
in  all  conscience — with  great  ease  at  twelve  o'clock. 


■>''  i 


106 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


f^ 


f-M' 


The  sea  was  singularly  calm,  seldom  rising  to  a  dangerous  height 
even  for  open  craft  in  any  state  of  the  winds.  On  the  floating  ice, 
that  passed  our  vessel,  we  saw  great  numbers  of  hair  seals  doing  their 
best  to  bask  in  the  sun,  which,  when  close  to  us,  waddled  into  the 
water  and  disappeared.  In  general,  however,  these  creatures  are  so 
fearless,  that  they  have  been  known  to  get  on  the  decks  of  vessels  lying 
at  anclior  in  the  roadstead  of  Ochotsk ;  and  here,  as  well  as  elsewhere, 
they  allow  one  to  approach  near  enough  to  kill  them  with  a  club. 
Once  we  came  within  a  hundred  yards  ot  a  sleeping  whale.  We  fired 
a  cannon  at  him — not  a  very  sportsman-like  proceeding  perhaps — but 
the  shot,  which  was  about  a  foot  too  high,  merely  aroused  the  mon- 
ster, when  he  instantaneously  dived.  On  one  occasion,  one  of  the 
company's  vessels  is  said  to  have  struck  one  of  these  napping  whales 
with  so  violent  a  concussion  as  to  irake  every  one  suppose  that  the 
ship  had  run  foul  of  a  sand-bank,  while  the  brute,  after  being  tlius  keel- 
hauled, was  impotently  lashing  the  water  astern,  apparently  disabled 
for  diving  by  his  wound. 

In  our  anxiety  and  distress  we  thought  of  landing.  But  to  the  south 
of  Ochotsk,  where  we  might  iiave  found  open  water,  the  country  was 
too  rugged  for  traveling,  besides  that  the  one  solitary  setdement  of 
Woskoi  was  not  likely  to  furnish  either  horses  or  guides ;  while  to  the 
north,  where  there  was  something  of  a  practicable  track — being,  in  fact, 
part  of  the  Kamschatka  road  that  runs  round  the  gulf — the  ice  was  still 
more  hopelessly  impervious  than  in  front  of  Ochotsk  itself.' 

The  arrival  of  Sunday,  as  a  variety  in  our  existence,  was  quite  a 
relief.  Previously  to  the  commencement  of  'he  service.  Captain  Kad- 
nikoft'read  a  paper,  exhorting  the  crew  to  cleanliness,  loyally,  moral- 
ity and  religion  ;  and,  after  this  address  was  delivered,  our  Friar  Tuck, 
having  been  made  sober,  or  kept  sober,  to  order,  discharged  his  duties 
most  admirably. 

On  the  23d  of  the  month,  after  we  had  been  imprisoned  nearly  a 
week,  we  stood  in,  according  to  daily  custom,  towards  the  anchorage. 
As  we  advanced,  we  were  delighted  to  meet  a  much  greater  quantity 
of  floating  ice  than  usual ;  and,  by  availing  ourselves  of  every  lane  of 
open  water,  we  succeeded,  by  half  past  eight  in  the  evening,  in  reach- 
ing our  port,  having  gradually  reduced  our  soundings,  till  for  some 
distance  our  keel  was  ploughing  up  the  mud  from  the  bottom. 
,  Ochotsk,  now  that  we  had  reached  it,  appeared  to  have  but  litde  to 
recommend  it  to  our  favor,  standing  on  a  shingly  beach,  so  low  and 
flat  as  not  to  be  distinguishable  at  our  distance  from  the  adjacent 
waters.  We  saw  nothing  but  a  number  of  wretched  buildings,  which 
seemed  to  be  in  the  sea  just  as  much  as  ourselves,  while,  Irom  their 
irregularity,  they  looked  as  if  actually  afloat ;  and,  even  of  this  misera- 
ble prospect  one  of  the  characteristic  fogs  of  this  part  of  the  world 
begndged  us  fully  the  half. 

As  soon  as  we  were  in  sight,  we  were  boarded  by  a  pilot,  while  a 
boat  from  the  Russian  American  Company's  establishment  came  ofl*, 
bringing  the  latest  news,  both  indigenous  and  exotic.  As  to  local  in- 
telligence, one  of  the  transports  for  Kamschatka,  with  her  share  of  tiic 


VOYAGE  TO  0CH0T8K. 


unf 


annual  supplies,  had  been  wrecked  ;  and  4000  or  5000  loaded  horses 
had  arrived  from  Yakutsk,  while  5000  more  were  expected.  Then 
as  to  more  distant  matters,  the  Queen  of  England,  as  I  had  previously 
learned  in  the  roadstead  of  Honolulu,  had  presented  the  nation  with  a 
Prince  of  Wales ;  and  my  friend  Baron  Wrans^ell  had  been  appointed 
principal  director  of  the  Russian  American  (company.  I  was  sadly 
disappointed,  however,  to  learn,  that  the  mail,  which  was  to  brinj^  me 
letters  from  home,  had  not  yet  arrived. 

As  the  hour  was  late,  and  as  the  anchorage  was  three  miles  from 
the  town,  we  remained  on  board  to  sleep,  and  next  morning,  before 
daylight,  Lieutenant  Zavoika,  the  gentleman  in  charge  of  the  Rufjsian 
American  Company's, establishment,  came  olf  to  our  vessel,  in  order 
to  convey  us  ashore  in  his  own  boat.  We  took  leave  of  our  kind 
friend,  Captain  Kadnikoff,  with  sincere  regret ;  and,  after  making  a 
present  to  the  crew,  we  left  behind  us  the  good  ship  Alexander  under 
a  salute  of  seven  guns,  receiving,  in  about  an  hour,  a  similar  mark  of 
respect  from  the  Company's  post  on  placing  our  feet  on  the  continent 
of  Asia. 

At  the  establishment,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  again  meeting  Madame 
Zavoika,  a  niece  of  Baron  Wrangell,  whom  I  had  seen  along  with  lier 
husband,  two  years  before,  at  the  house  of  her  noble  relative  in  St. 
Petersburg ;  and  we  had  thus  an  opportunity  of  renewing  at  one  end 
of  the  Russian  empire  an  acquaintance  which  we  had  commenced  at 
the  other. 

As  a  point  connected  with  our  voyage,  I  ought  here  to  mention,  that, 
on  the  occasion  of  our  first  reaching  the  ice  ofl' the  town,  the  Alexander 
had  been  seen  from  the  shore,  apparently  standing  on  the  frozen  sur- 
fiice  of  the  gulf;  and  to  verify  the  story,  our  informants  had  at  the  same 
time  heard  a  shot,  naming  the  very  hour,  at  which  Captain  KadnikoiF 
had  fired  a  gun  as  a  signal,  without,  howevur,  much  expectation  of  its 
heing  noticed  at  a  distance  of  thirty  miles. 

Our  voyage  of  forty-four  days  had  been  soiocwhat  longer  than  the 
average,  for  of  late  years  the  runs  had  generally  ranged  between  five 
weeks  and  six  weeks  and  a  hall.  In  enrlier  times,  people  used  to 
deem  thenipolves  fortunate,  if  they  accomplished  tlie  distance  from  Sitka 
to  Ochotf-  in  three  months.  33ut,  ii>  those  days,  the  mere  delay  was 
only  a  part  of  the  mischief.  As  the  fine  season,  in  these  northern 
latitudes,  begins  with  May  and  ends  with  August,  the  vessel,  in  order 
to  accomplish  both  divisions  of  her  trip,  was  constrained  to  take  her 
chance  of  the  heavy  gales  of  the  spring  and  fall,  while  the  same  causes 
that  led  to  the  delay,  namely,  craziness  of  build  and  incompleteness  of 
equipments,  and  unskillfulness  of  mariners,  rendered  her  less  able  to 
lace  the  tempest.  Many  ships  used  to  be  lost,  some  of  them  on  the 
very  bar  of  Ochotsk,  on  which  a  prodigious  tide,  practicable  only  in 
certain  states  during  the  finest  weather,  becomes  doubly  dilTicult  and 
dangerous  u.^der  the  influence  of  any  seaward  gale.  On  one  or  two 
occasions,  the  whole  of  the  valuable  returns  of  the  trade  were  sacrificed  ; 
and,  on  one  of  the  outward  voynges,  the  first  i*eligious  mission  for  Rus- 
sian America,  consisting  of  bislio.),  priest,  deacons,  and  various  subor- 


108 


VOYAGE  TO  OCHOTSK. 


Ij 

)        '       i 

li.'-!'  i 

•:■»  ' 

t       '^ 

*       ' 

7  # 

[&      t                      t 

dinate  retainers,  perished  to  a  man.  The  latest  loss  occurred  in  1838. 
when  a  vessel,  making  for  Norfolk  Sound,  after  the  stormy  weather 
had  commenced,  was  supposed,  as  some  fragrments  of  her  were  found 
in  that  direction,  to  have  been  wrecked  near  Mount  Edgecombe. 

But  all  these  losses  were  nothing,  when  comparerl  with  the  disasters 
that  befell  the  original  explorers  of  the  Aleutian  Archipelago.  The  his- 
tory of  these  hardy  adventurers  is  an  almost  continuous  narrative  ol 
strandings  and  founderings.  Nor  ought  this  to  be  a  matter  of  wonder, 
for,  by  reason  of  the  extreme  scarcity  and  exorbitant  cost  of  all  tijc 
requisite  materials,  but  more  particularly  of  canvas,  and  cordage,  and 
iron,  the  ordinary  craft,  besides  often  taking  their  timbers  from  old 
wrecks,  were  lied  together  with  tiiongs  of  skin,  and  rigged  out  with 
ropes  and  sails  of  the  same  unmanageable  texture  to  match. 

I  cannot  close  this  record  of  disasters,  more  appropriately  or  more 
mournfully,  than  by  mentioning  the  premature  fate  of  the  manly  and 
generous  Captain  Kadnikoff.  Immediately  on  his  return  from  Ochotsk 
to  Sitka,  in  the  autumn  of  1842,  he  was  sent  with  his  good  ship  to 
California:  and,  on  his  homeward  voyage,  while  lying  to  in  a  tremen- 
dous hurricane  within  an  inconsiderable  distance  of  New  Archangel,  lie 
and  all  his  crew,  except  the  watch  on  deck,  were  literally  drowned  in 
their  beds  by  a  heavy  sea,  which  broke  over  the  vessel  ivithout  causing 
her  to  founder. 


109 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


The  Company's  post  stands  near  the  end  of  a  tongue  of  land,  about 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  length  and  one-quarter  of  a  mile  in  width, 
so  little  elevated  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  that,  when  the  southerly 
wind  blows  hard  or  continues  long,  the  whole  is  almost  sure  to  be 
inundated.  The  town  lies  about  half  a  mile  distant,  situated  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Kuchtui.  It  has  stood  on  this  site  only  for  a  few 
years,  having  formerly  occupied  a  low  point  between  the  sea  and  the 
Ochota;  and  it  appears  to  have  been  removed  just  in  time,  for  the  river 
has,  since  then,  formed  the  tip  of  the  point  into  an  island,  sending  the 
main  body  of  its  waters  through  this  new  channel  of  its  own  cutting. 
Even  now  the  town  is  not  secure,  being  subject,  as  well  as  the  Com- 
pany's post,  to  inundations  in  southerly  gales. 

The  population  of  Ochotsk  is  about  eight  hundred  souls,  though, 
forty  years  ago,  it  amounted,  according  to  Langsdorff's  estimate,  to 
about  two  thousand.  The  diminution  is  ascribed,  and  with  great  ap- 
pearance of  truth,  to  the  circumstance  that  the  town  has,  since  then, 
been  supplanted,  as  a  penal  colony,  by  the  mines — a  change  which  the 
neighborhood  has  had  no  reason  to  regret,  for  the  convicts,  always  the 
worst  of  their  class,  were  continually  escaping,  to  prey  on  the  public 
like  so  many  wild  beasts.  Nor  can  the  criminals  themselves  look 
back  to  Ochotsk  with  regret,  from  any  other  place  of  punishment 
whatever. 

A  mr?re  dreary  scene  can  scarcely  be  conceived.  Not  a  tree,  and 
hardly  even  a  green  blade  is  to  be  seen  within  miles  of  the  town ;  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  disorderly  collection  of  huts  is  a  stagnant  nifirsh, 
which,  unless  when  frozen,  must  be  a  nursery  of  all  sorts  of  malaria 
;ind  pestilence.  The  climate  is  at  lest  on  a  par  with  the  soil.  Sum- 
mer consists  of  three  months  of  damp  and  chilly  weather,  during  great 
part  of  which  the  snow  still  covers  the  hills,  and  the  ice  chokes  the 
harbor;  and  this  is  succeeded  by  nine  months  of  dreary  winter,  in 
which  the  cold,  unlike  that  of  more  inland  spots,  is  as  raw  as  it  is 
intense. 

In  such  a  climate  spontaneous  vegetation  is  hardly  to  be  expected. 
I  was  equally  surprised  and  pleasedi  at  the  manner  in  which  Madame 
Zavoika  contrived  to  combat  circumstances  so  adverse  to  hortic*  liural 
operations.  Towards  the  close  of  the  winter  she  had  reared  in  hot- 
houses a  number  of  hardy  vegetables,  which,  as  the  season  advanced, 
she  was  gradually  transplanting  into  the  open  air,  thus  produnnir  for 


f 


MM 


'V^^^^^ 


110 


FROM  OCII0T8K  TO  YAKUTSK. 


?■% 


4- 


domestic  use,  besides  a  few  flowers,  a  small  stock  of  potatoes,  cabbage, 
lettuce  and  barley.  In  so  short  a  summer,  for  dog-sleighing  continues 
till  the  first  of  June,  everything  must,  as  it  were,  run  a  race  to  come 
to  maturity  ;  and,  in  reality,  the  growth  of  some  plants  is  said  to  be  so 
rapid  under  assiduous  culture  and  in  a  genial  situation,  that  their  pro- 
gress, to  the  high  gratification  of  course  of  the  party  interested,  may 
be  traced  from  hour  to  hour. 

The  principal  food  of  the  inhabitants  is  fish.  The  Sea  of  Ochotsk 
yields  as  many  as  fi)urteen  varieties  of  the  salmon  alone,  one  of  them, 
the  nerk  I,  being  the  finest  thing  of  the  kind  that  I  ever  tasted.  All  the 
parts  of  a  fish  are  turned  to  profitable  account;  the  head  is  eaten  raw, 
the  belly  smoked,  the  back  salted,  and  the  bones  and  oflal  are  given  to 
the  dogs.  Fish  is  the  staple  food  also  of  catde  and  poultry,  as  neither 
hay  nor  grain  can  be  procured  for  their  use  in  sufficient  quantities. 

All  supplies  for  the  table,  fish  alone  excepted,  are  ruinously  extrava- 
gant. Flour,  brought  from  the  Upper  Lena  by  way  of  Yakutsk,  costs 
twenty-eight  roubles  a  pood,  of  forty  Russian  or  thirty-six  English 
pounds;  beef,  supplied  by  the  neighboring  Yakuti,  is  so  dear  and  so 
scarce  as  to  be  regarded  merely  as  a  treat;  and  as  to  wines  and  gro- 
ceries, most  of  them  tell  their  own  story,  in  the  fact  of  their  beinjj 
burdened  with  the  expense  of  an  inland  carriage  of  more  than  seven 
thousand  miles. 

On  such  fare  and  in  such  a  climate  no  people  could  be  healthy. 
Scurvy  in  particular  rages  here  every  winter.  This  is,  in  fact,  thi- 
scourge  of  all  these  hyperborean  regions,  the  absence,  or  Uie  feeble- 
ness, of  the  sun  in  December  and  .January  being  apparently  sufficient 
to  generate  it  under  the  most  favorable  circumstance  of  food,  shelter 
and  exercise.  It  affects  even  sucking  infants,  while  the  very  cattlo 
suffer  equally  with  human  beings.  It  often  proves  fatal;  but,  if  tho 
sufferer,  wiiether  man  or  beast,  survive  the  winter,  both  quadrupeds 
and  bipeds  find  a  remedy  of  nature's  own  providing  in  a  wild  sort  of 
onion  or  garlick. 

Under  all  these  disadvantages,  however,  the  good  folks  of  Ochotsk 
look  brisk  with  something  of  a  military  swagger  in  their  air.  They 
are  evidently  alive  to  the  dignity  of  their  situation,  as  being  denizens 
of  the  only  town  within  the  compass  of  two  or  three  European  king- 
doms. Nor  are  they  likely  to  be  soon  deprived  of  this  exclusive 
honor,  for  their  harbor,  bad  as  it  is,  is  still  believed  to  be  the  best  on 
the  whole  of  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk.  Captain  Kadnikoff,  however,  in- 
tends this  very  season  to  survey  what  is  called  Jan  Harbor,  lying 
some  distance  to  the  southwest  of  Ochotsk;  and  if  his  report  of  the 
anchorage  be  favorable,  the  Russian  American  Company  will  remove 
its  establishment  thither  on  account  of  the  collateral  advantages  of  the 
locality.  The  situation  is  said  to  be  much  more  healthy  than  thai  ot 
this  town;  the  interior  country  is  believed  to  be  rich  in  sables  and 
foxes,  being  well  wooded  and  tolerably  fertile;  and,  what  is  most 
important  of  all,  the  route  to  Yakutsk  and  back  may.  in  a  great 
measure,  he  accomplished  by  water. 

The  buildings  are  of  wood,  being  most  of  them  in  a  state  of  decay ; 


I"  ■,'. 


FROM  OnrOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


Ill 


state  of  decay ; 


oven  the  principal  edifices,  the  admiralty,  the  hospital  and  the  jjovcrn- 
ment  house,  are  scarc(!ly  habitabU-.  As  to  business,  the  town  is  a 
mere  place  of  transit  between  Yakutsk  on  the  one  hand,  and  Kains- 
chatka  and  Russian  America  on  tlie  oUicr,  the  grandest  epochs  in  its 
year  being  the  arrivals  and  departures  of  vessels  and  caravans.  With 
the  trade,  liowever,  of  Russian  America,  the  town,  properly  so  called, 
has  little  or  nothing  to  do,  for  the  Company's  own  post,  with  a  gentle- 
man in  charge,  three  clerks,  a  storekeeper,  a  pilot,  and  thirty-five 
laborers,  is,  in  my  opinion,  far  more  than  adequate  to  perform  all  the 
Company's  work. 

It  is  chiefly  in  regard  to  its  connection  with  Kamschatka,  that 
Ochotsk  possesses  a  ship-building  yard.  Considering  how  often  the 
transports  are  lost,  this  establishment  can  have  no  sinecure  of  it;  and 
there  is  now  a  vessel  of  about  seventy  tons  on  the  stocks  as  a  caiulidatc! 
for  the  next  vacancy,  if  the  recent  disaster  has  not  already  made  room 
for  it.  The  pine  is  close  in  the  grain  and  tough,  and  the  carpenters 
do  their  duty  well,  so  that  the  frequent  losses  must  be  imputed  chielly 
to  the  incompetency  of  the  oflTicers  and  crews.  Whatever  be  the  cause, 
the  inhabitants  of  Kamschatka  are  the  sufferers,  being  forced  to  sub- 
mit, as  I  have  elsewhere  stated,  to  the  exactions  of  foreign  adventurers 
for  absolute  necessaries ;  and  one  cannot  but  regret  that  the  imperial 
government  does  not  at  once  conclude  the  reported  arrangement  with 
the  Russian  American  Company,  for  conducting  this  branch  of  the  ser- 
vice. Justice  and  humanity,  however,  have  many  vested  interests  to 
encounter.  The  functionaries  in  Kamschatka  are,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  instinctively  hostile  to  the  proposed  meastire;  the  Yakuti  who 
enjoy  the  monopoly,  such  as  it  is,  of  the  inland  transport  between 
Yakutsk  and  Ochotsk,  are  represented  as  being  lik(!ly  to  lose  at 
least  a  part  of  their  carrying  trade;  and,  though  last  not  least,  the 
authorities  of  Ochotsk  see  that,  in  letting  go  their  hold  of  Kamschatka, 
they  will  drift  from  their  sheet  anchor.  So  far  as  the  Yakuti  are  con- 
cerned, their  case  is  little  better  than  a  bugbear  to  serve  the  purposes 
of  the  other  two  parties,  for,  besides  being  nearly  independent  of  ex- 
traneous aid  through  the  instrumentality  of  their  herds  of  catde,  they 
sacrifice  vast  numbers  of  their  horses  in  consequence  of  famine  and 
fatigue  so  as  gready  to  diminish  the  clear  proceeds  of  their  earnings. 
The  depth  and  thickness,  however,  of  the  official  stake  in  the  matter 
are  certainly  great,  exceeding,  in  fact,  all  honest  calculation.  To  cite 
an  instance,  the  freight  from  Ochotsk  to  Kamschatka,  as  fixed  at  head 
quarters,  is  not  to  be  more  than  half  a  rouble  a  pood,  while,  as  exacted 
on  the  spot,  it  amounts  to  fifteen  roubles.  Thus  in  defiance  of  what 
is  called  the  pervading  will,  the  servant's  peculation  adds  2,900  per 
lent.  to  the  master's  claim. 

Of  the  machinery  of  justice  Ochotsk  has  fully  more  than  enough. 
For  the  eight  hundred  souls  in  the  town,  and  a  remarkably  scanty 
population  in  the  adjacent  country,  there  are,  including  judges  and 
clerks  of  court,  no  fewer  than  forty  limbs  of  the  law.  After  making 
due  allowance  for  the  litigious  disposition  of  the  Yakuti,  the  place  has 
evidendy  still  too  much  of  a  good  thing,  even  if  only  half  of  all  that  is 
said  as  to  the  extortion  and  corruption  of  the  harpies  be  correct.     I 


I 


112 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


mi 


I,;  v.;  v- 


t  •    - 

f'  " 


mi 


fihall  mcrf'ly  nionlion  one  instiincc  resting  on  undoubted  authority  with 
respect  to  judicial  misconduct,  premising  lliat  l\w  bar  can  hardly  bt: 
expected  to  i)e  mor(!  punctilioui  than  tin;  bench.  \  worn  'n  of  Sitka, 
charged,  on  the  clearest  evidence,  with  having  poisoned  her  husband, 
was  sent  to  Ocholsk  for  trial.  She  was  committed  to  prison;  but  the 
judge,  struck  with  her  charms,  removed  her  from  her  cell  to  his  own 
Jiousc,  postponing  the  cognizance  of  the  alTair  from  time  to  time  on 
one  pretext  after  anodier.  At  last,  when  urged  i)y  the  Russian  Ameri- 
can Company,  he  promised  to  proceed  in  the  business,  without,  how- 
ever, naming  any  day.  Accordingly  one  forenoon  the  (/Oinpany's 
agent  was  summoned  to  attend  the  woman's  trial  by  mid-day  at  a  ):la('o 
about  three  miles  distant  from  the  town;  but,  before  tlic  prosecitor 
could  reach  the  court  house,  the  judge,  true  to  his  time,  had  dismissed 
the  case  for  want  of  evidence  aiul  remanded  the  lady  to  his  own  hos- 
pitable domicil.  In  process  of  time  she  has  become  the  molhcr  ol 
half  a  dozen  or  so  of  incipient  judges  and  embryo  ladies  of  quality. 

Formerly  salt  used  to  be  manufactured  near  Ochotsk.  IJut  the 
works  were  soon  abandoned,  as  the  article  could  be  procured,  throuLdi 
the  Russian  American  Company,  from  California  at  a  much  cheaper 
rate.  By  the  by,  when  Captain  Cochrane  was  at  Petropaulosk  in 
Kamschatka,  he  found  there  a  vessel  belonging  to  Liho  Liho,  loaded 
with  salt  as  a  present  from  his  Hawaiian  majesty  to  the  i'jmpcror  ol 
Russia. 

The  governor  of  Ochotsk,  Captain  Golovin,  of  the  imperial  navy, 
has  spent  twenty  years  of  his  life  in  Siberia  and  Kamschatka,  and 
bears  a  very  excellent  character.  At  the  moment  of  my  arrival  ho 
was  too  busy  at  home  to  let  his  thoughts  wander  elsewhere,  for  his 
lady  had  just  presented  him  with  a  little  girl,  who  was  ushered  into 
the  world  under  the  same  salute  that  greeted  my  landing  in  Asia. 
When  this  affair  was  made  snug,  Captain  Golovin  showed  me  much 
courtesy  and  attenUon,  readily  rendering  me  every  assistance  in  his 
power.  His  jurisdiction  extends  from  the  Chinese  frontier  to  the  Bay 
of  Anad/r,  containing,  in  addition  to  the  aboriginal  population,  about 
three  thousand  families  of  Russians.  This  peaceful  district  contains 
numerous  ostrogs  or  forts,  garrisoned  by  a  few  Cossacks,  who,  by 
virtue  of  their  descent  from  the  original  conquerors  of  Siberia,  are  at 
once  the  military  and  the  police  of  the  country.  In  their  public  capa- 
city these  soldiers  collect  the  yassack  from  the  natives,  being  equiva- 
lent to  six  roubles  a  year  for  every  male  of  twenty  and  upwards,  while, 
on  their  own  private  account,  they  exact  a  much  heavier  tribute  from 
the  poor  creatures  by  dabbling  in  furs  at  their  own  prices. 

At  Ochotsk  we  saw  the  Japanese,  of  whom  I  had  previously  heard 
at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  They  were  maintained  at  the  expense  ot 
the  government  and  were  waiting  an  opportunity  to  return  home. 
Whatever  the  chapter  of  accidents  might  ultimately  disclose,  there  was 
then  no  definite  prospect  that  the  unhappy  exiles  would  ever  reach 
the  shores  of  Japan,  or  that,  even  if  they  should  get  that  length,  they 
would  be  allowed  to  land.  On  a  former  occasion  of  the  same  kind, 
the  sailors,  whom  ihe  Russians  were  restoring  to  their  country,  were 


ac... 


FROM  0CH0T8K  TO  YAKUTSK. 


113 


driven  ofT  by  llicir  jcalouH  government, — an  example  wliich  is  not 
very  likely  to  cnofHiragc  Russia  to  repeat  the  attempt.  Tiie  Japanese 
ia  question,  wretched  as  their  lot  must  have  been  in  a  strange  land 
and  under  an  inhospitable  elimate,  contrived  to  make  themselves  more 
miserable  by  disagreeing  with  each  other;  and,  on  a  recent  occasion, 
four  of  them  had  conspired  to  destroy  the  lU'lh,  whom  the  authorities 
were  obliged  to  send  to  prison  in  order  to  preserve  his  life. 

Another  person,  whom  I  saw  here,  also  excited  in  me  a  good  deal 
of  curiosity.  Tliis  man  was  a  member  of  a  certain  sect  of  fanatics, 
who,  by  literally  reducing  the  Scripture  to  pracrtice  as  Origen  had  done 
before  them,  emasculated  themselves  from  religious  scruples.  IJeing 
detected  through  the  alteration  in  his  voice  and  appearance,  he  had 
been  sent  to  Siberia,  there  to  digest  the  knotty  question  between  j)osi- 
tive  law  and  the  rights  of  conscience. 

In  the  Russian  AuKJrican  Conipany's  stores  I  observed  what  is 
known  as  brick  tea,  being  made  up  into  cakes  like  cavendish  tobacco. 
This  article  is  brought  from  Kiachta.  Though  coarse,  strong  and 
ill-llavored,  it  is  consumed  in  great  (juantitii's  by  the  lower  orders  in 
Siberia,  being  made  into  a  thick  soup  with  tin  addition  of  butter  and 
salt. 

Of  the  habits  of  the  good  people  of  Or^  ,  save  of  their  hospi- 
tality, 1  know  but  little.  On  the  day  of  our  arrival  there  was  scarcely 
a  soul  to  be  seen  about  die  place,  all  business  being  at  a  stand  in  honor 
of  the  anniversary  of  the  emperor's  birth;  but  the  proper  festivities 
were  unavoidably  postponed,  as  the  anticipated  supplies  had  not 
arrived  from  Yakutsk.  In  summer,  in  fact,  nol)ody  goes  out  of  the 
house  without  necessity.  If  the  weather  be  line,  then  the  noxious 
vapors  of  the  stagnant  marsh  are  to  be  dreaded;  and,  if  the  weather  be 
not  fine,  then  the  rain  and  wind  are  to  be  avoided.  In  winter,  again, 
the  cold  is  too  severe  for  much  exposure,  being  of  that  raw,  damp, 
disagreeable  kind,  which  no  clothes  can  keep  out.  Walking  on  snow- 
shoes,  however,  is  a  favorite  pastime  among  the  gentlemen ;  and  one 
of  the  Company's  clerks,  Mr.  AdasofT, — a  descendant,  I  believe,  of  tJie 
conqueror  of  Kamschatka, — thinks  nothing  at  all  of  trudging  eighty  or 
ninety  miles  a  day,  having  one  winter  gone  from  Ochotsk  to  Irkutsk 
on  foot,  a  distance  of  nearly  four  thousand  versts  or  two  thousand 
seven  hundred  miles,  in  order  to  visit  his  friends.  This  performance 
quite  beats  that  of  a  genUeman  in  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's 
service,  who  walked  from  Moose  Factory  to  Red  River  Settlement,  to 
request  my  leave  to  marry  a  young  lady,  whose  inclinations  on  the 
subject  he  had  never  taken  the  precaution  to  discover.  Having  ob- 
tained the  required  permission,  he  retraced  his  steps,  and,  with  his 
authority  all  cut  and  dried  for  immediate  use,  made  his  formal  pro- 
posal ;  but,  to  his  infinite  astonishment  and  dismay,  the  hard-hearted 
and  ungrateful  woman  rejected  his  suit,  while  he  could  only  console 
himself  with  the  old  song,  "surely  she's  daft  to  refuse  the  Laird 
O'Cockpen."  The  snow,  particularly  on  a  long  journey,  proves 
very  injurious  to  the  eyes,  almost  always  producing  temporary,  and 
sometimes  permanent  blindness ;  and,  besides  various  other  suficrers 
PART  II.— 8 


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I 


114 


FROM  0CH0T8K  TO  YAKUTSK. 


in  this  way  whom  I  met,  Captain  Oolovin  had  nearly  lost  his  sight 
from  that  cause.  Speaking  of  the  habits  of  the  people,  I  heard  of  a 
custom,  which  would  hardly  be  considered  delicate  or  correct  in  Eng- 
land. Men  and  women,  to  the  number  perhaps  of  thirty  or  forty  oi 
both  sexes,  frequent  one  and  the  same  bath  at  one  and  the  same  time : 
and  so  common  is  the  thing,  that  it  is  regarded  as  a  matter  of  perfect 
indifference. 

Two  days  after  my  arrival  I  dispatched  letters  for  England  by  the 
mail,  which  would  travel  much  more  expeditiously  than  1  could,  as 
each  bearer  would  go  only  a  specified  distance,  and  then  be  relieved 
by  .mother. 

On  the  same  day  I  learned  from  a  Yakut,  that  the  roads  were  ex- 
ceedingly bad,  in  consequence  of  the  unusual  height  of  the  waters. 
This  state  of  things  was  very  much  against  the  comfortable  and  speedy 
prosecution  of  our  journey  as  far  as  Yakutsk,  though  it  might  be  fa- 
vorable to  us  in  ascending  the  Lena  to  Irkutsk,  as  facilitating  the 
tracking  of  boats  along  the  banks.  The  news  was  disheartening,  for 
the  track,  at  its  best,  would  be  a  mere  apology  for  a  highway. 

I  had  some  trouble  in  procuring  horses  and  guides,  the  Yakuti  being 
inclined  to  drive  a  hard  bargain ;  but,  on  being  marched  before  CJovernor 
Golovin  by  a  party  of  Cossacks,  they  agreed  to  convey  us  to  Yakutsk 
in  eighteen  days,  at  the  rate  of  forty-five  roubles  a  horse,  no  load  being 
to  exceed  five  Russian  poods,  or  a  hundred  and  eighty  English  pounds. 
The  leader  and  guide,  an  old  fellow  of  the  name  of  Jacob,  was  said  to 
be  worth  40,000  roubles,  having  acquired  the  greater  part  of  his  wealth 
by  lending  money  to  his  less  provident  countrymen  at  usurious  interest. 
Notwithstanding  all  our  precautions,  our  princeling,  for  Jacob  was  a 
man  of  rank  in  his  tribe,  had  been  too  keen  for  us,  inasmuch  as  the 
charge  even  for  post-horses  was  only  fifty  roubles,  while  in  the  case 
of  animals  that  had  come  loaded  and  were  returning,  it  hardly  ever 
exceeded  forty.  Considering  that  a  horse  costs  only  thirty  or  forty 
roubles,  one  is  inclined,  at  first  sight,  rather  to  buy  the  nags  than  to 
hire  them.  But  a  little  inquiry  on  the  spot  is  sure  to  save  a  great  deal 
of  vexatious  and  expensive  experience.  Your  cheap  bargains  may  be 
unsound  from  the  beginning;  even  if  they  are  sound,  they  are  seldom 
able  to  accomplish  the  whole  journey;  and  even  if  they  neithir  die 
nor  break  down,  they  are  almost  certain  of  being  stolen.  In  addition 
to  all  this,  guides  and  drivers  must  be  separately  paid,  while,  from 
having  no  interest  in  your  cattle,  excepting,  perhaps,  an  interest  adverse 
to  your  own,  they  may  prove  more  troublesome  than  the  very  brutes 
themselves.  As  a  general  rule,  a  traveler,  whether  in  Siberia  or  else- 
where, rarely  promotes  either  comfort  or  economy  by  being  wise  in 
his  own  conceit. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  the  month,  immeiiiately  after  breakfast, 
we  took  leave  of  our  kind  hostess,  Madame  Zavoika,  and  then,  accom- 
panied by  Lieutenant  Zavoika,  ascended  the  Ochota  in  a  boat  to  an 
encampment  about  ten  miles  distant,  where  we  were  to  meet  our 
princeling  and  his  party.  At  this  spot,  which  presented  neither  tree 
nor  shrub  to  shelter  us  from  the  north  wind— always  a  cold  one  in 


lost  his  si(Tht 
,  I  heard  of  a 
5rrect  in  Eng- 
rly  or  forty  ol 
ic  same  time : 
tter  of  perfect 

ngland  by  the 
n  I  could,  as 
n  be  relieved 

)ads  were  ex- 
f  the  waters. 
Ic  and  speedy 
.  mijirht  be  fa- 
acilitatin^  tiic 
icartening,  for 
way. 

Yakuti  being 

fore  (lovernor 

us  to  Yakutsk 

,  no  load  being 

nglish  pounds. 

b,  was  said  to 

t  of  his  wealth 

irious  interest. 

Jacob  was  a 

ismuch  as  the 

e  in  the  case 

it  hardly  ever 

hirty  or  forty 

;  nags  than  to 

e  a  great  deal 

gains  may  be 

ey  are  seldom 

;y  neitht  r  die 

In  addition 

,  while,  from 

itcrest  adverse 

le  very  brutes 

iberia  or  else- 

jeing  wise  in 

ter  breakfast, 

I  then,  accom- 

a  boat  to  an 

to  meet  our 

d  neither  tree 

cold  one  in 


FROM  0CII0T8K  TO  YAKUTSK. 


115 


ihese  regions-^that  was  blowing,  we  found  a  caravan  of  about  five 
hundred  horses,  just  arrived  from  Yakutsk.  Whilst  we  partook  of  a 
farewell  dinner  with  our  hospitable  friend,  packs  were  arranged,  harness 
repaired,  and  horses  laden.  Our  little  band  consisted  of  my  two  fellow 
travelers  and  myself,  my  servant,  a  Cossack,  and  thin'  Yakuti,  with 
about  thirty  horses. 

Bidding  adieu  to  our  excellent  host,  we  commenced  our  journey, 
riding  about  ten  versts  along  the  sea  shore,  whence  we  obtained  our 
last  look  of  the  good  ship  Alexander ;  and  then,  striking  into  the  coun- 
try, we  passed  through  a  miserable  district  of  burnt  wood,  which,  how- 
ever, improved  as  wc  advanced,  into  forests  of  pine,  larch,  willows  and 
alder,  with  abundance  of  swamp  tea,  such  as  grows  in  Labrador  and 
many  parts  of  The  Hudson's  Bay  territories.  Our  progress  did  not 
exceed  four  or  five  miles  an  hour,  .Jacob  being  ready  with  the  standing 
apology  of  all  first  days,  that  the  horses,  being  fresh  from  the  pastur- 
age, must  not  have  their  bellies  shaken.  In  all  such  cases,  whether 
the  excuse  be  well  founded  or  not,  the  traveler,  as  there  is  no  use  in 
going  ahead  of  his  baggage,  must,  of  course,  acquiesce  in  the  pace  of 
the  slowest  quadruped  in  the  caravan,  unless,  indeed,  he  has  a  Cossack 
with  him  to  argue  the  point  in  his  own  summary  way. 

During  the  afternoon  we  met  an  apparently  interminable  line  of  about 
six  hundred  horses,  carrying  goods  for  Mr.  Shilofi',  a  rich  merchant  of 
Ochotsk.  The  whole  of  the  property  was  entirely  und(!r  the  charge 
of  the  Yakuti — a  fact  which  to  me  spoke  volumes  in  favor  of  the  care- 
fulness, honesty  and  fidelity  of  the  tribe.  In  truth,  I  had  already  begun 
to  see,  that,  if  not  in  a  hurry,  I  should  never  desire  better  attendants 
on  such  a  journey,  for  Jacob  and  his  companions  understood  the  man- 
agement of  horses  to  a  miracle,  and  were  withal  so  cheerful  creatures, 
turning  every  incident  into  a  rude  melody,  to  beguile  their  own  toil, 
and  perhaps  also  that  of  their  cattle.  But,  pressed  as  I  was  for  time, 
I  should  never  have  got  on,  more  particularly  as  none  of  us  wore  uni- 
form, without  my  Cossack,  who,  besides  his  own  peculiar  mode  of 
infusing  activity  into  all  and  sundry,  supplied  the  place  of  a  whole 
regiment  of  buttons  and  crosses,  by  the  most  exaggerated  representa- 
tions of  my  rank  and  importance. 

If  there  is  anything  in  earth  or  air  more  formidable  to  these  poor 
fellows  than  a  Cossack,  it  is  the  "Spirit  of  the  Forest,"  a  personage 
invested,  in  their  imagination,  with  almost  unlimited  power,  whether 
for  good  or  for  evil.  In  the  branches  of  the  trees  along  the  road  were 
suspended  numberless  offerings  of  horse-hair,  the  gift  being  probably 
selected  as  an  emblem  of  what  the  giver  valued  most;  the  extempora- 
neous songs  seemed  to  be  dictated  by  the  hope  of  conciliating  the  great 
unknown  ;  and,  at  supper,  the  first  spoonful  was  invariably  thrown 
into  the  fire,  to  purchase  a  sound  sleep  from  the  genius  of  the  place. 
As  every  locality  has  its  own  elf,  the  Yakuti,  when  on  a  journey,  have 
no  respite,  soothing  one  object  of  terror  after  another,  and  only  multi- 
plying their  tormentors  as  they  increase  their  speed. 

At  the  close  of  our  first  day,  on  which  we  had  accomplished  barely 
thirty  versts,  we  encamped  on  a  branch  of  the  Ochota.     After  unload- 


-■'  m 


f 


il 


i. 


.I. 


116 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


ing  the  horses,  the  Yakuti  tied  them  to  trees  for  ahout  an  hour,  in 
order  to  prevent  them  from  eating  or  drinking  while  they  were  warm ; 
and  having  thus  taken  care  of  their  cattle,  they  attacked  their  own  pot- 
tage of  rye  flour,  butter,  and  sour  milk,  not  forgetting  the  libation  due 
to  the  tutelary  divinity  of  the  neighborhood. 

Next  morning  we  started  at  five,  having  taken  a  cup  of  tea  to  keep 
out  the  cold  air.  About  sunrise  I  had  a  pleasing  remembrance  of 
home  and  old  times,  in  the  notes  of  the  cuckoo,  a  bird  unknown  in 
America,  where  I  had  passed  about  twenty  successive  springs.  For 
fifteen  versts  we  pursued  our  way  along  the  river,  on  the  banks  of 
which  we  had  slept,  through  a  tolerably  pretty  country;  and  then, 
after  crossing  the  shoulder  of  a  small  hill,  over  heavy  roads  of  clay 
and  bog,  we  traversed  on  horseback  no  fewer  than  fourteen  fords,  some 
of  them  deep  and  dangerous,  of  the  Ochota  and  other  streams.  Though 
I  could  not  appropriate  to  myself  the  boast  of  a  former  traveler  in  these 
parts,  that  "  Byron  swam  the  Hellespont,  and  John  Cochrane  the 
Ochota,"  yet  I  did  sometimes  anticipate  the  misfortune  of  being  left  by 
my  horse  to  attempt  part  of  the  feat. 

In  the  course  of  the  day  we  passed  through  several  native  settle- 
ments, with  comfortable  yaurtes  or  huts,  one  of  them  belonging  to  Ja- 
cob. On  our  stopping  at  the  old  man's  house,  the  princess,  by  no 
means  an  uncomely  person,  showed  herself;  she  was  neat  in  her  dress 
and  tidy  in  her  domestic  arrangements.  The  Yakuti  appear  to  be  very 
industrious,  young  and  old,  male  and  female,  always  occupied  with 
some  useful  employment  or  other.  When  not  engaged  in  traveling  or 
farming,  the  men  and  buys  make  saddles,  harnesses,  and  tethers ; 
while  the  women  and  girls  keep  house,  dress  skins,  prepare  clothing, 
and  attend  to  the  dairy.  The  poor  people,  moreover,  are  remarkably 
kind  to  strangers,  for  milk  and  cream,  the  best,  if  not  the  only  things 
that  they  had  to  give,  were  freely  offered  to  us  in  every  village. 

Just  as  we  were  squatting  down  to  dinner,  three  well-dressed  gen- 
tlemen, attended  by  one  of  those  indispensable  Cossacks,  rode  up  to 
us.  They  proved  to  be  Judge  Fish,  a  good  looking,  sharp,  and  gen- 
tlemanly fellow,  born  in  Petersburg,  of  English  parents,  with  the  prin- 
cipal barrister  of  Ochotsk,  a  stout  Siberian,  whose  countenance  pre- 
sented the  reddest  and  most  formidable  crop  of  whiskers  and  mus- 
taches, and  the  chief  doctor  of  the  same  place,  the  most  forbidding 
man,  without  exception,  that  I  had  seen  for  many  years.  These  gen- 
tlemen had  been  holding  a  court  at  a  village  in  the  neighborhood,  this 
plan  of  carrying  law  to  every  man's  door  being  absolutely  necessary  in 
such  a  country,  and  affording,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  functionaries,  a 
safer  field  than  a  stationary  tribunal,  for  combining  some  attention  to 
their  own  private  interests  with  a  due  regard  for  the  public  good.  Very 
little  ceremony  was  requisite  to  induce  them  to  partake  of  our  repast, 
to  which  the  whole  of  them,  particularly  our  medical  guest,  did  justice 
as  if  they  had  never  done  it  before  in  their  lives. 

Parting  with  our  friends,  we  resumed  our  course  along  the  Ochota, 
for  about  twelve  versts,  to  the  little  post-house  of  Mitta.  This  place, 
in  spite  of  the  dignity  of  its  appellation,  was  merely  the  shell  of  an  old 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


117 


log  hut,  containing  generally  a  few  provisions  for  the  use  of  passing 
caravans,  though,  to  give  the  hovel  its  duo,  it  did  possess  two  rather 
pretty  girls  at  the  time  of  our  visit.  At  this  point  I  was  sorry  to  be 
obliged  to  kick  up  a  small  "  dust"  with  our  princeling,  who,  to  spare 
his  horses,  always  found  some  pretext  or  other  for  moving  at  a  snaiTH 
pace;  while  the  Cossack  gravely  inquired  whether  he  should  not  ad- 
minister a  dose  of  the  whip  for  Jacob's  benefit.  In  spite  of  my  objec- 
tions to  the  proposed  measure,  the  man  in  authority  dealt  out  two  or 
three  cuts,  which  certainly  were  of  some  service,  for  there  was  a  visi- 
ble improvement  in  our  next  stage.  It  was  no  wonder  that  we  lost 
our  patience  with  the  old  fellow,  inasmuch  as,  when  we  encamped  lor 
the  night  on  the  Urick,  we  had  been  sixteen  hours  in  the  saddle  for 
the  matter  of  fifty  versts,  or  thirty-three  miles.  Near  the  Urick  the 
road  ran  over  a  hill,  which,  on  this,  the  tenth  of  the  English  July,  was 
still  partially  covered  with  its  wintry  garb,  the  atmosphere,  of  course, 
being  very  cold.  From  the  ferryman  we  obtained  some  of  the  deli- 
cious nerka  for  our  supper.  During  the  day,  by  the  by,  we  had  met 
about  three  hundred  liorses  laden  with  supplies  for  Ochotsk  ;  and 
altogether  we  found  ourselves  in  much  less  of  a  wilderness  than  we 
had  expected. 

Next  morning,  being  the  third  day  of  our  travels,  we  lost  about  an  hour 
and  a  half  in  collecting  the  horses.  These  animals,  when  turned  loose 
to  feed  in  the  evening,  are  apt  to  stray ;  but  the  Yakuti,  knowing  their 
haunts  well,  and  having  a  keen  eye  to  detect  their  track,  rarely  fail  to 
follow  the  deserters  on  the  right  scent.  One  could  not  be  surprised, 
if  the  quadrupeds  should  run  away  altogether  out  of  the  country.  When 
compared  with  this  corner  of  the  world,  England,  which  is  sometimes 
said  to  be  the  hell  of  horses,  must  be  contented  with  the  secondary 
honor  of  being  their  purgatory.  The  unfortunate  brutes  here  lie  down 
to  die,  in  great  numbers,  through  famine  and  fatigue;  and  this  road  is 
more  thickly  strewed  with  their  bones  than  any  part  of  the  plains  on 
the  Saskatchewan  with  those  of  the  buffalo. 

On  either  side  of  our  path  was  a  range  of  hills,  while  down  the  val- 
ley there  (lowed  the  Luktur,  which  we  had  occasion  to  ford  repeatedly, 
following  here,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  the  line  of  the  crow's  flight  an 
correctly  as  possible,  without  regard  to  the  windings  of  any  slrean«. 
Though  then  an  insignificant  brook,  yet  the  Luktur,  like  all  the  rivers 
of  this  region,  is  subject  to  sudden  and  violent  changes,  rising  or  falling 
several  feet  in  a  few  hours.  We  saw  a  living  proof,  as  it  were,  of  this 
fact  in  the  remains  of  a  platform,  on  which  several  Yakuti,  after  sacri- 
ficing much  baggage,  and  three  hundred  horses,  had  saved  their  own 
lives  from  one  of  these  unexpected  inundations. 

While  crossing  a  point  of  woods,  we  were  surprised  to  hear  loud 
shouts  from  some  party  ahead  of  us.  Our  Yakuti,  however,  returned 
the  cries,  while  our  horses,  apparently  as  intelligent  in  the  matter  as 
their  owners,  grew  very  restive.  To  increase  our  perplexity,  the  fel- 
lows, who  had  begun  the  commotion,  were  now  seen,  still  vociferating 
as  loudly  as  ever,  with  a  band  of  cattle  scampering  wildly  before  them ; 
and  our  curiosity  was  soon  tinctured  with  fear,  when  we  observed  our 


:  in 


Ml 

■  4 


*.. . 

■'■}i 


If 


■J  I 


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118 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


..» 


4: 


attendants  making  ready  their  knives  for  some  desperate  work.  We 
did  not  know  what  to  make  of  all  this,  till  at  Icngtii  we  perceived  a 
huj^e  she-bear  and  her  cub  makin^r  off,  apparcnUy  as  much  frightened 
as  any  of  us,  at  a  round  trot.  We  now  ascertained  that  the  bears  are 
both  Hcrce  and  numerous  on  this  road  ;  and,  as  the  natives  have  no  fire- 
arms, they  let  bruin  get  pretty  much  his  own  way,  excepting  that  they 
do  sometimes  propitiate  him,  as  if  he  were  himself  the  "  Spirit  of  the 
Forest,"  by  all  sorts  of  grimaces  and  obeisances.  Two  horses  had 
been  killed  in  the  neighborhood  only  the  day  before,  very  probably  by 
the  same  animal  that  had  caused  the  present  alarm.  Before  the  two 
brutes  were  out  of  sight,  we  passed  the  herd  of  cattle,  the  drivers  riding 
the  bulls  with  as  much  indifference  as  if  they  had  been  on  horseback. 

The  country  had  now  become  more  fertile.  There  was  no  want  ot 
flowering  plants;  and  the  forests,  moreover,  were  enlivened  by  the 
warbling  of  birds,  which,  accustomed  as  I  had  been,  to  the  death-like 
silence  of  American  woods,  was  peculiarly  grateful  to  my  ear.  We 
saw  a  large  species  of  partridge,  quite  new  to  us,  but  not  unlike  the 
silver  pheasant  in  its  plumage  ;  and  we  found  several  kinds  of  squirrels, 
the  fur  of  some  of  which  was  said  to  be  more  valuable  than  anything 
of  the  kind  produced  in  the  New  World. 

In  the  course  of  the  day  we  met  the  courier,  who  was  bringing,  as  I 
had  reason  to  believe,  letters  for  me  from  England;  but  what  was  my 
disappointment  on  learning,  what,  in  fact,  I  ought  to  have  anticipated, 
that  the  bags  could  not  be  opened  on  the  road.  I  felt  as  if  doomed  to 
pass  my  nearest  and  dearest  friends,  after  a  long  absence,  without  ex- 
changing words  with  them.  The  mail  had  been  seventeen  days  out  from 
Yakutsk,  and  was  still  at  least  two  days  from  Ochotsk,  making  altoge- 
ther the  unusually  long  period  of  nineteen  days ;  but  the  bearer,  when 
attacked  by  me  on  the  subject,  accounted  for  the  delay  by  a  story  of 
his  having  lost  three  days  in  one  encampment,  because  his  horses  had 
eaten  a  plant  which  intoxicated  them  and  rendered  them  unfit  to  travel. 
This  plant,  though  its  effects  seem  to  be  pretty  clearly  proved,  is  yet 
itself  unknown.  After  taking  the  drug,  the  animal  kicks  and  bites  fu- 
riously for  two  days ;  and  unless  ridden  till  he  is  in  a  foam  again  and 
is  ready  to  drop  with  fatigue,  he  generally  dies  of  stupor  on  the  third 
day. 

On  this  our  third  day  we  made  out  sixty-two  versts,  fording  eleven 
rivers  and  encamping  on  the  Porrick.  Jacob  had  not  yet  forgotten  his 
yesterday's  taste  oi'  the  whip,  as  administered  by  his  official  "  friend;" 
and  certainly,  in  such  a  country,  forty-one  miles  between  morning  and 
evening  were  not  bad  traveling.  In  the  course  of  the  night  we  nearly 
lost  our  Cossack  with  all  the  incidental  advantages  of  his  military 
discipline.  My  servant,  having  injured  his  eye  against  the  branch 
of  a  tree,  had  poured  into  a  glass  a  little  laudanum  to  be  applied  to  the 
hurt;  and  the  Cossack  took  an  opportunity,  when  unobserved,  to  toss 
off  the  tempting  beverage.  But  M'Intyre,  on  seeing  his  comrade's  Avry 
faces,  guessed  the  cause;  and  luckily  an  emetic  was  given  in  time  to 
save  the  fellow's  valuable  life,  turning  his  stomach  inside  out  to  his  in- 
finite astonishment. 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


119 


Next  (lay  our  road  lay  alonff  the  bank,  and  occasionally  in  tho  l»nd, 
of  a  river  descending  from  the  llrrirk  Mountains,  which  was  so  full  of 
windings  as  to  require  to  be  crossed  every  now  and  then  from  point  to 
point.  Where  we  encamped  for  the  night,  the  stream  was  only  a  few 
yards  in  width,  with  a  range  of  hills,  apparenUy  volcanic,  on  either 
side,  while  the  intervening  valley  presented  a  breadth  of  four  or  five 
miles.  This  inconsiderable  rivulet  was  said  to  be  subject  even  to  more 
extraordinary  inundations  than  the  Luktur  already  mentioned.  Though 
now  a  mere  thread  of  water,  yet  it  Hometimes  fills  the  whole  of  its  bed, 
which  is  upwards  of  half  a  mile  broad,  extending,  moreover,  nearly  a 
mile  into  the  woods  on  either  side. 

We  met  several  herds  of  cattle  and  caravans  on  their  way  to  Ochotsk. 
The  caravans  generally  march  at  the  rate  of  four  or  five  miles  an  hour, 
for  twelve  hours  at  a  stretch ;  but  the  drivers  never  have  occasion  to 
use  the  whip,  as  the  horses  obey  every  call  with  alacrity.  The  animals 
are  taught  to  travel  in  single  file,  a  certain  number  being  tied  together 
by  a  rope  from  the  tail  of  one  to  the  mouth  of  another,  and  so  on  from 
front  to  rear.  In  this  way,  if  one  starts  aside  or  falls,  a  violent  twitch- 
ing of  mouths  and  tails  ensues,  till  the  driver,  by  shouting  and  thump- 
ing and  pushing  and  pulling,  again  brings  the  column  into  marching 
order.  These  quadrupeds  appear  to  take  things  coolly,  seldom  or  never 
sweating  or  drinking,  even  when  traveling  hard  in  hot  weather. 

The  encampments  along  this  route  are  both  numerous  and  good; 
and,  notwithstanding  all  that  had  been  said  against  the  road  itself,  I 
found  it,  when  not  absolutely  in  the  bed  of  a  river,  very  passable  as 
compared  with  many  roads  that  I  had  traversed.  Amongst  the  cara- 
vans that  we  met  to-day,  was  one  with  goods  and  cattle  for  the  Rus- 
sian American  Company ;  and  we  learned  that,  in  this  caravan,  two 
horses  had  been  killed  by  a  bear  only  last  night.  By  this  intelligence 
our  Yakuti  were  thrown  into  terrible  consternation,  while,  being  un- 
able to  defend  themselves  by  force,  they  had  recourse,  like  skillful 
politicians,  to  a  conciliatory  method  of  proceeding.  They  bowed  reve- 
rentially towards  bruin's  favorite  haunts  with  appropriate  accompani- 
ments in  prose  and  verse,  lauding  his  bravery  and  generosity  to  the 
skies,  recognizing  him  as  their  beloved  uncle,  and  endeavoring,  by 
every  means,  to  coax  him  into  forbearance.  In  addition  to  bears,  the 
neighboring  mountains  were  said  to  abound  in  wolves  and  reindeer,  as 
also  in  the  wild  sheep  so  common  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  on  the 
northwest  coast. 

At  noon  the  thermometer  rose  as  high  as  80°  in  the  shade,  the  tem- 
perature being  still  very  cool  at  night.  In  fact,  one-half  of  the  four- 
and-twenty  hours  was  summer,  while  the  other  half  might  have  passed 
muster  in  England  as  pretty  seasonable  weather  for  winter.  This,  our 
fourth  march,  was  about  sixty  versts. 

On  our  fifth  day,  the  first  of  the  Russian  July,  we  continued  our 
march  up  the  valley  of  our  yesterday's  river,  generally  riding  across  or 
along  its  very  bed.  We  at  length  came  to  a  steep  mountain,  at  the 
foot  of  which  the  Yakuti  chanted  a  short  prayer  to  all  and  sundry  the 
elves  and  fairies  of  the  neighborhood,  invoking  their  aid,  or  at  least 


I') 


■■? 


1 


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.\4 


t 

W: 

♦  .,;;■_ 

■:M' 

i 


120 


FROM  0CH0T8K  TO  YAKUTSK. 


thoir  nrulrality,  in  the  nscent,  whilo  the  hunches  of  horse  hair,  hcsidoA 
hein^  here  unusually  numerous,  were  in  some  cases  very  ncally  plaited. 
The  top  of  this  liill,  which  wc  reached  ahout  noon  with  the  help  of  the 
spirits  and  our  Cossack,  proved  to  he  the  height  of  land  hetween  the 
trihutarics  of  the  I'olar  ()cean,  and  those  of  the  JSea  of  Ochotsk,  pre- 
senting a  sheet  of  water  ahout  five  miles  in  circumference,  which,  like 
the  Committee's  Punch  IJowl  in  the  Athahasca  Portage  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  was  said  to  send  forth  two  rivers  down  the  opposite  slopes, 
namely,  the  stream  which  we  had  just  traversed,  towards  the  Sea  ot 
Ochotsk,  and  the  Krestoffka,  through  the  Mayo  Fordoma  and  the  Aldan 
and  the  Lena,  to  the  Polar  Ocean.  In  the  Mongol  and  Yakut  tongues, 
which  appear  to  be  cognate  dialects,  this  sheet  of  water  is  expressively 
distinguished  as  Cisn  Kale,  or  Spine  Lake.  The  country  about  the 
height  of  land  was  poor  and  dismal,  inhabited  hy  neither  bird  nor  beast, 
and  studded  with  large  fields  of  perpetual  snow  and  ice.  'J'hc  Urrick 
Mountains  are  a  spur  of  the  Stonovoi  Chrebt,  or  great  chain  that  runs 
along  the  Chinese  frontier.  They  are  apparently  of  volcanic  forma- 
tion, being  very  rugged  and  sterile  ;  they  are,  however,  of  no  great  alti- 
tude, not  exceeding  two  thousand  feet  in  height. 

After  crossing  the  height  of  land,  we  proceeded  down  the  banks  of 
the  KrestolTka;  and  here  my  servant  brought  me  a  piece  of  mineral 
which  appeared  to  contain  a  little  gold.  On  inquiry  1  ascertained  that 
the  Russian  American  Company  had,  some  years  before,  established  a 
gold  mine  in  the  neighboring  country  on  the  Yana,  but  had  soon  aban- 
doned it  as  not  worth  the  working. 

Our  road  was  absolutely  alive  with  caravans  and  travelers  all  pro- 
ceeding to  Ochotsk  with  goods,  provisions  and  cattle;  and  of  flour 
alone  not  fewer  than  5,000  loads  had  passed  us  before  the  close  of  this 
our  fifth  day.  Among  the  travelers  we  met  Mr.  Portnech,  of  the  long 
standing  firm  of  Shelekoflf,  who  had  left  Moscow  in  February,  and  was 
now  thirteen  days  out  from  Yakutsk;  also  a  clerk  of  the  Russian  Ame- 
rican Company  in  charge  of  goods  and  supplies,  and  among  them  two 
coops  of  fowls  and  pigeons  ;  and  lastly  Mr.  Molodish,  the  chief  magis- 
trate and  principal  merchant  of  Yakutsk,  who,  for  the  preceding  twenty- 
five  years,  had  made  an  annual  trip  to  Ochotsk. 

By  nine  in  the  evening,  after  eight  hours  of  heavy  rain,  we  reached 
Udomsky  Krest,  or  the  Udoma  Crossing;  and  late  as  it  was,  we  passed 
the  river,  here  about  three  or  four  hundred  yards  wide,  in  a  canoe,  having 
accomplished,  in  the  course  of  the  day,  about  sixty  versts.  At  this 
place  there  were  a  storekeeper  or  commissary,  a  postmaster,  and  six 
or  eight  Cossacks,  with  a  few  other  people.  Our  military  guardian, 
who  rode  on  ahead,  had  represented  us  as  very  great  men,  indeed,  in 
spite  of  our  plain  clothes.  Everybody  was  more  obsequious  than 
words  could  tell.  The  commissary,  who  met  us  in  full  uniform,  talked 
to  us  for  half  an  hour  uncovered  in  the  open  air,  notwithstanding  all 
that  could  be  said  by  me  to  the  contrary ;  while  all  the  subordinates 
doflcd  their  caps  at  least  a  hundred  yards  before  they  reached  us. 
They  provided  us  with  milk,  bread,  butter,  fish  and  meat,  ofliering  us 
at  tlie  same  time  good  lodgings  in  the  posthouse ;  everything  was  neat 


u^^■ 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


121 


c  hair,  besidrs 
neatly  plaited, 
iho  help  of  tho 
d  between  llio 

Ochotsk,  pre- 
cc,  which,  hkc 
!  of  the  Rocky 
pposite  slopes, 
irds  the  Sea  ot 
1  and  the  Aldan 
Yakut  tongues, 
is  expressively 
iintry  about  the 

bird  nor  beast, 
!.  The  Urrick 
I'iiain  that  runs 
volcanic  forma- 
of  no  great  alii- 

n  the  banks  of 
icce  of  mineral 
ascertained  that 
e,  established  a 
had  soon  aban- 

avelers  all  pro- 
i;  and  of  Hour 
he  close  of  this 
ech,  of  the  long 
jruary,  and  was 
B  Russian  Ame- 
mong  them  two 
the  chief  magis- 
eceding  twenty- 

ain,  vvc  reached 

was,  we  passed 

a  canoe,  having 

irersts.     At  this 

tmaster,  and  six 

litary  guardian, 

men,  indeed,  in 

(bscquious  than 

uniform,  talked 

withstanding  all 

le  subordinates 

ey  reached  us. 

leat,  offering  us 

)rthing  was  neat 


nnd  comfortable,  the  women  comely,  and  the  children  able  to  read  and 
write.  -We  had  an  agreeable  proof  that  the  attentions  of  our  friends* 
emanated  rather  from  kindness  of  heart  than  from  servility  of  disposi- 
tion. A  traveler  had  been  attacked  on  the  road  by  inilanunation  of  the 
lungs,  brought  on  by  drinking  cold  water  while  he  was  overheated; 
and  the  poor  Samaritans  had  lodged  the  snfl'erer  to  the  best  of  their 
ability,  remaining  with  him  day  and  night,  and  doing  everything 
that  humanity  could  suggest  to  alleviate  his  misery.  One  of  my  com- 
panions relieved  the  patient  by  taking  a  little  bloo(l  from  him,  while  my 
other  fellow  traveler,  who  had  never  previously  witnessed  such  an  ope- 
ration, astonished  the  natives  by  turning  exceedingly  faint,  with  an  un- 
controllable affection  of  both  stomach  and  l)owels. 

Attached  to  the  station  was  a  small  chapel,  in  which  service  used  to 
be  performed  by  any  priest  iiappening  to  pass  that  way.  From  this 
point,  also,  there  was  a  communication  by  water  with  Yakutsk,  which 
might  be  effected  by  descending  the  l^donia  and  the  Aldan,  and  ascend- 
ing the  liCna;  and,  however  circuitous  the  route  might  be,  it  afforded 
by  far  the  best  means  of  conveying  such  articles  as  could  not  be  broken 
up  into  fractions  of  a  horse's  load,  anchors,  for  instance,  and  cables  and 
the  like. 

In  consequence  of  the  barrenness  of  the  immediate  neighborhood, 
our  horses  were  sent  to  a  distance  of  six  versts  for  pasture,  so  that  it 
was  eight  next  morning  before  wo  took  leave  of  our  hospitable  friends, 
who,  so  far  from  expecting  to  be  paid,  required  much  persuasion  to 
accept  a  small  sum  of  money  as  an  acknowledgment  of  their  kindness. 

Having  been  here  furnished,  by  order  of  Governor  (Jolovin,  with 
three  fresh  horses,  for  which  no  remuneration  was  demanded,  we  com- 
menced our  sixth  day  by  entering  a  Hat  valley,  bounded  on  either  side 
by  a  low  range  of  hills,  while  its  surface,  consisting  of  swamps,  sand, 
clay  and  stones,  presented  no  other  verdure  than  a  little  stunted  timber. 
We  crossed  the  beds  of  several  rivers,  'vliich,  though  now  dry,  yet 
bore  testimony  to  their  occasional  magnituiif  and  force,  in  channels  of 
several  hundred  yards  in  width,  strewed  with  drift-wood.  We  followed 
the  banks  of  Windy  Riveras  far  as  its  confluence  with  the  Nalivnoi,  or 
Overflowing  River;  and,  after  fording  this  latter  stream,  in  which  the 
current  was  deep  and  strong,  with  some  difllculty,  we  encamped  early 
on  the  farther  side,  inasmuch  as  there  was  no  other  good  pasturage 
within  twenty  versts.  In  the  forenoon  we  had  passed  several  extensive 
glaciers;  but  the  latter  portion  of  our  march  was  more  pleasing,  being 
encircled  by  ranges  of  hills,  which  presented  scenery  more  picturesque 
than  anything  that  we  had  seen  since  leaving  the  New  World.  Our 
day's  work  comprised  twelve  hours,  and  fifty-six  versts,  the  weather 
being  fine  and  warm. 

In  all  the  caravans  that  thronged  the  road,  I  could  not  help  remark- 
ing, that  hardly  one  horse  out  of  a  hundred  was  of  dark  color,  the  great 
mass  being  white  or  gray,  with  a  (ew  roan  or  cendrae.  We  met  to-day 
two  clerks  of  the  Russian  American  Company,  attended  by  a  midwife, 
and  some  fishermen  for  Sitka.  All  the  parties  that  we  saw  on  this 
road  were  unarmed,  and  appeared  to  apprehend,  with  the  exception,  of 


'  !■■■ 


■tl 


i 


h 


t 


I  m 


*■  ■  ■ 


'M 


.'E 


122 


PROM  OCIIOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


course,  of  bruin'fl  prorepdirifjs,  no  sort  of  danffPr.  But  in  former  days, 
when  criminals  were  luuuslicd  to  Ocliotsk,  travellers  required  to  he 
always  ready  to  defend  themselves  against  the  attacks  of  runaway  con- 
victs, for,  as  the  distance  was  pcnerally  proportioned  to  the  jfuilt,  hardly 
any  but  the  most  ferocious  wretches  were  sent  so  far  to  the  eastward. 

In  proof  of  my  statement,  that  we  were  now  experiencing  summer 
by  day,  and  winter  l)y  nijjht,  we  next  momintr  found  that  our  ycHtor- 
day's  warm  weather  ha«l  been  succeeded  by  ice  of  half  an  inch  in 
thickness — pretty  well  for  the  fifteenth  of  our  Knjflish  July.  Tin' 
scenery  was  dreary  and  monotonous,  while  the  travelinj^  was  rendered 
equally  tedious  and  disagreeable,  by  our  being  continually  obliged  to 
cross  the  Nalivnoi,  whose  deep  waters,  being  still  fed  by  the  meltini.' 
of  the  snows,  were  as  c(dd  as  charity.  Though  the  stream  in  question 
liardly  equaled  the  volume  of  the  Thames  at  Richmond,  yet  its  chauncl 
was  sometimes  a  mile  in  width,  while  the  drift-wood  that  lay  scattered 
from  side  to  side,  showed  that  the  torrent  must  occasionally  have  needed 
all  its  room. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Nalivnoi  were  numerous  glaciers,  the  largest  ol 
them  known  as  the  ("apitanskaia  Sascka,  being  eight  or  ten  miles  in 
circumference,  and  eight  or  ten  feet  deep.  'I'he  glare  of  the  sun's  ray 
in  traversing  these  fields  of  ice,  was  so  painful,  that  if  long  endured  ai 
a  time,  it  would  certainly  have  produced  snow  blindness ;  and  for  this 
reason,  as  well  as  for  every  other,  we  were  glad  to  take  leave  of  the 
bed  of  the  overflowing  river,  and  after  crossing  a  range  of  low  hills  to 
enter  the  valley  of  the  Popercthine.  Here  a  tolerable  growth  of  pine, 
poplar,  and  willow,  afforded  some  relief  to  the  eye  after  the  snow  and 
ice  which  we  had  just  left  behind  us,  though  the  glaciers,  to  do  them 
justice,  here  and  there  bore  a  budding  willow,  whose  root,  to  all  ap- 
pearance, must  have  been  buried  in  eternal  frost. 

Let  me  here  mention  once  for  all,  that  I  encountered  great  difficulty 
in  trying  to  ascertain  the  correct  names  of  the  rivers,  mountains,  <fec.. 
that  we  passed.  The  Cossack  could  not  always  recollect  them,  if  he 
ever  knew  the  whole  of  them  ;  and  Jacob,  if  interrogated  on  the  sub- 
ject, was  so  vague  and  loquacious,  as  to  render  confusion  worse  con- 
founded. 

Caravans  still  thronged  the  road ;  and  we  accomplished  about  sixty 
versts  to-day  in  fifteen  hours. 

Our  eighth  day,  the  fourth  of  July,  carried  us  through  a  region  re- 
sembling that  of  yesterday,  in  almost  every  particular.  We  rode  up 
the  valley  of  a  stream  called  in  the  Yakut  language,  Vagetlog,  in  the 
Russian,  Dolgoyn,  and  in  the  English,  Ijong  River;  and  glaciers 
were  still  as  frequent  and  as  troublesome  to  the  eyes  as  ever.  Curi- 
ously enough,  the  snow  lay  on  the  side  of  the  mountain  that  faced  the 
sun,  while  the  slope  that  had  the  colder  exposure,  was  generally  bare, 
the  apparently  unaccountable  contrast  having  doubtless  been  caused  by 
the  fact,  that  the  southern  declivity  had  been  sheltered  from  the  pre- 
vailing winds  of  winter  which  had  swept  the  northern  one  at  pleasure, 
forming  heavy  drifts  on  the  opposite  side. 

We  dined  at  a  place  called  Baarag,  treating  ourselves  to  a  little  of 


Ik' 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


123 


e  root,  to  all  ap- 


ished  about  sixty 


ves  to  a  little  of 


our  pcmmican,  the  bent,  if  not  tlir  only  dainty  of  the  kind  tint  was 
ever  ttcvu  in  Asin.  We  crossed  a  larjjo  t»tr«'ani  rallrti  tb«'  Ancha,  along 
llic  banks  of  wliich  we  pursued  «)ur  way,  till  we  rneamped  for  iho 
iiiglit  at  balf-past  ten,  liavinif  eonipleted  about  tifty-six  versts  during 
till-  day. 

VVc  had  still  continued  to  inert  caravan  after  caravan.  On  askinjr 
one  of  the  leaders  at  what  time  he  had  left  Yakutsk,  we  were  told 
"On  wet  St.  Nicholas  day."  On  in(iuiriii:r  still  further  what  this 
could  mean,  we  found  that  the  patron  saint  of  the  empire,  to  mark  his 
superiority  over  orilinary  saints,  has  two  days  in  the  ealen<lar  appro- 
priated to  his  honor,  a  wet  one  in  8ummer,  when  his  votaries  arc 
allowed  to  fret  as  drunk  as  they  like,  and  a  dry  one  in  winter,  when 
they  are  expected  to  keep  as  sober  as  they  can. 

We  also  ol)serve(l  to-day  the  sintrular  mode  in  which  tlio  Yakuti  es- 
timate distances.  Takinjf,  as  iheir  unit,  the  time  necessary  for  boilinfj 
a  ketde  of  a  particular  sort  of  food,  they  tell  you  that  such  and  such  a 
place  is  so  many  kettles  oil',  or,  as  the  case  may  be,  perhaps  oidy  part 
of  a  kettle.  In  this  neighborhood,  moreover,  a  spot  was  shown  to  us, 
where  the  last  tiger  of  Siberia,  killed  about  twenty  years  airo,  was  in- 
ferred; and  we  were  told  that  the  bones  of  a  camel,  so  fresh  as  not  to 
be  of  any  great  antiquity,  were  to  be  seen  near  some  of  the  adjacent 
hills.  Further,  in  this  the  valley  of  the  Ancha,  we  saw  another  scaf- 
fold, on  which  a  shopkeeper  of  Ochotsk,  when  overtaken  by  a  sudden 
flood,  was  perched  three  days  and  nights,  till  the  waters  subsided. 

On  our  ninth  day  we  crossed  many  rivers,  passing  throuiih  a  coun- 
try similar  in  character  to  that  of  yesterday;  but,  as  our  horses  were 
very  much  jaded,  we  halted  early  for  the  night,  after  only  forty  versts, 
at  a  post-house  on  the  Allack  Youmi,  which  proved  to  be  cleanly  and 
comfortable.     Here  we  got  some  provisions  and  a  relay  of  horses. 

Next  morning  we  started  with  our  fresh  cattle  at  five  o'clock.  Our 
country  of  to-day  improved  much  i]i  appearance,  being  ffcnerally  well 
wooded  and  often  romantic;  and  we  occasionally  crossed  hills  which 
commanded  an  extensive  view  of  the  mountains  and  rivers  around. 
After  traveling  about  our  usual  distance,  we  encamped  at  eight  in  the 
evening  on  a  hill,  which  was  represented  to  be  the  middle  point  between 
Ochotsk  and  Yakutsk,  thankful  enough  to  have  got  this  length  in  safe- 
ty. Even  in  this  cold  region,  however,  we  were  tormented  out  of  the 
better  half  of  our  sleep,  as  we  were  on  many  an  occasion  besides,  by 
myriads  of  mosquitoes,  that  most  horrible  of  all  annoyances  during 
summer  in  every  country  of  my  acquaintance  but  England.  By  the 
by,  the  Yakuti  used,  in  such  cases,  to  kindle  a  tire,  that  the  smoke,  by 
driving  away  the  intolerable  insects,  might  enable  their  horses  to  feed 
to  leeward,  erecting  at  the  same  time  a  fence  round  the  blaze  to  prevent 
the  animals  from  burning  themselves  in  their  impatience. 

Our  curiosities  of  to-day  were  neither  numerous  nor  important.  We 
passed  the  remains  of  several  huts  erected  for  the  preservation  of  the 
goods  of  a  caravan,  which  was  here  overtaken  by  winter  two  years  ago; 
and  near  them  the  Bishop  of  Sitka  had  erected  a  cross,  which,  however 
exclusive  the  Russians  might  be  in  their  veneration,  the  Yakuti,  I  fear, 


^\ 


tl) 


I   y,! 


i 


124 


FROM  OCIIOT8K  TO  YAKUTSK. 


would  ai  lu'si  place  on  tlin^nmn  Icvi;!  in  tlinir  rHtimation  wilh  thc*'l)lijp 
spirilM  ami  wliilr,  hlack  Hpirits  and  (fray."  W(!  happened  to  fall  on  h 
J)rood  of  moor-fowl,  Hcarccly  llrdjjcd,  and,  to  the  infinite  (jrief  of  tlic  mo- 
ther, raptured  one  of  the  youn^r.  This  bird  hns  a  beautiful  plumage,  red 
over  the  eyes,  the  body  dark  brown  willi  yellow  spots,  and  the  legs  fea- 
thered. Of  quadrupeds  we  had  not  seen  any  speeimcns  but  a  few  squir- 
rels and  the  two  bears  that  frif,'htened  our  Yakuti  out  of  their  propriety. 
But,  though  the  almost  uninterrupted  line  oftratlic,  particularly  in  sum- 
mer, does  drive  away  nearly  all  animals  from  the  n(M^dd)orhood  of  thf 
road,  yet  there  is  said  to  be  no  scarcity  of  dtcm  at  a  distance.  In  ad- 
dition to  bears,  wolves,  wild  sheep,  scjuirrels,  and  reindeer  already 
mentioned,  there  are  foxes,  sables,  tijrer-cats,  and  a  troat,  called  Kabiir- 
ii^n,  which,  without  horns  or  tail,  has  a  skin  like  the  reindeer's,  but  with 
the  hairs  almost  as  still'  as  bristles. 

On  our  eleventh  day,  the  seventh  of  the  month,  our  road  was  even 
more  rugijed  than  yesterday ;  and  from  the  summit  of  the  Nanukau, 
an  eminence  of  about  a  thousan<l  feet  in  height,  we  obtained  a  beautiful 
view  of  the  mountains  that  we  had  traversed  during  the  two  preceding 
marches,  presenting,  with  their  uniformly  conical  shape,  the  appear- 
ance of  80  many  gigantic  mole-hills.  The  descent  of  this  eminence, 
paved,  as  it  had  been  by  nature,  with  stones  of  all  the  varieties  of 
shapes  and  angles,  afforded  a  painful  ami  unsafe  footing  to  the  horscit, 
while  it  suggested  to  the  riders,  in  the  event  of  a  tumble,  the  most  un- 
welcome and  inconvenient  imaginations.  Beyond  this  the  mountains 
were  of  volcanic  formation,  presenting  all  the  extraordinary  forms  so 
common  to  such  regions,  turrets,  chimneys,  dovecots,  battlements, 
ramparts,  heads,  faces,  monstrous  noses,  women  silting  at  spinning- 
wheels,  &c. ;  and  one  of  them,  which  rose  about  eleven  hundred  feet 
perpendicular  from  the  bed  of  the  Trechoris,  very  much  resembled  thr 
Thunder  Rock  in  Lake  Superior.  We  still  occasionally  rode  over 
fields  of  ice,  which  contrasted  strangely  with  the  sultriness  of  the 
weather.  As  we  had  now  passed  all  the  caravans,  the  notes  of  the 
cuckoo  were  almost  our  only  specimen  of  animated  nature,  excepting, 
of  course,  our  own  party  and  the  mosquitoes. 

From  the  Nanukau  the  road  began  to  improve,  and  would,  as  wp 
were  glad  to  learn,  continue  to  do  so.  But,  after  all,  considering  the 
value  of  time  in  these  hyperborean  summers,  it  is  inexcusably  bad. 
Most  travelers,  I  believe,  occupy  nearly  a  month  on  this  journey,  and 
caravans  occasionally  consume  thrice  the  period  in  question.  The 
gendeman  lately  in  charge  of  the  Russian  American  Company's  esta- 
blishment at  Ochotsk,  was  last  year  overtaken  by  winter  at  our  yester- 
day's station,  and  had  there  to  loiter  away  forty  days,  until  he  coidd 
resume  his  journey  in  a  reindeer  sleigh.  The  reindeer,  harnessed  two 
abreast  to  vehicles  carrying  the  driver  and  one  passenger,  are  said  to 
perform  a  hundred  vcrsts  a  day,  though,  on  a  long  journey,  their  daily 
average  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  exceed  fifty  or  sixty  versts.  On 
pressing  occasions,  however,  they  have  traveled  from  Ochotsk  to  Ya- 
kutsk in  eight  days,  being  little  more  than  half  the  shortest  time  in 
which  horses  have  ever  accomplished  the  distance.     Why  this  dif- 


i  i 

1 

■ 

m 

i^A     ^A 


FROM  OCIKITSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


125 


with  thc*'l)liiff 
icil  to  t'iill  on  :i 
jriof  of  the  mo- 
ll plumac[e,  rod 
lul  the  \vf^»  I'ca- 
l)Ut  al'ew  Hquir- 
thcir  propriety, 
iculariy  in  sum- 
ihorhood  of  th»' 
stance.  In  ad- 
.'indcer  already 
;,  called  A'ahar- 
ideer's,  but  with 

road  was  even 
r  the  Nanukaii. 
lined  a  beautiful 
c  two  preceding 
ipe,  the  appear- 
r  this  eminence, 
the  varieties  of 
Iff  to  the  horses, 
le,  the  most  un- 
is  the  mountains 
dinary  forms  so 
Its,  battlements. 
ng  at  spinning- 
en  hundred  feet 
h  resembled  the 
)nally  rode  over 
ultriness  of  the 
the  notes  of  the 
aturc,  excepting, 

id  would,  as  wp 
considering  the 

inexcusably  bad. 

lis  journey,  and 
question.     The 

Company's  estu- 

ter  at  our  yester- 
,  until  he  could 

r,  harnessed  two 

nger,  are  said  to 
rney,  their  daily 

ixty  versts.     On 

Ochotsk  to  Ya- 

shortest  time  in 

Why  this  dif- 


ference? Chiefly,  of  courso,  becatise  the  reindeer  with  il.««  uprendinjr 
hoof,  a  kind  of  natural  snow  shoe,  ftndN  a  ^ood  paih  as  the  gift  of 
nature,  over  the  softest  drifts,  while  tiie  horse  everywhere  em-uunters 
:i  had  road,  throutrli  the  fault  of  man. 

We  halted  for  the  night  on  the  Oomnas,  aHer  a  fair  day's  work  of 
about  sixty  versts. 

Next  morning  we  followed,  for  some  time,  the  course  of  the  stream 
on  which  we  had  encam|)e(l,  and  then  fell  on  the  Swichlcl.ich,  or 
White  Hiver,  said  to  be  navigabh;  for  <'ano<'s  to  the  Aldan.  C'rossing 
ihe  Swichtelach  at  the  Ooloonach  f<'rry,  where  there  was  a  post-house, 
we  proceeded  along  its  banks  till  a  quarter  past  ten,  performing  about 
seventy-five  versts  to-day. 

The  weather  continued  to  be  oppressively  warm,  with  a  little  thun- 
der and  lightning,  which,  independently  of  their  intrinsic  annoyinices, 
threatened  us  at  times  with  heavy  rain,  the  greatest  of  all  calaniiiies  in 
this  region  of  glens  and  torrents.  We  had  a  palpable  hint  on  this  sub- 
ject to-day,  by  passing  a  sealVold  on  which  a  clerk  of  the  Kiissian 
American  Company,  when  caught  by  a  sudden  inundation,  had  saved 
a  valuable  cargo  of  furs. 

The  scenery  now  began  to  lose  its  Alpine  character,  the  mountains 
flattening  down  to  hills,  the  torrents  sobering  themselves  into  rivers, 
and  the  roads  becoming  level,  while  the  landscape  was  rendered  more 
cheerful  by  a  variety  of  something  like  civilized  plants,  shrubs,  and 
flowers,  among  which  the  wild  rhubarb,  represented  to  be  of  good 
quality,  was  particularly  plentiful. 

In  some  degree,  however,  the  change  in  the  face  of  the  country 
merely  altered  the  form  of  our  own  difliculties.  To-day,  for  instance, 
we  crossed  a  swamp  bridged  with  corduroy,  which  was  so  lull  of  gaps 
from  the  gradual  decay  of  tin  logs,  as  to  l)c  t|uite  as  dangerous,  and 
nearly  as  impracticable,  as  the  morass  itself;  and,  to  make  ourselves 
miserable  by  anticipation,  I  found  that  [lieutenant  DavidolT,  Langs- 
dorlF's  friend,  and  his  party,  had  left  part  of  their  baggage  in  one  of 
these  "  Serbonian"  bogs. 

We  dined  to-day  at  a  native  village,  of  which  the  inhabitants  were 
very  hospitable.  They  were  all  active  and  busy  as  usual;  and 
amongst  their  manufactures  I  was  particularly  struck  with  their  rugs, 
coverlets,  and  clothes  of  the  skins  of  horses,  cows,  and  dogs,  all  so 
well  dressed  and  finished,  that  they  might  have  been  elsewhere  passed 
off  as  very  tolerable  furs.  Notwithstanding  the  many  defects  in  their 
character,  I  could  not  help  liking  the  Yakuti  for  their  industry,  clean- 
liness, and  kindness,  so  that  I  was  really  grieved  to-day  to  see  the  Rus- 
sian of  our  party  do  Cossack's  duty  on  our  guide  Jacob,  merely  because 
one  of  the  horses,  having  taken  fright  in  the  woods,  had  knocked  off 
its  load.  I  had  altogether  taken  a  fancy  to  the  old  man,  who  did  his 
best  to  please  us,  though  his  appearance  certainly  did  not  recommend 
him,  being  the  counterpart,  due  allowance,  of  course,  being  made  for 
the  difTerence  between  man  and  beast,  of  the  chimpanzee  recently  ex- 
hibited in  London. 

On  the  morning  of  our  thirteenth  day,  being  the  ninth  of  the  month, 


\^ 


i 


*  i 


!» 


-1 


126 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


t  s 


l! 


we,  the  passciifrcrs,  pushed  ahead  of  our  little  caravan  through  sheer 
impatience.  After  crossing  some  deep  morasses,  we  reached  the  noble 
river  Aldan  at  half-past  eight,  gaining  two  hours  on  the  loaded  horses 
in  a  run  of  eighty-three  versts.  Of  the  last  forty-five  verstSj  fully  two- 
thirds  lay  over  pieces  of  corduroy  road,  so  rotten  and  open  that  tho 
animals  frequenUy  caught  their  legs  between  the  logs,  giving  several  of 
us  severe  falls ;  but  we  had  reason  to  be  thankful  that  we  got  off  so 
cheaply,  for,  what  wiUi  the  swamps  themselves,  and  what  with  their 
bridges,  travelers  had  often  lost  two  or  three  days  in  doing  our  work 
of  four  hours  and  a  half.  During  the  day  we  had  a  remarkable  in- 
stance of  the  training  of  horses  among  the  Yakuti.  One  of  our  fellows 
had  fallen  in  the  t^ack,  while  the  nags  behind  were  advancing  at  :i 
quick  pace  ;  and  ecch  animal,  as  he  reached  the  man,  jumped  over 
him,  at  the  word  of  command,  wiUi  the  docility  of  a  dog. 

As  we  approached  the  Aldan,  the  improvement  in  the  appearance  of 
the  country  was  more  rapid.  The  path  was  enlivened  by  various 
kinds  of  trees  and  abundance  of  flowering  plants,  while  hares,  rabbits 
and  partridges  were  numerous.  The  wild  rhubarb  was  still  common; 
and  at  the  Popcrethine  Ferry,  kept  by  a  Yakut,  I  noticed  its  stalks 
and  leaves  steeped  in  water  for  the  purpose  of  fermentation,  to  he 
afterwards  boiled  with  milk  and  rye  into  a  very  excellent  pottage.  In 
summer,  the  Yakuti  live  chiefly  on  rye  and  milk,  ^nixing  therewith  as 
much  grease  as  they  can  get;  but  in  winter  they  fare  more  sumptu- 
ously, having  plenty  of  beef,  horse  flesh  and  venison.  They  have 
most  enormous  appetites,  when  put  to  their  mettle  in  that  way;  and, 
in  fact,  they  esteem  a  man,  all  other  things  being  equal,  in  proportion 
to  the  capacity  of  his  stomach.  At  this  same  station  I  saw  the 
remains  of  an  old  gun,  the  only  specimen  of  firearms  that  I  had  seen  in 
Siberia. 

Even  here,  at  a  distance  of  fifteen  hundred  miles  from  the  sea,  the 
Aldan  is  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  width  and  contains  an  im- 
mense body  of  water.  At  the  crossing  place  the  banks  are  low,  but 
elsewhere  are  lofty  and  picturesque.  At  the  ferry  there  were  several 
buildings  with  a  ferryman,  a  storekeeper,  several  other  civilians,  and 
five  of  those  everlasting  Cossacks  in  uniform;  and,  whether  for  orna- 
ment or  use,  a  sentry  appeared  to  be  constantly  kept  at  the  door  of  the 
depot  of  provisions.  In  addition  to  this  civdized  settlement,  there  was 
also  a  village  of  Yakuti  under  a  princeling,  such  as  our  own  Jacob. 
These  princelings  have  certain  specified  duties  to  perform,  being 
appointed  over  districts  as  channels  of  communication  between  the 
natives  and  the  authorities. .  They  correspond  pretty  nearly  with  the 
elders  of  villages,  as  known  among  the  Russians  themselves.       '    " 

On  the  sides  of  the  houses,  which  were  much  dilapidated,  traces  of 
a  recent  inundation  were  observable ;  and  the  flood  had  carried  away 
five  dwellings  and  a  store,  while  the  people  had  saved  themselves  by 
taking  refuge  for  seven  days  in  the  garrets  of  such  buildings  as  stood 
firm.  All  rivers,  that  run  to  the  north,  are  peculiarly  liable  to  over- 
flow their  banks  in  spring,  because,  while  above  they  are  swollen  by 
the  melting  of  the  snows,  they  are  still  beset  towards  their  mouths 


-^ 


■  ■  •  --Hi 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


127 


1  through  sheer 
ached  the  noble 
e  loaded  horses 
rerstSj  fully  two- 
d  open  that  the 
jiving  several  of 
it  we  got  off  so 
what  with  their 
doing  our  work 
1  remarkable  in- 
neof  our  fellows 
advancing  at  :i 
in,  jumped  over 

og- 
le appearance  of 

ened  by  variolic 

iie  hares,  rabbits 

IS  still  common; 

oticed  its  stalks 

nentation,  to  bo 

lent  pottage.     In 

ing  therewith  as 

e  more  sumptu- 

on.     They  have 

1  that  way ;  and, 

al,  in  proportion 

ation  I  saw  the 

biat  I  liad  seen  in 

rom  the  sea,  the 

contains  an  im- 

iks  are  low,  but 

ere  were  several 

er  civilians,  and 

whether  for  orna- 

t  the  door  of  the 

ement,  there  was 

our  own  Jacob. 

perform,  being 

ion  between  the 

nearly  with  the 

selves. 

)idated,  traces  of 
ad  carried  away 
themselves  by 
uildings  as  stood 
y  liable  to  over- 
'  are  swollen  by 
ds  their  mouths 


by  their  wintry  barrier;  and,  in  fact,  the  deluge,  of  which  we  dis- 
cerned the  symptoms,  had  been  directly,  though  remotely,  occasioned 
by  the  ice  that  dammed  up  the  Aldan  from  below. 

We  crossed  the  river  in  boats,  though  there  were  also  in  use  canoes 
of  birch  bark,  of  the  same  peculiar  shape  as  those  on  the  Pend'  d'Oreille 
River  near  Fort  Colvile,  excepting  that  the  Yakuti  employed  a  double 
bladed  paddle  like  the  Esquimaux  and  Aleutians.  These  canoes  also 
serve  as  coffins  in  like  manner  as  among  the  Chinooks,  and  other  tribes 
of  the  American  Coast.  Having  all  got  safely  across  we  encamped  on 
the  left  bank,  where  there  was  one  house,  at  half-past  eleven,  the  sun's 
rays  being  still  visible  even  at  this  late  hour. 

Learning  that  the  road  would  be  very  much  better,  I  determined, 
more  particularly  after  the  success  of  our  experiment  of  to-day,  to  push 
on  ahead  of  our  baggagf  all  the  way  to  Yakutsk,  still  distant  three 
hundred  and  fifty  versts,  hoping,  by  this  arrangement,  to  see  whatever 
was  to  be  seen  and  to  get  everything  ready  for  proceeding  up  the  Lena, 
before  I  could  otherwise  well  finish  my  journey  at  our  present  rate  of 
progress.  Having  formed  this  magnanimous  resolution,  we  made  a 
iiearly  supper  of  eggs,  meat  and  milk,  turning  in  for  tlie  night  as  late 
as  half-past  one. 

In  the  morning,  after  having  been  detained  at  the  station  by  various 
circumstances  till  eleven  o'clock,  we  started  with  fresh  horses,  accom- 
panied by  two  Yakuti,  and  also,  to  Jacob's  great  delight,  by  our  Cos- 
sack. Everything  conspired  to  put  us  in  good  spirits.  The  single 
house,  with  all  its  contents  and  appurtenances,  was  in  perfect  order; 
the  old  soldier,  by  whom  it  had  been  kept  for  thirty  years,  attended  us 
in  full  uniform  with  his  sword  by  his  side ;  and,  though  he  spoke  with  a 
superfluous  amount  of  solemnity,  and  looked  more  profoundly  wise  than 
perhaps  he  was,  yet  he  gave  us  the  most  solid  proof  of  his  real  hospi- 
tality in  no  fewer  than  five  different  kinds  of  fish,  kirish,  byelaya 
ruiba,  stirlitz^  pike  and  okun.  These  fish  are  taken  in  nets  of  horse- 
hair and  sinew,  as  also  by  hooks  and  with  baskets,  the  last  articles 
being  of  the  same  sort  as  those  used  in  the  Columbia  River.  Speak- 
ing, by  the  by,  of  the  materials  of  these  nets,  the  horse  is  to  the  Ya- 
kuti, what  the  walrus  is  to  the  Aleutians,  their  best  friend  in  a  great 
variety  of  ways.  Besides  being  sold,  as  a  whole,  for  a  price,  his  labor 
earns  money  for  his  owner ;  his  flesh  is  used  as  food ;  the  hide  of  the 
inner  part  of  his  thigh  makes  water-proof  boots,  while  the  rest  of  his 
skin  is  formed  into  cap,  shirt  and  trowsers ;  and  lastly,  as  we  have 
just  seen,  his  mane  and  tail  become  the  means  of  drawing  fish  out  of 
the  water.  Over  and  above  these  multifarious  services  of  the  animal 
in  general,  the  mare  in  particular  yields  milk,  which,  when  fermented 
into  the  indispensable  kumyss,  supplies  a  portable  substitute,  slightly 
spirituous  and  very  palatable,  at  once  for  meat  and  for  drink. 

Our  first  stage  of  twenty-nine  versts  to  Natchinsk  was  accomplished, 
chiefly  at  a  gallop,  in  three  hours  and  a  half.  This  station  was  kept 
by  some  Yakuti,  whose  hospitality  knew  no  bounds ;  they  were  com- 
fortable and  independent,  possessing  abundance  of  cattle  and  horses. 
The  kindness  uf  these  people  has  an  opportunity,  which '4t  never  fails 


m 


'yii 

■| 
till 


s.  Hi 


II 


■m'- 


'ii 


■)  I*' 


"i- 


,»*', 


128 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


to  improve,  of  putting  its  best  foot  foremost.  To  give  warning  of  the 
approach  of  travelers,  the  postboys  have  bells  attached  to  their  stirrups, 
aiding  the  jingle  with  all  sorts  of  shouting  and  bawling,  so  that,  before 
we  arrive  in  our  own  proper  persons,  the  house  is  s\/ept,  the  fire 
lighted  and  the  floor  carpeted  with  sprigs  of  pine. 

After  an  hour's  rest  we  traveled  to  Amginsk,  beautifully  situated,  as 
the  name  alone  would  imply,  on  the  Amga,  accomplishing  seventy-eight 
versts  in  all, — pretty  well  for  a  day  that  began  only  at  eleven  o'clock. 
The  stream  was  about  the  size  of  the  Thames  above  London,  and  its 
clear  and  placid  waters  afibrded  a  delicious  bath  after  our  hot  and  dusty 
ride.  Here  we  made  a  supper  of  milk,  rye  bread,  and  horseflesh,  and 
slept  in  our  cloths  on  branches  of  pine,  with  our  great  coats  for  cover- 
lets, and  our  saddles  for  pillows. 

We  were  truly  glad  to  learn,  that  from  Amginsk  we  had  but  one 
small  stream  to  cross  on  the  way  to  Yakutsk;  and  as  there  were  post- 
houses  at  every  thirty  or  forty  versts,  horses  could  be  frequently 
changed,  the  hire  being  eight  kopeeks  a  verst  for  each  horse,  or  some- 
thing like  five  farthings  a  mile.  We  now,  therefore,  had  got  rid  of 
nearly  all  our  troubles,  excepting  perhaps  a  few  swamps  with  their 
corduroy  roads. 

During  the  day  we  had  seen  a  great  number  of  birds  ;  and,  in  addi- 
tion to  those  previously  mentioned,  there  were  the  capercailzie,  or  cock 
of  the  woods,  the  snipe,  and  the  plover. 

Our  fifteenth  day,  tlie  eleventh  of  the  month,  was  our  first  uninter- 
ruptedly pleasant  march.  We  performed  eighty-one  versts,  generally 
at  a  gallop,  with  good  horses,  through  a  country,  which,  on  all  sides, 
exhibited  signs  of  civilization  and  comfort.  The  landscape,  besides  its 
undulating  character,  was  beautifully  varied,  consisting  of  copses  ol' 
wood,  lagoons  teeming  with  wild  fowl,  and  prairies  covered  with  count- 
less herds,  the  whole  subdivided  into  separate  farms,  each  with  its  own 
homestead,  by  fences  and  landmarks.  Some  of  the  prettiest  spots  were 
consecrated  to  the  dead,  each  body  having  a  wooden  tomb  over  it,  with 
a  cross  at  either  end. 

The  natives  were  busily  engaged  in  making  hay  for  their  cattle,  but 
for  their  cattle  only,  the  horses  being  left  all  winter  to  shift  instinctively 
for  themselves  by  scraping  away  the  snow.  They  were  mowing  with 
a  sythe  of  peculiar  form,  which  they  swung  very  awkwardly  over 
their  heads,  chopping  the  grass  rather  than  cutting  it.  The  carts  for 
conveying  the  hay  to  the  farm  yards,  where  it  was  stacked  as  in  Europe, 
had  runners  instead  of  wheels,  being  not  unlike  the  vehicles  used  for 
the  same  purpose  in  some  parts  of  the  Highlands  of  Scotland. 

How  happy,  thought  I,  would  it  make  me  to  see  some  of  the  poor 
savages  of  North  America  thus  devoting  their  lives  to  peaceful  industry, 
and  enjoying  all  the  comforts  of  a  pastoral  existence.  In  many  parts 
of  their  country,  they  might  well  be  as  comfortably  settled,  if  they 
would  shake  off  their  indolent  love  of  the  chase,  not  only  as  a  means 
of  obtaining  subsistence,  but  even  as  a  pastime. 

Though  the  roads  were  generally  good,  yet  there  were  a  few  patches 
of  corduroy,  essential  enough  in  wet  weather,  but  at  present  worse  than 


-^V 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


129 


useless.  While  at  full  gallop  over  one  piece,  our  Cossack  had  a  heavy 
fall,  which,  though  sufficient  to  have  knocked  him  to  pieces,  merely 
cut  his  hand  and  dislocated  his  finger.  The  stations  of  this  day  were 
kept  by  Yakuti,  being  all,  with  one  exception,  characteristically  clean 
and  tidy.  But  Orelach,  where  we  remained  for  the  night,  was  so  filthy 
and  uncomfortable,  that  I  registered  a  formal  complaint  in  the  book, 
which  was  attached,  according  to  custom,  to  the  table  of  the  post-house 
for  the  purpose  of  receiving  the  critical  remarks  of  travelers ;  and  I  had 
no  doubt  that  my  entry,  when  it  reached  the  proper  authorities,  would 
he  beneficial  to  future  passengers  on  the  road.  To  render  our  situa- 
tion still  more  disagreeable,  we  had  some  fellow  lodgers  of  a  very 
questionable  description  in  the  persons  of  five  convicts,  three  men  and 
two  women,  proceeding  to  Ochotsk,  under  the  charge  of  three  Cossacks. 
These  wretches  had  the  look  of  regular  cutthroats ;  their  very  faces,  even 
without  such  temporary  ornaments  as  black  eyes  of  each  other's  mak- 
ing, were  sufficient  to  condemn  them.  What  with  the  broils  and  up- 
roar of  these  outcasts,  and  what  with  the  familiarities  of  fleas  and  mos- 
quitoes, we  passed  a  most  restless  night  at  Orelach,  being  the  less  able 
to  bear  the  infliction  with  patience,  as  we  had  been  kept  awake  the 
night  before  by  the  visits  of  uncomfortable  bedfellows. 

In  one  of  the  houses  which  we  entered  to-day,  I  observed  a  child 
swaddled  in  a  bag,  which  was  attached  to  a  board,  the  whole  being  a 
counterpart  of  the  cradle  used  among  the  Indians  of  North  America  ; 
and,  on  the  same  occasion,  I  noticed  also  an  earthen  vessel  of  native 
manufacture,  employed  in  boiling  some  mess  or  other. 

Next  day,  being  the  sixteenth  of  our  journey,  we  made  our  best  march, 
to  the  full  tale  of  ninety-eight  versts,  the  country  still  well  settled,  and 
the  people  all  engaged  with  their  hay.  Considering  the  length  of  the 
winter  and  the  number  of  the  cattle,  the  requisite  quantity  of  provender 
must  be  very  large,  large  enough,  one  would  suppose,  to  occupy  the 
whole  of  every  man's  leisure  in  each  summer ;  and  yet,  to  show  fore- 
sight, and  economy,  and  industry,  in  one  and  the  same  instance,  we 
saw  many  stacks  of  hay  several  years  old  still  uncut,  while  the  owners 
were  toiling  at  the  new  crop  as  steadily  as  those  who  had  no  other 
resource  against  the  ensuing  season.  On  some  of  the  ftirms,  individu- 
als, more  laborious  than  even  their  neighbors,  had  attempted,  but  in 
vain,  to  grow  rye  in  spite  of  the  climate. 

Excepting  that  they  were  liable  to  be  now  and  then  knocked  about 
by  a  Cossack,  these  Yakuti  appeared,  according  to  the  simple  tastes 
of  nature,  to  lead  an  enviable  life.  As  to  necessaries  and  comforts, 
they  had  most  of  them  at  their  doors  ;  and  as  to  the  luxuries  of  tea  and 
snufl*,  they  possessed,  to  all  appearance,  ample  means  of  purchasing  a 
sufficiency  of  the  same. 

The  country  between  the  Aldan  and  the  Lena  appeared  to  have  once 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  a  chain  of  lakes.  The  prairies  were  gene- 
rally surrounded  by  rising  grounds,  on  which  the  traces  of  water  were 
visible  to  a  height  varying  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet,  while  most  of  these 
natural  enclosures  still  contained  small  pools  in  their  centres.  The 
banks  were  mostly  covered  with  pines,  while  the  bottoms  presented 

PART  II. — 9 


I  v^ 

a 

■  ■''^-■1 

■■'■tiffl 

•  ^-M 

■■•  •',ftl 

jj 

' 

k/i'ri 

■  •*, 

•11 

i'VI. 

■%T 

:.,t« 


♦        I 


ii 


Ml 


M 


130 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


J, 


i. 

i,  1' 

-  w. 

5Ui 


willows  and  poplars,  and  other  trees,  indigenous  to  an  alluvial  soil, 
with  intervening  glades  of  the  richest  pasture. 

Before  starting  from  Orelach,  in  the  morning,!  was  much  entertained 
by  watching  the  emotions  of  a  Yakut  damsel,  with  respect  to  what 
appeared  to  me  to  be  a  very  small  matter.  Our  kettle,  which  contained 
some  rice  that  had  been  left  at  supper,  attracted  her  attention ;  and  she 
was  evidenUy  waiting  an  opportunity  for  appropriating  the  luxury  as  a 
perquisite  of  ofhce,  when  one  of  my  fellow  travelers,  who  had  been 
too  fatigued  to  eat  anything  the  night  before,  made  his  appearance  on 
the  stage,  with  recovered  appetite.  If  he  had  seated  himself  at  once 
with  a  determination  to  finish  the  job,  he  could  at  least  have  saved  the 
maiden  the  pain  of  suspense.  But  no,  he  would  only  nibble  at  the 
rice,  as  if  he  was  always  more  likely  to  slop  than  to  proceed,  while 
the  countenance  of  the  fair  expectant  passed  through  all  the  phases 
between  disappointment  and  despair,  as  she  saw  mouthful  after  mouth- 
ful of  the  treasure  vanish,  till  the  ketUc  was  clean.  The  scene  would 
have  been  a  study  for  a  painter,  being  all  the  richer  from  the  circum- 
stance that  the  principal  performer  kept  chewing  away,  unconscious  of 
the  litde  melo-drama  of  which  he  was  the  author,  ignorant  alike  of  the 
girl's  distress,  and  of  my  amusement. 

From  Orelach,  our  first  stage  was  thirty  versts  to  Tshooropsa,  being 
accomplished  in  two  hours  and  twenty  minutes.  At  this  place,  the 
Russian  postmaster  was  out  of  the  way,  having  left  very  agreeable 
deputies  in  a  pretty  daughter  of  his  own,  and  some  good  looking  native 
woman,  with  whom,  laying  aside  our  dignity  for  a  moment,  we  played 
a  game  of  romps,  to  the  uproarious  delight  of  the  ladies.  Thence,  a 
stage  of  thirty-three  versts  brought  us  in .  two  hours  and  forty  minutes 
to  Porotoffkaya,  where,  after  our  forenoon's  work,  we  made  a  hearty 
breakfast  on  cream  and  biscuit.  After  this  refreshment,  we  enjoyed 
great  benefit  from  a  siesta  during  the  heat  of  the  day  ;  and,  again  start- 
ing at  four  in  the  afternoon,  we  proceeded  to  Tshetshiguiskaya,  thirty- 
three  versts  in  three  hours,  where  we  met  another  of  the  monthly  mails 
on  its  way  from  Yakutsk  to  Ochotsk.  On  the  last  instalment  of  our 
ninety-eight  versts,  the  horse  of  one  of  the  party  came  down,  throwing 
his  rider  like  a  sack  of  sawdust,  to  a  considerable  distance  ;  but,  strange 
to  say,  both  man  and  beast  escaped  unhurt,  though  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  being  trodden  under  foot  by  every  one  of  those  in  the  rear, 
following,  according  to  custom,  close  behind  in  single  file.  Speaking 
of  accidents,  I  observed  that  the  guide  invariably  selected  the  best  ani- 
mal for  his  own  use ;  and  I  would,  therefore,  advise  every  traveler,  if 
any  of  the  readers  of  this  book  should  ever  take  an  airing  in  these 
regions,  to  make  prize  of  the  horse  of  the  man's  choice,  as  at  once  the 
pleasantest  and  safest  in  the  stud. 

In  the  course  of  the  evening,  we  were  visited  by  the  son  of  one  of 
the  most  respectable  of  the  neighboring  Yakuti,  the  old  gentleman 
himself,  who  was  said  to  be  worth  five  or  six  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling, principally  in  cattle  and  horses,  being  then  absent  at  Yakutsk. 
This  youth  rode  a  beautiful  steed  with  gay  trappings ;  and  the  saddle 
in  particular  was  mounted  with  an  alloy  of  silver  and  copper  wrought 


m  alluvial  soil, 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


131 


by  the  natives  themselves,  who  were  skilful  in  this  way  even  before 
they  had  any  communication  with  the  Russians.  In  addition  perhaps 
to  a  lurking  desire  of  exhibiting  his  charger  and  its  showy  appoint- 
ments to  strangers  of  our  supposed  consequence,  the  young  cavalier's 
object  was  to  render  us  any  assistance  in  his  power ;  and  he  brought 
with  him  some  berries,  several  pieces  of  bread,  a  few  knives  and  forks, 
and  such  other  little  tilings  as,  in  his  opinion,  were  likely  to  be  useful. 
We  felt  highly  gratified  by  this  Yakut's  courtesy  and  attention,  though, 
in  point  of  fact,  we  hardly  stood  in  need  of  anything,  for,  both  in  board 
and  in  lodging,  we  had  discovered  that  nature  really  was  contented 
with  what  she  could  get.  We  enjoyed  milk  and  rye  bread  at  break- 
fast, milk  and  rye  bread  at  dinner,  and  milk  and  rye  bread  at  supper, 
for  hunger  sweetened  our  homely  fare ;  and  at  night  our  wearied  limbs 
converted  a  few  branches  of  pine  into  beds  of  down. 

Next  morning,  being  the  thirteenth  of  the  month  and  the  seventeenth 
of  our  journey,  a  ride  of  thirty  versts  carried  us  in  two  hours  and  fifty 
minutes  to  Temooloya,  where  we  breakfasted.  Here  were  two  in- 
valids, the  postmaster's  daughter,  who  had  lost  her  sight  four  years 
before  through  neglected  inflammation  of  the  eyes,  and  a  native  man, 
who  had  been  deprived  of  tiie  use  of  his  right  hand  and  left  leg  by  an 
attack  of  paralysis. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  this  station,  the  country  had  suffered  much 
from  the  devastations  of  the  locust,  said  to  be  the  same  species  as  that 
known  in  Egypt.  The  grass  was  cut  down  as  if  mowed,  so  that 
the  Yakuti  were  afraid  that  they  would  not  be  able  to  gather  the 
requisite  supply  of  hay  against  the  winter.  Those  insects  had  often 
made  their  appearance  before,  generally  in  dry  seasons  like  the  pre- 
sent. I  was  personally  aware  that  a  man  might  as  well  expect  to  reap 
after  the  fire  and  sword  of  a  vindictive  enemy  as  after  the  locust,  for 
the  crops  at  Red  River  Settlement  had,  for  some  years  on  end,  fallen 
a  prey  to  this  merciless  and  irresistible  scourge  of  the  husbandman. 

After  breakfast,  fifteen  versts  more  conducted  us  to  Toolgyachtach, 
where,  after  filling  ourselves  with  iced  milk,  we  took  a  siesta  of  three 
hours.  From  this  station,  passing  through  a  sandy  district,  we  ascend- 
ed a  hill  overlooking  the  course  of  the  Lena,  and  commanding  the 
sight,  at  the  distance  of  twelve  or  fourteen  versts,  of  the  spires  and 
cupolas  of  Yakutsk.  After  a  toilsome  progress  of  seventeen  days, 
through  an  inhospitable  and  almost  impassable  wilderness,  the  prospect 
of  a  large  town,  with  all  its  signs  of  civilized  life,  was  a  change  as 
agreeable  as  it  was  sudden.  The  height  whence  we  gained  this  first 
glimpse  of  rest  and  comfort,  was  two  or  three  hundred  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  pl^in  below,  being  part  of  a  ridge  which  extended  on  either 
hand  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  while  a  similar  ridge  on  the  other 
side  of  the  town,  formed  the  opposite  boundary  of  the  valley.  These 
ridges,  which  at  present  served  as  natural  barriers  against  the  inim- 
dations  of  the  stream,  were  most  probably,  at  one  time,  the  ordinary 
banks  of  the  river. 

To  a  physical  certainty,  all  the  waters  of  Eastern  Siberia  must  once 
have  been  considerably  higher  than  they  now  are.     From  the  Lena  to 


4 "':  i    «y',5i 


4 


i 


r 


■| 


Ml 


»J 


132 


FROM  0CH0T8K  TO  YAKUTSK. 


•9.% 


';  ,1*1 


ii 


Beering's  Straits,  the  shore  of  the  ocean  is,  for  the  most  part,  so  low 
and  flat  as  to  be  scarcely  distinguishable  in  winter  from  ^the  adjacent 
ice,  while,  at  the  distance  of  a  few  versts  inland,  a  line  of  high  ground, 
which  runs  parallel  with  the  coast,  presents  a  great  quantity  of  decayed 
driftwood.  When  the  sea  was  higher,  the  rivers  must  have  been  pro- 
portionally higher  too.  In  fact,  almost  every  stream  furnishes,  on  its 
own  behalf,  direct  evidence  of  the  inference  in  question.  The  Indi« 
girka,  at  a  distance  of  thirty  versts  from  its  mouth,  is  said  to  have  con- 
tained much  driftwood,  such  as  the  sea  alone  could  have  deposited ; 
and  the  banks  of  all  the  inland  waters  in  general  present,  among  the 
higher  latitudes,  regular  alternations,  in  horizontal  strata,  of  ice  and 
soil.  All  these  phenomena  seem  to  imply  not  a  gradual,  but  a  sudden 
retreat  of  the  ocean,  for  otherwise  driftwood  would  have  been  found 
on  the  Indigirka  all  the  way  to  the  present  coast,  and  the  moisture  of 
the  banks,  if  the  lakes  and  rivers  had  shrunk  by  inches,  would  imper- 
ceptibly have  oozed  from  the  chaos,  so  as  to  leave  only  dry  land 
behind  it.  This  sudden  retreat  of  the  ocean  cannot  be  otherwise  ex- 
plained than  by  supposing  that  an  isthmus,  occupying  the  position  of 
Beering's  Straits,  had  been  swept  away  by  the  pressure  of  the  waters; 
a  supposition  which  is  directly  strengthened  by  the  inclination  of  the 
Arctic  shore  on  either  side,  from  Icy  Cape  downwards  on  the  east, 
and  from  Cape  North  downwards  on  the  west,  as  also  by  the  shallow- 
ness of  the  soundings,  never  exceeding,  it  is  said,  thirty  fathoms,  along 
the  whole  breadth  of  the  channel. 

At  the  foot  of  the  hill  we  found  fresh  horses,  forwarded  for  our  use 
by  the  agent  of  the  Russian  American  Company  ;  and  a  ride  of  five 
versts  brought  us  to  the  ferry  of  the  Lena,  where  an  oflScer  of  police, 
sent  by  the  Governor  of  Yakutsk,  had  been  waiting  for  two  days  to 
welcome  our  arrival,  which  our  new  friend  and  ourselves  accordingly 
celebrated,  with  great  hilarity,  in  our  own  best  glass  of  wine.  After  a 
swim  in  the  river,  which  served  to  wash  oflf  the  dust  of  the  day's  work, 
we  spent  an  hoiir  and  a  half,  even  with  two  sets  of  rowers  to  relieve 
each  other,  in  crossing  this  sea  of  fresh  water.  The  stream  is  of  a 
brownish  color,  though,  as  it  passes  over  a  bed  of  sand,  it  is  not  turbid ; 
und  it  is  studded  with  willowy  islands  and  naked  sands. 

The  Lena  is  one  of  the  grandest  rivers  in  the  world.  Even  here,  at 
a  distance  of  twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  versts  from  the  sea,  it  is  about 
five  or  six  miles  wide ;  and  its  entire  length  is  not  less  than  four  thou- 
sand versts.  Of  all  the  streams  in  this  country  of  the  first  class,  it  is 
the  only  one  that  flows  exclusively  through  Russian  territory.  The 
Oby  and  the  Yeni^sei,  have  each  one  or  more  of  its  principal  sources 
far  within  the  limits  of  Chinese  Tartary ;  but  the  Lena,  properly  so 
called,  is  separated  from  the  Celestial  Empire  by  the  valley  of  the  An- 
gara, a  purely  Siberian  tributary  of  the  Yenissei,  a  valley  which,  curi- 
ously enough,  even  overlaps  it  ten  degrees  to  the  eastward,  while  the 
Lena's  main  auxiliary,  the  Vittim,  is  so  far  from  itself  crossing  the 
frontier,  that  it  is  robbed,  as  it  were,  of  some  of  its  own  waters  by  the 
more  northerly  feeders  of  the  Amoor.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
Lena,  if  estimated  by  the  crow's  flight,  is  undoubtedly  the  shortest  of 


'.H 


FROM  OCHOTSK  TO  YAKUTSK. 


133 


St  part,  so  low 
n^the  adjacent 
)f  high  ground, 
tity  of  decayed 
have  been  pro- 
irnishes,  on  its 
Dn.  The  Indi- 
lid  to  have  con- 
ave  deposited; 
ent,  among  the 
ata,  of  ice  and 
il,  but  a  sudden 
ive  been  found 
the  moisture  of 
,  would  imper- 
only  dry  land 
e  otherwise  ex- 
the  position  of 
3  of  the  waters ; 
clination  of  the 
ds  on  the  east, 
by  the  shallow- 
'  fathoms,  along 

ded  for  our  use 
a  ride  of  five 
fficer  of  police, 
or  two  days  to 
ves  accordingly 
wine.  After  a 
the  day's  work, 
jwers  to  relieve 
stream  is  of  a 
,  it  is  not  turbid ; 

Even  here,  at 
e  sea,  it  is  about 
than  four  thou- 
first  class,  it  is 
territory.  The 
rincipal  sources 
ma,  properly  so 
alley  of  the  An- 
ley  which,  curi- 
ward,  while  the 
3lf  crossing  the 
n  waters  by  the 
■cumstances,  the 

the  shortest  of 


the  three,  though,  if  measured  by  its  windings,  it  may  perhaps  equal, 
or  even  surpass,  either  of  the  others.  Its  very  name,  which  expresses 
laziness,  implies  the  circuitous  character  of  its  course ;  and,  though 
such  name  was  applied  only  to  a  part  before  the  whole  was  explored, 
yet  the  mere  fact  that  its  sources  fell  short  of  the  central  chain  of  moun- 
tains, would  in  itself  suggest  the  general  applicability  of  the  appellation 
in  question. 

On  arriving  at  the  west  side  of  the  river,  we  were  met  by  a  party  of 
Cossacks,  who  helped  us  up  a  steep  bank  of  sand,  where  we  found 
three  droskies  for  ourselves  and  some  carts  for  our  baggage,  all  for- 
warded by  the  governor ;  and,  on  reaching  the  town,  we  were  received 
by  the  head  of  the  police,  who  conducted  us  to  a  well-furnished  house 
that  had  been  prepared  for  our  reception.  As  I  was  a  good  deal 
fatigued,  to  say  nothing  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  I  deferred  till  next 
day,  the  duty  of  paying  my  respects  to  this  kindest  of  all  governors, 
and  thanking  him  for  his  evidently  hearty  politeness.  In  the  evening, 
however,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  company  at  home,  in  the  person 
of  Mr.  Shagin,  representative  of  the  Russian  American  Association. 

Thus  was  our  journey  from  Ochotsk  to  Yakutsk  completed  on  the 
seventeenth  day,  without  any  accident  or  loss.  The  distance  was 
estimated  at  nine  hundred  and  forty-six  versts,  which,  at  the  rate  of 
three  versts  to  two  miles,  would  amount  to  six  hundred  and  thirty 
miles.  But  at  Yakutsk  I  was  informed,  that  to  the  east  and  north  of 
Irkutsk,  the  versts  were  of  the  old  standard,  which  bear  to  the  new  the 
proportion  of  seven  to  five  ;  so  that  we  had  actually  accomplished 
about  eight  hundred  and  eighty  of  our  own  miles.  If  this  information 
was  correct,  then,  on  our  last  march  but  one,  we  had  told  off  before 
night  nearly  ninety-two  miles;  and,  even  at  the  modern  standard, 
sixty-five  miles,  the  equivalent,  in  that  case,  of  ninety-eight  versts, 
were  not  an  idle  day's  work. 


■# 


'   .'4 


■^'fti 


t 


i 

Mi 


:  k 

■iim 

■  il 


c 


^     134 


k 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 

Yakutsk  is  the  capital  of  the  district  of  the  same  name.  The 
revenue  of  this  division  of  Eastern  Siberia,  which  does  not  equal  the 
expenditure,  consists  chiefly  of  about  600,000  roubles  of  yassack,  and 
of  220,000  roubles  paid  for  the  exclusive  right  of  selling  native  spirits. 
The  aborigines,  consisting  almost  entirely  of  Yakuti,  amount  to  about 
248,000  souls,  while  the  white  population,  including  the  Cossacks  and 
all  other  servants  of  the  government,  does  not  exceed  one-fiftieth  part 
of  the  number.  Such  of  the  Russian  inhabitants  as  do  not  discharge 
any  public  function  live  chiefly  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  the  natives, 
however,  being  scattered,  particularly  in  the  more  southerly  parts, 
wherever  horses  and  cattle  can  find  suitable  pasture. 

The  town  contains  nearly  half  of  all  the  whites  of  the  district,  with, 
perhaps,  a  couple  of  thousand  of  Yakuti  and  half-breeds.  There  are 
about  four  hundred  dwellings,  laid  out  into  wide  streets  and  spacious 
squares ;  and,  as  they  are  only  one  story  high,  and  have  out-houses 
and  gardens,  they  cover,  as  one  may  expect,  a  comparatively  large 
space.  One  of  the  squares  is  used  as  a  bazaar,  in  which,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  country,  all  the  shops  are  collected.  As  to  pub- 
lic buildings,  there  are  seven  churches,  a  monastery,  an  hospital,  a  bar- 
rack, and  the  ruins  of  an  old  ostrog  or  fort.  The  grand  material  is 
wood,  brought  down  the  river  from  a  considerable  distance,  for  in  the 
whole  neighborhood  there  is  not  one  living  stick  of  timber. 

Yakutsk  is  situated  on  an  extensive  plain,  in  latitude  62°  north,  and 
longitude  130°  east.  The  surrounding  country  is  flat  and  uninterest- 
ing, having  most  probably  once  been,  as  I  have  already  said,  the  actual 
bed  of  the  Lena.  Like  the  present  bottom  of  the  river,  it  is,  for  the 
most  part,  composed  of  sand ;  and,  from  this  circumstance,  the  banks 
are  so  much  at  the  mercy,  not  merely  of  occasional  inundations,  but  even 
of  the  ordinary  current,  that  the  stream  has  advanced  four  versts  in  one 
direction  within  the  recollection  of  some  of  the  present  inhabitants  of 
the  town.  Nor  is  the  climate  of  a  more  promising  character  than  the 
soil.  During  the  whole  year,  the  cellars  are  said  to  be  in  a  frozen 
state,  and  the  wells  to  send  up  newly  formed  ice,  for  the  heat  of  the 
summer,  excessive  as  it  is,  never  lasts  long  enough  to  dissipate  the 
effects  of  winter  to  a  depth  of  more  than  two  or  three  feet.  The  ex- 
treme temperature  of  either  season  is  almost  incredible.  The  thermo- 
meter has  stood  in  the  shade  at  33°  of  Reaumur,  or  106°  of  Fahrenheit, 
while  it  has  fallen  in  due  time  to — 51°  of  Reaumur — 83°  of  Fahren- 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


135 


.     •*   -/( 


le  name.  The 
3  not  equal  the 
3f  yassack,  and 
g  native  spirits, 
imount  to  about 
le  Cossacks  and 
one-fiftieth  part 
lo  not  discharge 
ers,  the  natives, 
(outherly  parts, 

le  district,  with, 
ds.  There  are 
ts  and  spacious 
lave  out-houses 
paratively  large 
ch,  according  to 
;d.  As  to  pub- 
i  hospital,  a  bar- 
rand  material  is 
tance,  for  in  the 
ber. 

62°  north,  and 

and  uninterest- 

said,  the  actual 

i^er,  it  is,  for  the 

;ance,  the  banks 

lations,  but  even 

>ur  versts  in  one 

It  inhabitants  of 

aracter  than  the 

be  in  a  frozen 

the  heat  of  the 

to  dissipate  the 

feet.     The  ex- 

The  thermo- 

'  of  Fahrenheit, 

83°  of  Fahren- 


heit, the  diflference  being  189°  of  the  latter  standard,  or  nine  degrees 
more  than  the  whole  distance  between  the  freezing  and  the  boiling 
points  of  water.  Some  years  ago,  an  experiment  was  made,  under 
the  direction  of  Baron  Wrangell,  by  the  agent  of  the  Russian  American 
Company,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  depth  to  which  the  ground  is  frozen. 
A  well  was  dug  to  the  depth  of  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet;  and 
still  the  earth  was  found  to  be  as  hard  as  iron.  This  result,  however, 
would  appear  to  be  by  no  means  satisfactory,  inasmuch  as  the  pit, 
being  worked  only  in  winter  on  account  of  the  foul  air  of  summer,  was 
necessarily  exposed,  season  after  season,  to  the  renewed  action  of  the 
frost.  To  test  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  in  the  well,  we  let  down  a 
small  bundle  of  blazing  straw,  which,  after  gradually  waning,  was 
wholly  extinguished  at  the  depth  of  thirty  or  forty  feet,  but  we  were 
told  that,  at  night,  the  flame  would  live  twenty  or  thirty  feet  lower. 
As  the  temperature,  in  winter,  was  said  to  rise  rapidly  on  descending 
from  the  mouth,  till,  at  the  bottom,  it  was  only  two  or  three  degrees 
below  the  freezing  point  of  water,  the  excavation,  if  continued,  would 
probably  soon  lead  to  soft  ground;  but  even  then  the  experiment  would 
be  unsatisfactory  with  respect  to  the  state  of  the  adjacent  earth,  for  it 
would  merely  find  a  thaw  of  its  own  making.  There  is,  on  the  whole, 
little  reason  for  doubting,  that  the  ground  is  frozen  to  an  immense  depth, 
for,  under  the  uppermost  yard,  the  frost  never  loses  in  summer  what 
it  has  gained  in  winter.  Even  the  ice  of  the  sea,  subjected,  as  it  is, 
every  summer  to  the  action  of  the  sun  and  the  water,  grows  thicker 
from  year  to  year,  the  first  winter  producing  about  ten  feet,  the  second 
about  five,  and  so  on. 

AVith  such  a  climate  and  such  a  soil,  agriculture,  of  course,  is  out 
of  the  question.  In  two  spots,  indeed,  rye  is  said  to  have  ripened, 
though  it  is  admitted  to  be  altogether  a  precarious  crop;  so  that,  taking 
the  bad  seasons  with  the  good,  the  curiosity  costs  more  than  it  is 
worth.  For  supplies  of  agricultural  produce  the  inhabitants  are  de- 
pendent on  the  Upper  Lena  and  the  country  still  farther  to  the  south, 
great  quantities  of  flour  being  brought  even  from  Irkutsk  and  sold, 
after  all,  at  the  very  moderate  price  of  four  roubles  a  pood,  or  a  mere 
fraction  more  than  an  English  penny  for  an  English  pound. 

But  of  all  these  disadvantages  the  Cossacks,  who  selected  the  site  of 
Yakutsk,  took  no  account.  To  those  hardy  adventurers  the  far  east 
was  as  much  an  object  of  ambition  as  ever  the  far  west  was  to  the 
pioneers  of  America;  and  it  was  doubtless  under  the  influence  of  this 
aspiration,  that  they  founded  this  metropolis  of  the  desert  at  the  point 
where  the  Lena,  after  giving  them  twenty-five  degrees  of  longitude  for 
ten  of  latitude,  began  to  return  to  the  west  of  north.  If  they  had  had 
a  map  to  guide  them  with  ease  and  accuracy,  they  could  not  have 
made  a  more  definite  choice ;  and  in  fact,  from  the  Ural  to  the  Pacific, 
the  Cossacks  uniformly  evinced  a  singular  degree  of  judgment  in  seiz- 
ing the  best  positions,  whether  for  conquest  or  for  traflUc. 

To  this  situation  Yakutsk  was  indebted  for  many  elements  of  pros- 
perity. The  town  lay  in  the  direct  route  between  the  Yenissei  and 
the  Sea  of  Ochotsk,  while  it  secured,  after  the  loss  of  the  Amoor,  the 


f 


■1 
.  It 

III 


If 

H 


ii 


in 


J, 
I 


f 


136 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA, 


exclusive  and  perpetual  benefits  of  the  intermediate  transport:  and  it, 
moreover,  formed  the  connecting  link  between  the  Lena  and  other 
rivers  of  the  first  class  on  the  west,  and  the  Yana  and  other  streams 
of  secondary  magnitude  on  Uic  east.  Through  each  of  those  two 
directions,  Yakutsk  became,  in  process  of  time,  a  place  of  transit  to 
still  more  remote  regions.  By  means  of  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk,  it  was 
brought  into  contact  with  Kamschatka,  the  Aleutian  Islands  and  the 
Nortliwest  Coast;  and,  by  crossing  the  subordinate  tributaries  of  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  it  met  the  spoils  of  the  New  World  from  the  farther 
side  of  Becring's  Straits  at  the  Fair  of  Osbrovnogc. 

But,  independently  of  the  advantages  of  being  a  place  of  transit, 
Yakutsk,  in  consequence  of  its  position,  was  from  the  beginning  a 
principal  emporium  of  two  valuable  branches  of  commerce,  the  trade 
in  ivory  and  the  trade  in  furs. 

At  one  time  Yakutsk  engrossed  nearly  all  the  fur-trade  eastward 
from  the  Lena  to  the  farthest  bounds  of  Russian  enterprise ;  thus  drain- 
ing a  territory  certainly  more  extensive,  and  perhaps  not  less  pro- 
ductive, than  all  the  wildernesses  of  British  America;  and,  even  when, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  wealthy  and  powerful  association, 
Kiachta  and  Moscow  directly  attracted  the  riches  of  the  New  Continent 
and  of  all  the  islands  from  the  Kuriles  to  Kodiack,  this  town  still  held 
possession  of  a  country  of  sixty  degrees  in  longitude  by  twenty  in 
latitude,  which  contained  hardly  any  other  tenants  than  the  hunter  and 
his  game. 

With  respect  again  to  the  other  branch  of  commerce,  Providence  had 
seen  fit,  in  some  distant  age,  to  deposit  in  the  very  coldest  region  on 
the  face  of  the  globe  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  an  organic  substance, 
which  all  previous  experience  would  have  expected  to  discover  only 
in  tropical  climes.  The  bones  of  the  mammoth  were  found,  in  the 
greatest  abundance,  throughout  all  the  north-western  parts  of  Eastern 
Siberia.  Spring  after  spring,  the  alluvial  banks  of  the  lakes  and  rivers, 
crumbling  under  the  thaw,  gave  up,  as  it  were,  their  dead;  and,  beyond 
the  very  verge  of  the  inhabited  world,  the  islands,  lying  opposite  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Yana,  and,  as  there  was  reason  for  believing,  even  the 
bed  of  the  ocean  itself,  literally  teemed  with  these  most  mysterious 
memorials  of  antiquity.  How  did  these  bones  come  to  be  there?  On 
this  interesting  subject  the  following  views  have  been  suggested  to  me 
by  one  who,  confessedly  ignorant  of  geology  and  comparative  anatomy, 
looks  at  the  thing,  as  he  imagines,  with  an  eye  of  common  sense. 
According  to  some  opinions,  the  mammoth  must  have  lived  and  died 
on  the  spot  in  a  climate  different  from  the  present  one,  the  remains  of 
horses,  buffaloes,  oxen  and  sheep  having  also  been  found  in  great 
quantities  on  the  surface  of  one  of  the  islands  in  question.  But  unless 
the  earth  revolved,  at  the  time  of  the  milder  temperature,  on  a  different 
axis,  similar  evidence  of  a  more  genial  slate  of  things  should  exist,  at 
least  to  some  extent,  in  the  same  latitudes  all  round  the  globe.  The 
entire  absence,  therefore,  of  all  such  evidence  could  be  reconciled  with 
this  theory  only  by  referring  the  whole  of  the  phenomena  to  the  flood, 
which  could  alone  have  affected,  or  rather  have  been  the  occasion  of 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  IP  TIIK  LENA. 


nsporl;  and  it, 
icna  and  other 
other  streams 
I  of  those  two 
c  of  transit  to 
)chotsk,  it  was 
ilands  and  the 
ihutarics  of  the 
om  the  farther 

lace  of  transit, 
ic  beginning  a 
lerce,  the  trade 

trade  eastward 
ise;  thus  drain- 
i  not  less  pro- 
nd,  even  when, 
ful  association. 
New  Continent 

town  still  held 
e  by  twenty  in 

the  hunter  and 

Providence  had 
ddest  region  on 
anic  substance, 

discover  only 
e  found,  in  the 
arts  of  Eastern 
ikes  and  rivers, 
d ;  and, beyond 
opposite  to  the 

ving,  even  the 
ost  mysterious 

be  there  ?  On 
uggested  to  me 

alive  anatomy, 

ommon  sense. 

lived  and  died 

the  remains  of 
found  in  great 
n.     But  unless 

,  on  a  different 
should  exist,  at 
globe.  The 
•econciled  with 

la  to  the  flood, 

16  occasion  of 


137 


alVfcling,  the  earth's  axis  of  rotation.  On  tho  sound  principle,  how- 
ever, of  not  setting  too  niany  causes  to  work,  this  view  of  the  case 
would  appear  to  be  fatal  to  the  hypothesis  of  a  riiange  of  climatr,  inas- 
much as  the  direct  operation  of  the  flood  might,  of  itself,  l)e  sufficient 
to  produce  all  the  result.  The  deposits  undi^r  the  sea  could  not  be 
explained  at  all  without  the  aid  of  some  inundation  or  other,  while, 
with  respect  to  the  deposits,  in  general,  the  universal  inundation  must 
have  taken  its  last  sweep  over  the  earth's  surface  towards  the  north. 
Nothing  else  could  so  satisfactorily  account  for  the  geographical  facts, 
that  almost  every  peninsula  points  to  tlu;  south,  and  that  all  the  largest 
peninsulas  arc  so  many  tongues  of  land  running  into  the  Southern 
Ocean.  If  one  were  to  hazard  a  conjecture  as  to  the  precise  course 
of  the  retreating  deluge,  perhaps  the  direction  of  the  very  meridians 
might  be  preferred  from  this  circimi.stance,  that  the  highest  and  the 
lowest  latitudes  of  most  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  land,  such  as  ('ape 
Taymoor  and  the  southern  extremity  of  Malacca,  would  be  found  to 
lie  respectively  in  pretty  nearly  one  and  the  same  longitude.  Hut,  if 
this  were  the  true  cause,  why  shouhl  not  the  bones  in  question  be 
found  in  other  sections  of  the  north  ?  Even  of  this  difficultv  the  face 
of  the  globe  might  afford  something  like  a  solution.  That  part  of  Tar- 
tary,  which  lies  to  the  south  of  the  grand  burying  ground  of  the  mam- 
moth, is  the  loftiest  level  in  the  world  of  any  great  extent,  while  the 
intermediate  chain  of  mountains  is  said  to  be  lower  here  than  it  is  either 
to  the  east  or  to  the  west.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  retiring 
torrent,  which  had  had  force  enough  to  scoop  out  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere into  a  sierra  of  promontori(!S,  would  meet  no  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  wafting  the  skeletons  of  its  victims  from  the  boundless  steppes 
of  Gobi,  to  be  preserved  in  the  eternal  frosts  of  north-eastern  Siberia; 
whereas,  farther  to  the  west,  the  physical  impediments  of  less  con: 
tinuous  plains  and  loftier  ridges,  would  not  only  lend  to  prevent  any 
considerable  accumulation  of  organic  substances,  but  also  to  retain  any 
partial  deposits  within  the  influence  of  a  climate  likely  to  occasion  their 
decay. 

To  return  to  Yakutsk,  nearly  all  the  furs  and  ivory  are  sold  in  the 
annual  fair,  which  is  attended  by  troops  of  itinerant  dealers  from  other 
parts  of  Siberia,  and  also  from  Moscow.  Even  at  this  distance  from 
their  ultimate  destination,  the  finer  furs  command  an  exorbitant  price, 
some  sables,  by  no  means  of  the  first  quality,  having  cost  me  fifty 
roubles  a  piece.  Throughout  Russia,  in  fact,  the  skins  of  animals, 
from  the  sheep  to  the  ermine,  have  always  been  rather  necessaries  of 
life  than  articles  of  luxury.  During  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  they 
must  be  worn  by  every  person,  not  for  ornament  but  for  use ;  and,  as 
the  more  delicate  varieties  yield  but  a  scanty  supply,  they  are  rendered 
far  more  costly  in  proportion  than  the  coarser  kinds,  by  the  competi- 
tion of  those  who  regard  them  as  badges  of  opulence  and  rank.  The 
ivory  again  fetches  from  forty  to  seventy  roubles  a  pood,  or  from  one 
shilling  to  one  shilling  and  nine  pence  a  pound,  according  to  its  state 
of  preservation.  The  tusks  are  found  to  be  fresher  as  one  advances  to 
the  northward— -a  circumstance  which  seems  to  corroborate  the  notion 


i-M 

1 

•1 

I.-', 

n 


n 


I ''"I 


138 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAOK  UP  THK  LKNA. 


tlial  []w  olimatc  has  had  soinrtliiinj  to  do  with  th(Mr  continiHMl  exiHlciico 
ill  an  orf^aiiic  t'oriii.  Towards  the  Haiiic  ({iiartcr,  inor<!ovcr,  thoy  nro 
NtnaMcr  and  more  nnnicroiis,  another  einMiinstanee  which  tallieH  with 
the  physical  fact,  that,  in  a  current,  larfjer  and  heavier  hodies  arc  inor«' 
likely  than  others  to  sink  or  to  he  entani^led;  and  it  appears  to  he 
soniethinff  more  than  n  ciiri(»us  coincidence,  that  the  hones  of  the 
smaller  class,  such  as  those  o(  the  horse,  tin;  hutlalo,  the  ox,  and  the 
sheep,  have  heen  ihscovcred  oidy  in  the  remotest  north. 

JSoon  after  my  arrival,  I  dined  with  Governor  K  lodikolF,  the  feast 
scrvinjr  the  doul)le  occasion  not  oidy  of  doinjf  honor  to  tlu;  strangers, 
but  also  of  eelehratinjf  the  nanus-tlay  of  one  of  our  host's  sons.  These 
name-days,  which  are  kept  in  the  (Jreek  Church  as  well  as  in  the 
('hurch  of  Rome,  arc,  as  1  have  alr(!ady  mentioned  under  the  head  of 
California,  merely  the  days  of  those  saints  from  whom  the  ('hrislian 
names  of  the  parties  may  have  been  borrowed.  'I'hesc  festivals  are 
considered  to  he  far  more  important  than  such  secular  afi'airs  as  the 
anniversaries  of  births,  being  j)eculiarly  j)leasanl  and  profitable  to  public 
men.  The  governor's  saint,  for  instaiu!i',  was  to  have  his  turn  in  the 
calendar  on  the  tweniieih  of  the  month;  and  the  governor  himself 
would  then  receive,  both  from  Russians  and  from  Yakuti,  presents  of 
furs  and  other  commodities  in  proportion  to  his  popularity — a  guaran- 
tee, in  some  measure,  for  the  good  conduct  of  the  higher  powers. 

At  dinner  there  were  about  twenty-five  persons  present,  includinir 
Madame  UoodikolT,  with  two  daughters  and  as  many  sons,  the  heads  of 
the  police,  both  of  district  and  town,  the  Ilatman  of  Cossacks,  the 
principal  counselor,  two  doctors,  and  several  merchants.  The  viands 
were  numerous  and  excellent,  consisting  of  soups,  fish,  beef,  veal, 
fowls  wild  and  tame,  the  former  in  great  variety,  with  pastry,  sweets, 
and  ices,  and  many  other  things  besides — the  whole  accompanied  by 
wines  in  abundance,  and  graced  by  a  prince  of  a  landlord.  Our  good- 
humored  host,  a  captain  in  the  Imperial  Navy,  had  been  taken  prisoner 
at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  1800,  where  he  had  been  treated  so 
kindly,  as  ever  afterwards  to  retain  a  friendly  feeling  towards  English- 
men ;  and  he  had  evidently  resolved  not  to  miss  the  present  opportu- 
nity— one  of  the  "  few  and  far  between"  chances  of  the  kind — of  paying 
us  back  in  our  own  coin.  Though  he  spoke  Russian  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  banquet,  yet  he  launched  out  more  and  more  boldly 
into  such  English  as  he  could  remember,  with  every  succeeding  round 
of  champagne;  and,  in  5ict,  the  glorious  old  sailor  dealt  bumper  after 
bumper  with  such  rapidity,  that  I  was  fairly  driven  to  rebel  against  his 
orders.  We  accordingly  adjourned  to  the  smoking  room;  but  the 
change  was  of  no  avail,  for  the  enemy  followed  us  to  our  place  of 
refuge,  continuing  its  explosions  till  "all  was  blue." 

A  siesta  of  two  or  three  hours  prepared  us  for  meeting  the  ladies  in 
the  evening,  who,  on  this  occasion,  mustered  as  many  as  sixty  or 
seventy.  Dancing,  as  a  matter  of  course,  was  introduced,  being  kept 
up  with  great  spirit,  in  all  its  forms  of  waltzing,  quadrilling,  gallopading, 
&c.,  till  two  in  the  morning.  As  Captain  RoodikofTs  English  had 
evaporated   with  his  champagne,   Russ   and  Yakut   were  the  grand 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


139 


.     » 


lini^unfTrs  (if  ilw'  liall-ronm,  tiio  lattrr  hcini?  n.s  Hucntly  Mpokon  :ih  tlin 
former  by  tlir*  whiU*  iiili:il)it:iiitH,  more  rsprcially  liy  tiiirli  of  them  uh 
have  l)('en  born  ami  Un  <I  in  the  place  under  the  aiixpicfH  of  a  native 
iiiirHC.  Our  worilij  hoHl  pro  -ably  enjoyed  this  laHt-in(!ntioiied  advun* 
tJ4(e,  for  his  fiitlicr  had  l"'«'n  >jovuriu>r  of  Yakutsk  hel'ori'  him. 

Next  day,  ah  iny  reasonalijc  reader  nii^ht  expect,  1  dined  at  home, 
iliHcusHinjr  wiih  the  j/overnor,  who  paid  nio  a  friendly  visit  in  the  after- 
noon, my  last  bottle  ot  |)ort.  l)eNC(!tulin<r  IMtni  the  praises  of  the  wine 
to  thoHe  of  the  indigenous  kuniyss,  my  jruest  sent  f(»r  a  bottle  of  the 
beverajro  which  was  used  as  beer  in  Ins  family.  It  appeared  to  me 
closely  to  resemble  sour  buttiTmilk  without  beinif  at  all  greasy.  It  in 
prepared  in  a  very  simple  way,  tlu;  mare's  milk,  which  is  rather  thinner 
and  sweeter  than  that  of  the  cow,  beinji;  merely  allowed  to  stand  for 
some  days  in  a  leathern  churn,  till  it  becomes  sour.  It  is  then  bottled 
for  use.  The  kumyss  that  is  made  in  this  manner  by  the  Yakuii,  is 
rather  nutritious  than  exhilarating;  but  from  the  same  material  the 
Uurats  and  the  Kirghiz,  living  towards  the  south,  extract  an  intoxicating 
spirit,  in  which  they  indulge  to  excess. 

At  the  house  of  Mr.  Shajrin  we  were  very  hospitably  entertained. 
At  his  table,  on  one  occasion,  we  met  a  party  of  twelve;  substantial 
burgesses,  who  appeared,  however,  to  have  mixed  but  little  in  the 
world.  Tiie  dinner  was  choice  and  the  wine  plentiful.  In  fact,  we 
had  come  in  time  for  the  champagne  and  otlier  imported  dainties,  for 
the  annual  fair  had  just  been  concluded;  and  as  nothing,  that  was 
really  good,  could  possibly  last  in  Yakutsk,  a  month  earlier  or  even  a 
month  later  might  have  made  all  the  diflerence  against  us.  la  fact, 
the  people  are  so  liberal  and  hospitable,  that,  with  respect  to  exotic 
luxuries,  every  family's  year  begins  with  a  feast  and  ends  with  a  fast. 
Their  kindness  to  strangers  is  altogether  extraordinary,  and  the  more 
so  on  account  of  the  extravagant  price  of  all  extraneous  productions. 
The  indigenous  articles,  however,  are  cheap  enough,  lish  and  wild 
fowl  costing  almost  nothing,  ami  beef  only  about  a  farthing  a  pouml. 

In  Mr.  Shagin's  house  I  saw  some  works  of  the  Yakuti  in  iron  and 
silver,  very  skillfully  finished.  The  silver  had  been  obtained  from  a 
mountain  to  the  north  of  Yakutsk,  the  ore  containing  seventy  per  cent. 
of  lead  and  four  of  the  more  precious  metal.  The  iron,  as  I  under- 
stood, was  found  between  the  Indigirka  and  die  Alasei;  and  I  was 
assured  that  the  tools  made  of  it,  whether  from  the  excellence  of  the 
material  or  from  the  ingenuity  of  the  workmen,  rarely  broke  even  in 
the  severest  cold, — a  degree  of  perfection  never  yet  exhibited  on  Hud- 
son's Bay  by  axes  of  the  best  temper.  These  Yakuti  are  expert  in 
many  other  arts  besides  the  working  of  metals.  In  preparing  their 
food,  for  instance,  against  the  winter,  they  far  surpass  the  Indians  of 
North  America,  rendering,  in  particular,  their  dried  meat  and  dried 
fish  more  juicy  and  tender  by  first  dipping  them  in  brine;  though,  after 
all,  there  is  no  traveling  fare  in  Siberia  to  be  compared  with  pemmican, 
whether  for  its  small  bulk  or  for  its  nutritious  qualities. 

In  one  highly  important  particular  the  Yakuti  may  safely  challenge 
all  the  rest  of  the  world.     They  are  the  best  eaters  on  the  face  of  the 


.  ■'<( 


^ 


I    Ir'l 


[£.'    fLtS 

m 


140 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


'¥ 


.■?»».■ 


earth.  Having  heard  a  great  deal  more  on  this  subject  than  I  could 
bring  myself  to  believe,  I  resolved  to  test  the  thing  by  the  evidence  ot 
my  own  senses.  Having  procured  a  couple  of  fellows,  who  had  a 
tolerable  reputation  in  this  way,  from  a  village  about  twenty  versts  dis- 
tant, I  had  a  dinner  prepared  for  them  of  two  poods  of  beef  boiled  and 
one  pood  of  butter  melted,  being  thirty-six  pounds  avoirdupois  of  the 
former,  and  eighteen  of  the  latter  for  each  of  the  two.  Of  the  solids 
the  performers  had  their  respective  shares  placed  before  them,  while 
the  liquor  was  in  common  with  a  ladle  for  drinking  it.  Of  the  opera- 
tives, the  one  was  old  and  the  other  young.  The  former,  as  if  he  had 
been  training  himself  into  nothing  but  stomach  from  head  to  heel,  had 
his  skin  hungrily  hanging  in  loose  folds  over  his  gaunt  bones,  while 
the  latter,  who  showed  no  external  symptoms  of  extraordinary  capa- 
city, must  have  relied  chiefly  on  the  vigour  of  youth  and  a  willingness 
of  disposition.  At  starting  the  young  fellow  shot  ahead,  as  if  he  meant 
to  distance  his  friend,  while  the  old  man,  waggishly  making  his  wrinkles 
flap  again  upon  him,  said,  "  His  teeth  are  sharp ;  but,"  continued  he, 
crossing  himself,  "  with  the  help  of  my  saint  I  shall  be  up  with  him 
yet."  After  a  good  dose  of  the  beef,  they  greased  their  throats  for  the 
second  heat  of  the  race  by  swallowing  each  about  a  pint  or  so  of  their 
heavy  wet.  At  the  end  of  an  hour,  they  had  got  through  half  of  their 
welcome  toil,  my  senior  guest  having,  by  this  time,  shaken  out  nearly 
his  last  reef.  Their  eyes  were  starting  from  their  heads,  and  their 
stomachs  projecting  like  a  brace  of  kettle-drums.  What  were  the  gen- 
tlemen to  do  with  the  remaining  half  of  their  allowance?  One  moiety 
of  the  question  might  have  been  easily  answered,  for  the  butter,  appa- 
rently in  its  purity,  was  making  an  outlet  of  every  pore ;  but  as  the 
solids  could  not  escape  so  glibly  from  the  premises,  the  problem  of 
stowing  away  eighteen  pounds  of  beef  in  a  vessel  already  full  to  over- 
flowing, puzzled  all  my  knowledge,  such  as  it  was,  of  practical  mathe- 
matics. Feeling  that,  whatever  might  be  the  case  with  my  guests,  I 
had  myself  had  quite  enough  of  the  feast,  I  left  our  Cossack  and 
Mclntyre  to  see  that  there  should  be  no  foul  play  in  getting  rid  of  the 
meat  and  drink;  and,  on  returning  about  two  hours  afterwards,  I  was 
assured  by  my  deputies  and  others,  that  all  was  right,  while  the  glut- 
tons themselves  tacitly  confirmed  the  testimony  by  wallowing  prostrate 
on  the  earth,  relieving  me,  at  the  same  time,  from  all  sense  of  wrong  in 
the  matter  by  thanking  me  for  my  liberality,  and  kissing  the  ground 
reverentially  for  my  sake.  After  such  surfeits,  the  victors  remain  for 
three  or  four  days  in  a  state  of  stupor,  neither  eating  nor  drinking; 
and  meanwhile  they  are  rolled  about,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of 
the  tumee  tiimee  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  with  a  view  to  the  promotinif 
of  digestion,  an  operation  which  the  slipperiness  of  their  surface  ren- 
ders peculiarly  difficult.  Two  of  these  gormandizers,  one  for  the  bride 
and  another  for  the  bridegroom,  form  part  of  the  entertainments  at 
every  native  wedding. 

Like  other  small  towns,  Yakutsk,  as  a  matter  of  course,  is  divided 
into  factions.  Governor  Roodikoff'  and  Mr.  Shagin  being  the  represent- 
ative heads  of  the  Montagues  and  the  Capulets  of  the  place.     So  far 


i. 

jct  than  I  could 
the  evidence  ot 
pVs,  who  had  a 
:enty  versts  dis- 
beef  boiled  and 
(irdupois  of  the 

Of  the  solids 
ore  them,  while 

Of  the  opera- 
ner,  as  if  he  had 
ead  to  heel,  had 
int  bones,  while 
aordinary  capa- 
id  a  willingness 
J,  as  if  he  meant 
inghis  wrinkles 
,"  continued  he, 
be  up  with  him 
r  throats  for  the 
int  or  so  of  their 
gh  half  of  their 
aken  out  nearly 
heads,  and  their 
at  were  thegen- 
B?  One  moiety 
the  butter,  appa- 
ore;  but  as  the 
the  problem  of 
idy  full  to  over- 
practical  mathe- 
th  my  guests,  I 
ir  Cossack  and 
getting  rid  of  the 
terwards,  I  was 
while  the  glut- 
lowing  prostrate 
nse  of  wrong  in 
sing  the  ground 
5tors  remain  for 
g  nor  drinking; 

the  manner  of 
o  the  promotin«f 
eir  surface  ren- 
•ne  for  the  bride 
itertainments  at 

urse,  is  divided 
g  the  represent- 
place.     So  far 


■■';1( 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


141 


as  they  are  individually  concerned,  their  fathers,  as  the  representatives 
respectively  of  the  Imperial  Government  and  the  Russian  American 
Company,  waged  fierce  war  while  they  lived,  leaving,  at  their  deaths, 
their  offices  and  their  quarrels  to  their  sons,  who  again,  if  one  may 
judge  from  appearances,  consider  the  latter  portion  of  their  patrimony 
as  fully  more  valuable  than  the  former.  Their  duties  may  be  a  toil ; 
but  their  jealousies  are  evidently  a  pleasure.  This  state  of  things,  pro- 
ductive, as  it  is,  of  dissension  and  litigation,  is  perhaps  wisely  ordained 
to  enable  the  leaders  and  their  respective  parties  to  kill  the  nine  long, 
dull,  dreary  months  of  winter.  The  amusement,  such  as  it  is,  has  at 
least  the  merit  of  being  general,  for  not  a  man  of  respectability  is 
allowed  to  remain  neutral  between  the  two  belligerent  bodies.  Either 
:i  Capulet  or  a  Montague,  everybody  that  aims  at  being  anybody,  must 
become,  at  least  under  the  penalty  of  being  held  as  nobody  by  "  both 
your  houses."  I  had  various  opportunities  of  observing  the  effects  of 
this  universal  animosity.  To  give  an  instance,  a  public  officer,  learn- 
ing that  I  had  bought  some  sables  from  Mr.  Shagin,  at  once  pronounced 
them  to  be  shamefully  dear;  and  then,  turning  the  conversation  to  the 
exhibition  of  my  gluttons,  he  declared,  after  many  mysterious  nods  and 
winks,  that  the  thing  was  a  failure,  as  might  have  been  expected  from 
men  engaged  by  Mr.  Shagin,  adding,  that  he  could  have  got  two  fel- 
lows to  hold  double  the  quantity  of  butter  and  beef,  with  my  two 
eaters,  bones  and  all,  into  the  bargain. 

In  the  hospital  of  the  town  there  was  room  for  forty  patients ;  and 
another  on  a  larger  scale  was  building  at  the  time  of  our  visit.  There 
were  five  medical  men  in  the  district,  residing  generally  in  the  capital, 
but  making  occasional  circuits  in  the  country.  The  head  of  the  de- 
partment was  a  fat,  unwieldy,  apoplectic  man  of  about  forty,  who, 
when  he  dined  with  me  at  the  governor's,  was  either  absorbed  in  pro- 
found meditation  from  beginning  to  end,  or  needed  all  his  time  and  at- 
tention to  meet  the  internal  demand,  never  opening  his  mouth  excepting 
for  the  discharge  of  the  one  special  duty  that  was  before  him.  This 
huge  doctor  would  require  to  go  his  rounds  through  the  district  with 
an  assortment  of  the  mechanical  powers.  In  his  last  journey,  he  was 
hoisted  up  a  steep  hill  by  means  of  ropes  and  pulleys,  the  horses  hav- 
ing refused  to  move  him  on  any  terms ;  and,  in  descending  on  the 
other  side  where  the  inclined  plane  might  have  been  reduced  to  prac- 
tice, he  was  let  down  the  prcipice  with  his  eyes  bandaged,  lest  he 
should  turn  giddy  and  so  fall  soft  to  the  bottom. 

All  the  churches  are  built  of  wood,  with  foundations  of  stone,  but 
are  very  substantial  and  have  a  respectable  appearance.  The  walls  arc 
constructed  of  round  logs,  the  lower  side  of  each  being  scooped  out  so 
as  to  receive  the  upper  side  of  the  one  below  it;  they  are  then  well 
caulked,  outside  with  hemp  or  rushes  and  inside  with  moss;  and  lastly 
they  are  wainscotted,  puttied  and  painted.  When  heated  by  Russian 
stoves,  these  edifices  are  to  a  stranger  oppressively  warm,  even  in  the 
most  intense  cold  of  this  hyperborean  climate.  Such  wooden  build- 
ings, as  I  have  described,  are  remarkably  durable,  more  so  perhaps 
than  the  bricks,  which  are  gradually  coming  into  fashion,  are  likely  to 


'I  ■•.?! 


:m 


a 


-m 


*'! 


142 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LEIfA. 


^. 


1       1     ^     • 


J^" 


be.  The  fort,  now  in  ruins,  the  earliest  monument  of  the  Cossacks, 
was  difficult  to  pull  down  after  it  had  stood  a  hundred  and  fifty  years ; 
and  Mr.  Shagin's  dwelling,  though  a  century  old,  is  yet  in  excellent 
repair.  Speaking  of  the  churches,  I  must  not  omit  to  mention  the 
liberality  of  Mr.  ShilofT,  the  same  whom  we  met  on  his  way  to 
Ochotsk.  This  liberal  merchant  has  erected  a  very  neat  place  of  wor- 
ship at  his  own  private  cost,  being  rewarded  by  the  government  with  a 
medal  for  his  generosity.  In  connexion  with  his  little  church  he  had 
also  built  a  school,  which  was  subsequently  destroyed  by  fire;  and,  on 
receiving  a  hint  from  a  high  quarter  that  he  should  remedy  the  mis- 
chief, he  very  properly  declined  the  honor  unless  on  condition  of  re- 
ceiving another  medal.  Of  schools  there  appears  to  be  a  great  defi- 
ciency, there  being  only  three  in  the  town  and  three  in  the  country. 

Among  other  curiosities,  which  I  picked  up  through  the  kindness  ol 
the  good  folks  of  Yakutsk,  the  principal  councilor,  Mr.  KaydanofV. 
gave  me  a  pair  of  round  pebbles,  brought  all  the  way  from  China. 
These  stones  are,  at  all  convenient  times,  carried  by  the  Chinese  in 
their  left  hands  from  infancy,  and  kept  constantly  chafing,  one  against 
another,  into  perfect  smoothness ;  and,  when  thus  prepared,  they  pos- 
sess a  sort  of  sacred  character,  the  gift  of  one  of  them  being  a  pledge  of 
lasting  love  and  friendship.  The  rough  diamonds  themselves,  I  sup- 
pose, must  be  scarce  and  dear,  for  the  poorer  celestials  are  said  to  be 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  walnuts  instead  of  pebbles,  succeed- 
ing, however,  in  polishing  and  rounding  these  less  tractable  articles  to  a 
nicety.  I  had  also  an  offer,  as  a  matter  of  trade,  of  a  few  minerals  that 
had  been  gathered  near  the  Yiliui,  one  of  the  westerly  feeders  of  the 
Lena,  to  the  north  of  Yakutsk.  A  man  called  on  me  with  about  a 
dozen  crystals,  cornelians,  and  petrifactions  ;  but,  having  no  interpreter 
at  hand,  I  desired  him  to  return  in  the  evening.  Return  he  did  accord- 
ingly, accompanied  by  a  friend,  for  the  accident  of  my  being  obliged  to 
ask  him  to  come  back,  had  evidently  raised  the  value  of  his  museum 
in  his  own  estimation.  After  we  had  all  looked  very  wise,  I  demanded 
his  price;  and  the  two  worthies,  doubtless  regarding  an  Englishman  as 
fair  game,  had  the  conscience  to  name  the  precise  sum  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred roubles,  probably  a  compromise,  as  settled  by  the  pair  of  cronies, 
between  the  first  thousand  and  the  second.  My  reply  was  such  as  to 
need  not  the  aid  of  an  interpreter;  and,  in  one  instant,  the  extortioners 
and  their  stones,  quitted  the  premises.  In  the  vicinity,  by  the  by,  of 
the  Viliui,  there  are  said  to  be  mines  of  coal,  an  article  which,  as  wood 
is  hardly  to  be  got  so  far  to  the  northward,  cannot  fail  to  be  useful 
when  steam  is  introduced  on  the  Lena. 

On  the  third  day  after  our  own  arrival,  Jacob  presented  himself  with 
our  baggage.  Though  the  old  man  was  one  day  behind  his  stipulated 
time,  yet,  as  he  had  done  his  utmost,  I  paid  him  his  money  in  full, 
thereby  sending  him  off  in  the  very  best  of  humors.  I  was  now  all 
eagerness  for  a  start,  being  too  impatient  even  to  wait  for  the  next  mail 
from  Ochotsk  which  was  almost  immediately  expected  with  my  Eng- 
lish letters ;  and  I  was  the  more  anxious  to  proceed,  inasmuch  as  the 
dryness  of  the  season,  which  had  been  so  favorable  to  our  journey  on 


f^l:'' 


r  the  Cossacks, 
and  fifty  years ; 
^et  in  excellent 
to  mention  the 
on   his   way  to 
sat  place  of  wor- 
vernment  with  a 
e  church  he  had 
by  fire;  and,  on 
•emedy  the  mis- 
condition  of  ro- 
be a  great  dcfi- 
ri  tlie  country. 
I  the  kindness  of 
Mr.  KaydanofV, 
ay  from   China. 
•  the  Chinese  in 
ifing,  one  against 
spared,  they  pos- 
jeing  a  pledge  of 
lemselves,  I  sup- 
lis  are  said  to  be 
pebbles,  succeed- 
table  articles  to  a 
ew  minerals  that 
ly  feeders  of  the 
me  with  about  a 
ng  no  interpreter 
rn  he  did  accord- 
being  obliged  to 
of  his  museum 
vise,  I  demanded 
n  Englishman  as 
n  of  fifteen  hun- 
pair  of  cronies, 
r  was  such  as  to 
the  extortioners 
ty,  by  the  by,  of 
which,  as  wood 
fail  to  be  useful 

ted  himself  with 
nd  his  stipulated 
is  money  in  full, 
I  was  now  all 
or  the  next  mail 
d  with  my  Eng- 
inasmuch  as  the 
»  our  journey  on 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


143 


horseback,  was  likely,  henceforward,  to  retard  us,  for  the  lowness  of 
the  water  might  keep  us  so  far  from  the  hank  as  to  embarrass  the  opera- 
tion of  towing.  I,  therefore,  resisted  all  temptations  to  prolong  my 
stay,  while  Mcsdames  RoodikoiT  and  Shagin,  as  the  next  best  thing 
to  detaining  us  among  them,  prepared  for  our  voyage  the  most  liberal 
supplies  of  bread,  cakes  and  tarts,  all  the  more  acceptable  to  us,  as  well 
as  creditable  to  the  fair  donors,  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  flour. 

As  the  navigation  of  the  Lena  for  some  distance  above  the  town  was 
said  to  be  very  circuitous,  1  dispatched  the  boat  with  our  baggage,  on 
the  sixteenth  of  the  month,  to  proceed  as  far  as  Bestach,  about  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  versls  distant  by  water,  where  I  could  overtake  her  by  a 
ride  of  a  few  hours,  after  stealing  two  days  more  for  the  hospitalities  of 
Yakutsk. 

Accordingly,  on  the  morning  of  the  eighteenth,  I  paid  my  farewell 
visit  to  Governor  Roodikofl',  when  we  pledged  each  other,  without 
much  regard  to  the  earliness  of  the  hour,  in  more  than  one  bumper  of 
champagne ;  and,  at  length,  with  much  regret,  I  shook  hands  with  my 
excellent  friend  and  his  amiable  family.  By  the  by,  Madame  Roodi- 
koff  and  her  two  pretty  daughters,  seemed  scarcely  to  understand  my 
English  style  of  taking  leave,  the  Russian  mode  of  salutation  being  for 
the  gentleman  to  kiss  the  lady's  hand,  and  for  the  lady,  in  her  turn,  to 
kiss  the  gentleman's  cheek.  After  an  early  dinner  at  Mr.  Shagin's, 
we  started  at  two  in  the  afternoon  for  Bestach,  accompanied  by  the 
head  of  the  police.  Our  whole  party  consisted  of  a  britska  with  five 
horses,  and  two  telegas  with  three  each.  Our  road  ran  through  what 
must  have  been  the  ancient  bed  of  the  Lena,  a  valley  of  twelve  or  four- 
teen miles  in  width,  embanked  on  either  side,  as  already  mentioned,  by 
a  ridge  of  several  hundred  feet  in  height.  The  sandy  soil  produced 
nothing  but  short  tufty  grass,  excepting  that,  in  swamps  and  near 
creeks,  the  vegetation  was  somewhat  more  luxuriant.  We  passed 
through  a  number  of  native  settlements,  consisting  at  present,  not  merely 
of  the  yourti  for  winter,  but  also  of  the  urossi  for  summer,  the  former 
covered  with  mud,  and  the  latter  formed  of  birch  bark.  We  changed 
horses  three  times,  and  reached  Bestach  at  ten  in  the  evening,  having 
come  over  the  ground  at  the  rate  of  ten  or  twelve  miles  an  hour,  to  the 
great  hazard  of  our  vehicles,  and  our  own  necks.  On  our  last  stage, 
in  fact,  my  own  postboy  was  thrown,  while  the  five  horses  and  the 
britska  passed  over  him.  I,  of  course,  expected  to  see  him  picked  up 
a  corpse ;  but,  to  our  great  surprise,  he  escaped  without  even  a  bruise. 

From  Bestach  our  good  friend,  the  head  of  the  police,  returned  to 
Yakutsk,  having  first,  however,  sent  forward  his  deputy  to  make  ar- 
rangements for  us  at  every  station,  and  also  left  a  Cossack  sergeant  in 
the  boat  to  keep  all  and  sundry,  with  whom  we  might  have  any  inter- 
course, on  the  alert.  The  stages  are  of  various  lengths,  generally 
ranging  between  tv/enty  and  forty  versts.  At  each  station  there  is  a 
postmaster  who,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  wears  uniform  ;  and  the  pea- 
sants are  bound  to  provide  horses  and  drivers  for  the  towing  of  boats 
at  a  regulated  price,  about  a  halfpenny  a  verst  for  each  mounted  man, 


if' 


r'  PI 


i 


t 


I '.(ft 


I  pi 


144 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LEl^A. 


while,  in  consideration  of  ihis  duty,  they  are  exempted  from  all  other 
public  services. 

Within  an  hour  after  reaching  Bestach  we  got  under  way  with  a 
tolerably  comfortable  boat  for  ourselves,  and  a  smaller  one  in  tow  for 
our  Cossack  and  servants.  These  boats  for  passengers,  which  draw 
from  a  foot  and  a  half  to  two  feet  of  water,  are  divided  into  three  parts. 
Near  the  bow  is  a  floor  of  earth  or  brick  or  stone,  on  which  a  fire  is 
made  for  cooking;  at  the  stern  are  laid  a  few  planks  on  the  gunwales, 
for  the  helmsmrii ;  and  the  centre  is  formed,  by  means  of  a  covering  of 
canvas  and  boards,  into  a  sort  of  cabin  or  crib  for  the  passengers.  These 
craft,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  are  towed  by  horses,  with  one 
driver  to  each  animal;  but,  when  the  men  are  prevented  from  attend- 
ing by  sickness,  or  by  any  pressing  business  of  which  the  postmaster 
is  to  judge  the  sufficiency,  they  arc  allowed  to  substitute  boys  or  wo- 
men or  anybody,  making  up  in  number  what  is  wanting  in  strength. 
At  the  verv  first  we  had  the  benefit  of  this  rule, — a  rule  reasonable 
enough  in  itself, — for  to  our  four  animals  we  had  six  useless  creatures 
of  drivers,  all  of  them  either  too  young  for  hard  work  or  too  old  for 
active  service. 

Our  first  night  on  the  Lena  was  rendered  as  uncomfortable  as  possi- 
ble by  various  causes.  Our  little  prison,  besides  being  hot  and  close, 
was  infested  by  swarms  of  mosquitoes;  and  our  conductors,  being  fre- 
quently obliged,  when  the  shoals  ran  too  far  out  for  towing,  to  drag  our 
boat  over  flats  up  to  their  waists  in  water,  kept  up  a  clamor  that  would 
have  prevented  us  from  sleeping  under  far  more  favorable  circumstances. 

My  sleepless  hours  were  made  still  more  miserable  by  gloomy  fore- 
bodings of  the  length  of  our  voyjige;  and  1  was  quite  firm  in  my  belief 
that,  at  our  present  rate  of  progress,  we  could  not  possibly  reach  Ir- 
kutsk within  any  reasonable  time. 

The  approach  of  daylight  did  not  much  mend  the  matter.  Two 
thousand  five  hundred  versts  on  the  broad,  shallow,  sluggish  Lena  with 
its  cliff's  of  clay  or  sandstone  were  a  dismal  subject  for  calculation. 
We  were  but  little  more  at  liberty  than  when  we  were  in  bed.  We 
could  not  move  from  our  places  without  incommoding  each  other ;  we 
could  not  walk  along  the  bank,  for  the  horses,  when  towing,  went  too 
fast  to  be  followed,  and  the  people,  when  tracking,  were  struggling  in 
the  stream  at  a  great  distance  from  the  shore;  and,  even  on  stopping 
at  the  stations  to  change  our  cattle,  we  were  not  sure  of  setting  foot  on 
land,  as  the  boat  sometimes  stopped  a  full  verst  from  the  houses.  We 
had  no  English  books  at  hand;  and,  as  we  were  all  getting  tired  of 
each  other,  we  had  very  little  conversation.  Even  local  topics  of  dis- 
cussion were  nearly  out  of  the  question,  for  my  Russian  fellow-traveler, 
through  whom  alone  we  could  obtain  any  information,  was  certainly 
the  most  taciturn  of  the  three,  having,  in  fact,  become  so  before  he  had 
this  lazy  river  and  our  floating  cage  as  an  excuse. 
'  Our  grand  hope  was  that  the  waters  would  rise.  In  the  evening, 
we  were  heartily  glad  of  a  thunder  storm  and  heavy  fall  of  rain ;  and 
the  good  people  were  tolerably  confident,  that  after  to-morrow,  which 
was  St.  Elias's  day,  the  river  would  swell  out  as  usual. 


t 


\ 


%. 


(1  from  all  otlicr 

der  way  with  a 
•  one  in  tow  for 
rs,  which  draw 
into  three  parts, 
which  a  fire  is 
n  the  gunwales, 
of  a  covering  of 
sengers.  These 
orses,  with  one 
ed  from  attend- 
1  the  postmaster 
tute  boys  or  wo- 
ting  in  strength, 
rule  reasonable 
useless  creatures 
rk  or  too  old  for 

fortable  as  possi- 
ig  hot  and  close, 
uctors,  being  fre- 
wing,  to  drag  our 
lamor  that  would 
le  circumstances, 
by  gloomy  fore- 
firm  in  my  belief 
ossibly  reach  Ir- 

e  matter.     Two 
iggish  Lena  with 

for  calculation, 
re  in  bed.     We 

each  other ;  we 
towing,  went  too 
ere  struggling  in 
ven  on  stopping 
of  setting  foot  on 

le  houses.  We 
getting  tired  of 
cal  topics  of  dis- 
n  fellow-traveler, 

n,  was  certainly 

so  before  he  had 

In  the  evening, 
fall  of  rain ;  and 
-morrow,  which 


il. 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


146 


In  the  course  of  the  day,  I  lost  the  only  sight  that  was  worth  seeing, 
in  trying  to  beguile  the  tedious  hours  by  dosing.  I  allude  to  the  per- 
pendicular rocks  of  great  height  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  very 
appropriately  called  slolby  or  the  pillars. 

Our  first  day's  work,  reckoning  from  Bestach,  was  as  follows: 

Tayau-Arinsk,  28  versts 

Tish-Arinsk  42     " 

Bushameskaya  23     " 

93  versts. 

On  the  twentieth,  St.  Elias  was  as  good  as  his  word.  A  few  re- 
freshing showers  cooled  the  atmosphere;  and,  as  every  litUe  would 
help,  we  trusted  that  they  might  have  contributed  to  raise  the  Lena. 
To-day  our  Cossack,  after  making  a  good  deal  of  noise,  got  some  abler 
drivers  for  us.  But  this  forced  labor,  in  spite  of  the  remuneration, 
evidently  fell  very  heavily  on  the  poor  people,  more  particularly  at  this 
season  of  the  year,  when  they  required  fully  all  their  time  for  getting 
in  their  hay,  the  only  provender  against  winter  for  the  herds  on  whicli 
their  own  subsistence  chiefly  depended.  We  were  still  far  below  Olek- 
nimsk,  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  were  to  be  seen  the  first  attempts 
at  agriculture.  Our  stations  contained  merely  eight  or  ten  peasants 
each,  who  scraped  together  a  scanty  livelihood  by  the  towing  of  boats 
and  the  pasturing  of  cattle.  Their  ancestors,  principally  exiles  and 
old  soldiers,  must  have  been  partly  planted  by  government  without 
their  own  consent,  and  partly  induced  to  make  so  unfavorable  a  selec- 
tion by  an  exemption  from  taxes,  or  perhaps  by  the  temptations  of  the 
fur  trade. 

Whatever  might  be  the  difficulties  of  the  case,  our  friend  ahead  took 
care  that  we  should  experience  no  delay  at  the  stations ;  and  to-day  he 
stopped  till  we  overtook  him,  to  ascertain  whether  we  found  everything 
as  it  should  be.     He  was  a  Pole  by  birth,  very  civil  and  chatty. 

The  river  varied  in  breadth  from  five  or  six  versts  to  three  or  four, 
being  divided  by  islands  and  sandbanks  into  different  channels.  The 
shores  consisted,  for  the  most  part,  of  high  and  broken  rocks.  Our 
stations  were :  ^ 

t      Sinkaya  28  versts 

Onmooranskaya  32       " 

Foorniskaya  25 


H 


« 


)\ 


-  •«.      **■ . 
85  versts. 

In  the  course  of  the  night,  we  sprang  a  leak,  which,  after  causing  a 
good  deal  of  confusion  and  alarm,  was  fortunately  stopped  without 
having  done  any  material  damage. 

During  next  day  we  passed  a  rocky  island,  ten  or  twelve  versts 
long,  of  exactly  the  same  character  as  the  mainland ;  and  it  had  all  the 
appearance  of  having  at  one  time  formed  the  bank  of  the  river,  till  the 
stream,  by  ploughing  for  itself  a  passage  behind,  had  cast  it,  as  it  were, 
adrifl  from  the  shore.     At  one  of  the  stations  I  saw  some  bread,  which 

PART  II. — 10  ^:   ^ 


\f  .■'•j'- 


'^Si 


■■'■  I 


-J 


f 


146 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


,|i 


had  been  made  of  rye  and  the  inner  bark  of  the  larch  ground  up  toge- 
ther. On  this  unsavory  substance,  with  sour  milk,  tlie  poor  people, 
in  a  great  measure,  lived ;  and  they  were  considered  to  fare  sumptu- 
ously indeed,  if  they  could  add  a  little  of  something  that  looked  very 
much  like  tallow,  being  a  mixture  of  curd  and  butter  melted  together 
into  a  mould.  As  to  the  article  of  dress,  they  were  clad  almost  exclu- 
sively in  the  skins  of  their  defunct  nags  ;  and  their  verv  feet  were  en- 
veloped in  stockings  of  horse  hair,  which,  I  apprehend,  would  make  a 
very  satisfactory  kind  of  penance  for  the  tender  feet  of  some  other  re- 
gions. 

As  we  contrived  to  get'six  horses  instead  of  four,  with  a  correspond- 
ing increase  in  the  number  of  drivers,  we  made  a  longer  march  to-day 
than  usual.    Our  stations  were  : 


Tsitskaya 

Malikanskaya 

Saniyachtachskaya 


34  versts 

35  " 
42       " 


i 


^     4 


'   'i 


'H'- 


Iti 


'  ■■       '  111  versts. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  our  voyage  from  Bestach,  we  were  met,  at  the 
station  of  Marchinskaya,  by  the  police  master  of  Olekminsk,  who  had 
come,  by  direction  of  the  kind  and  considerate  Captain  Roodikoff, 
to  succeed  his  brother  in  trade  from  Yakutsk  in  making  arrangements 
for  us  beforehand  at  the  different  stations.  As  our  Pole  was  now  to 
return,  I  sent  by  him,  as  a  trifling  acknowledgment  of  ♦he  gallant 
governor's  untiring  politeness,  the  remainder  of  our  stock,  .  jout  eight 
gallons,  of  port  wine,  feeling  assured  that  he  would  appreciate  the  gift 
as  an  expression  of  my  sense  of  obligation,  independently  of  its  being 
something  in  Yakutsk,  where  a  genuine  glass  of  the  kind  was  perhaps 
never  seen  before. 

Our  new  friend  was  a  brother  of  Mr.  Atlasoff",  of  Ochotsk.  He  met 
us  in  full  uniform,  with  cocked  hat,  sword,  and  white  gloves.  Be  had 
been  thirty-eight  years  in  the  service,  and,  during  the  whole  of  that 
time,  had  never  been  out  of  the  district  of  Yakutsk.  He  appeared  to  be  as 
remarkable  in  the  way  of  reindeer  as  his  brother  was  with  snow-shoes, 
having  driven  the  same  animals  two  hundred  versts  a  day  for  three  or 
four  days  consecutively,  and  having  ridden  one  of  the  creatures  for  a 
similar  period  at  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  rate  just  mentioned.  If  the 
reindeer  falls  to  the  ground  through  exhaustion,  the  rider  or  driver 
seizes  the  animal's  tongue,  holding  it  out  of  its  mouth  for  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  :  if  this  be  done,  it  generally  reccrrs ;  if  not,  it  is  pretty  sure 
to  die.  In  riding,  the  grand  diflUculty  is  :,>  keep  the  saddle  firm,  which, 
from  the  uncongenial  shape  of  the  brute's  back,  has  always  a  tendency 
to  slip  about  in  every  possible  direction,  sometimes  to  the  right  and 
sometimes  to  the  left,  sometimes  backwards  and  sometimes  forwards. 
In  summer,  the  reindeer's  principal  food  is  moss ;  but,  in  winter,  it 
thrives  well  on  frozen  fish. 

At  the  station,  where  we  met  Mr.  Atlasoff,  we  got  the  titemay,  a  sort 
of  salmon  trout,  and  the  stirlitz,  a  kind  of  sturgeon,  both  very  good  in 


m 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


147 


rround  up  toge- 
le  poor  people, 
o  fare  sumptu- 
hat  looked  very 
melted  together 
id  almost  exclu- 
V  feet  were  en- 
,  would  make  a 
f  some  other  re- 

:h  a  correspoiul- 
cr  march  to-day 


were  met,  at  tlir 
Lminsk,  who  had 
plain  Roodikoff, 
ing  arrangements 
Pole  was  now  to 
nt  of  *he  gallant 
tock,  .  jout  eight 
ppreciate  the  gift 
cntly  of  its  being 
ind  was  perhaps 

ehotsk.     He  met 
gloves.     Be  had 
le  whole  of  that 
appeared  to  be  as 
with  snow-shoes, 
day  for  three  or 
le  creatures  for  a 
sntioned.     If  the 
3  rider  or  driver 
for  ten  or  fifteen 
,  it  is  pretty  sure 
iddle  firm,  which, 
ways  a  tendency 
to  the  light  and 
etimes  forwards, 
but,  in  winter,  it 

le  titemay,  a  sort 
loth  very  good  in 


their  way.     The  yelma,or  white  salmon,  reckoned  the  best  fish  in  the 
river,  I  did  not  consider  to  be  by  any  means  of  fine  flavor. 

The  banks,  which  had  hitherto  been  generally  steep  and  rocky, 
were  now  considerably  changed  in  appearance,  sloping,  in  most  places, 
down  to  the  water's  edge.  The  stream  itself  had  improved,  too,  for 
St.  Elias  had  done  his  duty  so  well  as  to  allow  us  to  approach  the 
shore  near  enough  for  being  conveniently  towed.  We  met  several 
canoes  of  birch  bark,  similar  in  form  to  those  that  we  had  seen  on  the 
Aldan  and  the  Pend'  d'Oreille,  with  the  long  double  paddle  of  the  Esqui- 
maux. In  the  forenoon,  a  heavy  squall  drove  our  boat  on  tlie  beach, 
setting  our  little  tender  adrift;  the  wind  was  very  fresh  for  a  short 
time,  raising  a  jabble  of  a  sea  and  uprooting  the  trees  around  us.  For 
a  wonder,  we  got  ashore  five  minutes  to-day  and  had  a  bath, — quite 
an  event  to  us,  after  having  been  huddled  together  nearly  four  days 
and  nights,  without  space  to  stretch  our  legs  or  even  to  enjoy  tlie  full 
swing  of  a  comfortable  yawn.     Our  stations  were  : 

Marchimskaya  41  versts 

Chalik  Toomool  22     " 

63  versts. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  night  a  quantity  of  rain  fell,  so  that  the 
various  streams,  whose  mouths  we  passed  next  day,  were  consider- 
ably swollen.  St.  Elias,  in  fact,  was  sustaining  his  reputation  admi- 
rably, improving,  at  the  same  time,  our  navigation  in  spite  of  our 
heretical  skepticism. 

As  a  piece  of  great  luck,  we  got  a  walk  on  shore  of  three  or  four 
versts  thfs  forenoon ;  and  much  we  needed  some  exercise,  eating  and 
sleeping,  varied  only  by  sleeping  and  eating,  having  rendered  us  stiff* 
and  puffy,  quite  unfit,  in  short,  for  the  work  that  we  should  have  to 
perform  after  quitting  the  lazy  Lena.  Though  the  scenery  was 
becoming  softer,  with  an  occasional  symptom  of  agriculture,  yet  we 
could  hardly  bring  ourselves  to  take  any  interest  in  anything  but  our 
rate  of  progress.  The  only  feature  in  the  day's  work,  that  roused  our 
attention,  was  an  assemblage  of  bluff"  rocks,  standing  out  from  the 
general  line  of  the  shore  in  the  form  of  pillars,  chimneys,  turrets,  &c. 
We  had  been  five  days  from  Bestach  without  having  accomplished  the 
fifth  part  of  our  voyage.     Our  stations  were  : 

Charabalskaya  22  versts 

Mamaniuskaya  45      " 

Solianskaya  44      " 

111  versts. 

The  station  of  Solianskaya,  which  we  passed  in  the  night,  was  said 
to  derive  its  name  from  some  saline  springs  in  its  neighborhood.  At 
four  in  the  morning,  being  our  sixth  from  Bestach,  we  reached  Olek- 
minsk,  where  we  were  received  with  the  utmost  kindness  and  atten- 
tion by  Mr.  AtlasoflT,  who  had  stopped  here  in  order  to  dispense  to  us 
the  hospitalities  of  his  own  home.     Though  the  landing  place  was  not 


'  i 


Ik 


f 


148 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


,m 


above  five  hundred  yards  from  his  house,  yet  a  drosky,  drawn  by  a 
spirited  pair  of  black  horses,  was  waiting  to  carry  us,  with  some  ten 
or  twelve  Cossacks,  to  dance  attendance  on  all  sides.  The  residence 
was  comfortable  and  commodious,  the  floor  actually  looking  as  clean 
and  white  as  if  it  had  been  holy-stoned  for  half  a  century, — as  it  might 
have  been,  for  the  building,  though  only  of  wood,  was  yet  nearly  a 
hundred  years  old.  We  were  introduced  to  Madame  AtlasofT  and  her 
son,  who  did  the  honors  of  our  reception  with  a  good  grace.  These 
Atlasoffs,  as  I  have  already  mentioned  with  respect  to  the  gentleman 
of  the  name  at  Ochotsk,  were  justly  proud  of  being  descended  from 
the  original  conqueror  of  Kamschalka.  Perhaps,  as  a  whole,  the 
Siberian  conquests  of  the  Cossacks  were  more  marvelous  than  any 
other  series  of  similar  exploits,  for,  from  the  days  of  Yermac,  to  be 
hereafter  noticed,  to  those  of  our  host's  ancestor,  they  subjugated  one 
populous  tribe  after  another  in  bands  so  small, — often  in  twenties,  and 
twelves,  and  tens, — as  to  throw  into  the  shade  the  hardihood  of  the 
first  invaders  of  Mexico  and  Peru. 

According  to  custom,  we  began  the  day,  even  at  this  early  hour,  by 
taking  a  glass  of  tea,  with  cream  and  rusk ;  and  then,  after  visiting  the 
church  and  whatever  else  was  to  be  seen  in  the  towif,  we  returned, 
about  half-past  six,  to  a  substantial  breakfast,  at  which  our  host  insisted 
on  my  occupying  the  chair.  Before  proceeding  to  real  business,  we 
had  a  relish,  which,  to  us,  would  have  been  a  splendid  meal,  in  the 
shape  of  caviar,  radishes,  salted  fish,  bread,  gin,  and  rum,  with  a  glass 
of  nalifky,  a  native  spirit  extracted  from  rye,  and  flavored  with  berries 
and  sweetmeats.  Having  appetized  ourselves  in  this  pleasant  way, 
we  did  the  amplest  justice  to  a  genuine  feast  of  fresh  patties,  beef- 
steaks, sweet-bread,  soup  and  bouillon,  stewed  prunes,  cream,  &c.  &c. 

The  neatness  of  the  whole  premises  bore  testimony  to  the  taste  and 
ingenuity  of  this  agreeable  family.  In  the  windows  were  tubs  of 
flowers,  which  were  then  all  in  blossom;  and  the  Siberian  rose  in 
particular  was  very  pretty,  with  its  semi-transparent  stem  and  leaves. 
In  the  garden  were  cucumbers,  peas,  and  various  other  vegetables. 

Like  all  the  other  settlements  that  we  had  seen,  Olekminsk  stood  on 
the  west  or  left  bank  of  the  river,  which  thus  appeared  to  form  a  kind 
of  definite  boundary  between  civilization  and  barbarism.  It  derives  its 
name  from  the  Olekma,  which  falls  into  the  Lena  immediately  oppo- 
site to  the  town.  In  spring,  the  lower  parts  of  Olekminsk  are  subject 
to  inundations;  but  the  climate,  notwithstanding  the  periodical  visits  of 
intermittent  fever,  is  considered  healthy. 

The  town  contained  about  fifty  houses,  with  a  population  of  about 
four  hundred  souls;  and  the  whole  district,  according  to  Mr.  AtlasofT's 
statement,  numbered  four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-three 
males,  being  three  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty  Yakuti,  five 
hundred  and  twenty  Tungusi,  and  six  hundred  and  thirty-three  Rus- 
sians, or  about  ten  thousand  of  both  sexes  in  all.  The  climate  is 
sufficiently  good  for  potatoes,  rye,  oats,  and  even  wheat,  at  least  of  the 
Himalayan  variety.  Still,  however,  the  seasons  are  so  uncertain,  more 
particularly  with  respect  to  the  early  frosts,  that  the  rye  varies  from  a 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


149 


*    " .  ,ij 


,J»*. 


maximum  of  forty  returns  to  a  minimum  of  five,  while  wheaten  flour 
ranges  between  twelve  and  thirty-six  roubles  a  pood. 

Mr.  Atlasofl*  and  three  merchants  were  tht  rincipal  inhabitants. 
These  good  people,  contrary  to  the  standing  rule  in  small  communities, 
contrived  to  live  together  on  terms  of  perfect  harmony;  and,  as  the 
village  boasted  a  resident  fiddler,  their  social  meetings  generally  ended 
in  a  dance.  The  leading  trader  is  an  experimental  farmer,  dividing  his 
attention  between  agriculture  and  commerce;  and,  in  his  well  regulated 
establishment,  I  saw  a  small  flock  of  sheep,  an  old  billy  goat,  several 
cows  and  calves,  a  number  of  tame  geese,  and  lastly,  two  pairs  of 
cranes  from  the  Vittim,  stepping  about  in  a  very  lady-like  manner. 
On  the  very  day  before  our  arrival,  one  of  the  other  two  merchants 
had  gone  mad.  The  first  symptom  of  his  derangement  had  been  his 
demanding  from  Mr.  Atlasofl"  a  passport  to  St.  Petersburgh,  to  enable 
him  to  organize  a  mercantile  association,  "of  which,"  said  the  worthy 
magistrate,  crossing  himself  devoutly,  "  the  Almighty  was  to  be  presi- 
dent, and  the  emperor  vice  president." 

At  Olekminsk  there  is  an  annual  fair,  which  is  attended  by  the  itinerant 
dealers  as  they  descend  the  Lena,  on  their  way  to  Yakutsk.  The  prin- 
cipal articles  of  native  production  are  the  far-famed  sables  of  the  Olekma, 
universally  admitted  to  be  the  finest  in  the  world.  They  are  found  on 
the  river  just  named,  which  rises  in  the  Yablonnoi  chain,  forming  the 
northeastern  portions  of  the  boundary  between  Russia  and  China  ;  and 
the  annual  returns  usually  amount  to  five  or  six  hundred  skins.  These 
sables  are  extravaganfly  high  even  at  Olekminsk,  having  this  year 
fetched  fifteen  hundred  roubles  for  forty,  as  they  rose  from  the  pile, 
and  having  last  year  brought  a  thousand  roubles  more,  so  that  the  mere 
diffierence  between  two  successive  seasons,  has  been  upwards  of  a 
pound  sterling  on  the  price  of  every  single  skin.  In  addition  to  the 
sables,  many  squirrels  of  a  very  valuable  description,  and  also  a  few 
bears,  wolves,  and  foxes,  are  exposed  at  the  annual  fair.  As  the  trap- 
pers trace  the  Olekma  to  its  very  sources,  distant,  by  the  crow's  flight, 
about  four  hundred  miles,  hunting  all  the  way  wherever  there  is  pro- 
fitable ground,  they  are  about  ten  months  absent  from  the  Lena,  start- 
ing in  August  and  returning  in  June.  It  is,  in  fact,  towards  the  head  of 
the  river  that  the  best  skins  are  found,  for  ihe  animals  appear  to  get 
sleeker,  as  well  as  more  numerous,  in  proportion  to  the  remoteness  of 
the  haunts  of  men.  Of  this  principle  the  opposite  shores  of  the  Lena, 
separated  from  each  other,  at  most,  by  a  breadth  of  five  or  six  versts, 
furnish  a  remarkable  exemplification,  the  furs  on  the  west  bank  being 
comparatively  coarse  and  scarce,  and  those  on  the  east  bank  fine  and 
abundant. 

Having  obtained  a  good  supply  of  vegetables  and  fresh  provisions, 
we  left  Olekminsk,  Mr.  Atlasoff  preceding  us  as  before  ;  and  about  five 
in  the  afternoon  we  reached  the  station  of  Berdinskaya,  whence  we 
were  tracked  twenty  versts  by  men.  Whilst  proceeding  in  this  way, 
we  passed  an  island  peopled  by  Yakuti ;  and  our  steersman,  seeiny; 
seven  or  eight  fellows  sleeping  on  the  bank  without  any  thought  of  a 


I* 


■:»' 


.'111 

»  m 


U: 


^P 


150 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


V, 


:    1 


towinp  lino,  pointed  out  tho  providential  reiiiforcemont  to  his  wearied 
companions.  The  Yakiiti  awoke  just  in  time  to  make  a  good  race  ol' 
it ;  but,  after  a  sharp  hunt  among  the  willows,  they  were  all  forced  to 
lend  a  hand  at  the  rope.  Such  a  chase  is  sometimes  carried  into  effect 
even  in  joke,  for  the  timid  Yakuti  sul)mit  to  this  species  of  impress- 
ment with  characteristic  pusillanimity. 

The  settlements  were  more  numerous  to-day ;  and  the  extent  of  cul- 
tivated land  regularly  increased.     Our  stations  were  : 

,  Olekminsk  25  vcrsts 

Berdinskaya  30 

Tsherciiduskaya  33 


i:f*.  »*i\ 


88  vcrsts. 

During  the  night  the  wind  was  fresh  ;  and  we  had  an  alarm  of  ship- 
wreck, though  happily  we  escaped  that  calamity. 

Next  day,  being  our  seventh  from  Bestac'i  our  Cossack  gave  us  a 
specimen  of  his  summary  discipline.  As  the  progress  of  the  boat  was 
not  equal  to  the  irascibility  of  his  temper,  the  man  of  office  went 
ashore  in  a  small  canoe  to  quicken  the  pace  ;  and,  having  made  six  of 
the  miserable  drivers,  Russians  and  Yakuti,  dismount  at  the  word  of 
command,  he  belabored  them  in  turn  with  a  thick  stick,  apparently 
distributing  his  favors  with  the  utmost  impartiality.  The  unresisting 
wretches  seemed  to  feel  the  wanton  outrage  far  less  than  ourselves  ; 
they  took  the  whole  thing  as  a  matter  of  course.  They  were,  perhaps, 
conscious  of  having,  in  some  uf  j»;ree,  deserved  what  they  got ;  and  I 
certainly  found,  as  Captain  Cochrane  had  found  before  me,  that,  under 
the  system  of  corporeal  chastisement,  the  people  had  become  so  de- 
graded as  hardly  to  appreciate,  at  least  within  the  limits  of  a  traveler's 
patience,  the  force  of  any  other  motive. 

The  country  still  continued  to  improve  as  we  ascended.  The  popu- 
lation was  less  scanty ;  the  presence  of  several  flocks  of  sheep  bore 
evidence  of  the  amelioration  of  the  climate ;  and  the  scenery  was  less 
juonotonous,  for  the  banks  showed  many  well  wooded  hills,  while 
numberless  streams,  large  and  small,  flowed  into  the  Lena  through  the 
intermediate  valleys. 

Our  stations  were :  • 


^■■if 


Nelinskaya 

40  versts 

Delgiskaya 

28       " 

Berdoffski  Ostrog 

35       " 

103  versts. 

Next  day  we  walked  some  ten  versts  along  shore,  killing  time  plea- 
santly enough  by  gathering  blue  berries  and  excellent  currants.  The 
settlers  seemed  to  be  comfortably  lodged  and  well  clad,  while  for  their 
maintenance  they  had  abundance  of  cattle,  sheep,  poultry,  grain,  pota- 
toes and  vegetables.     In  spite  of  the  want  of  schools,  all  the  Russians 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAf.E 


E  LKNA 


151 


!  '■■ 


extent  of  cul- 


of  every  apjc,  and  many  of  tlio  Yakuti,  could  read  and  writp,  ed  i«Mn 
hc'ing  hanihnl  down,  vitry  nnicli  to  the  credit  of  the  people,  :t»  :  heir- 
loom from  father  to  son.  This  we  understood  to  i)e  more  or  s  the 
case  all  over  ICastern  Siheria. 

In  the  evcnini^  wo  passed  some  very  remarkable  roeks,  partly  on  the 
mainland  and  partly  on  islands,  known  as  the  "hurrah"  roeks  from 
their  being  sainted  with  loud  shouts  by  the  boatmen  descending  the 
river  in  loaded  craft.  This  custom  most  probably  originated  in  the 
resemblance  borne  by  the  rocks  in  question  to  human  habitations. 
They  were  said  to  have  the  appearance  of  chimneys,  battlements,  pil- 
lars, gables,  and  the  like;  but  most  of  this  we  were  obliged  to  take  on 
trust,  for,  as  we  passed  the  spot  towards  the  close  of  twilight,  we  saw 
but  little  of  the  curiosities.  Speaking  of  the  downward  craft,  we  had 
met  a  heavily  laden  tub  to-day,  carrying  to  Yakutsk  supplies  of  grain, 
stores  and  provisions.  It  was  a  large  batteau  made  of  round  logs, 
which  were  covered  with  boards,  while  rough  planks  were  nailed  on 
the  tops  of  the  sides  by  way  of  gunwales.  It  was,  in  truth,  nothing 
more  than  a  raft,  drifting  down  tlic  current  with  some  six  or  seven 
people  on  board  to  keep  it  out  of  mischief.  Such  crazy  and  unman- 
ageable barges  are  so  slow  in  their  movements,  that,  after  wasting  the 
whole  season  of  open  water,  they  are  sometimes  overtaken  by  winter 
before  they  reach  the  remoter  stations  to  the  north  of  Yakutsk,  causing 
a  great  deal  of  expense  and  loss  to  the  government,  and  not  a  little  of 
inconvenience  and  misery  to  the  settlers.  Even  without  the  aid  of 
steam,  the  evil  might  be  remedied  by  the  introduction  of  a  faster  class 
of  vessels.  One  should,  however,  remember,  that,  as  the  upward 
freight  is  much  less  bulky  than  the  downward,  the  rafts  in  question 
are  employed  only  for  the  one  single  voyage,  being  broken  up,  at  their 
place  of  destination,  for  fencing,  &.c.  To  get  the  vessels  along,  such 
as  they  are,  every  artifice  is  adopted.  When  the  winds  are  favorable, 
sails  are  hoisted ;  and  when  there  is  no  propelling  force  but  that  of  the 
water,  trees,  attached  to  the  bows,  are  sunk  with  their  branches  fore- 
most so  as  to  take  a  deeper  hold  of  the  current. 

This  was  our  last  day  of  Mr.  Atlasoff,  for  Kamenskaya,  taking  its 
name,  by  the  by,  from  the  rocks  just  mentioned,  which  were  a  little 
below  it,  was  the  most  southerly  place  in  the  Yakutsk  district;  but, 
before  leaving  us,  he  sent  forward  a  light  boat  to  intimate  to  the  dif- 
ferent postmasters  on  the  route,  that  persons  of  distinction,  under  the 
immediate  care  and  protection  of  government,  would  require  to  find 
horses  and  drivers  ready  at  every  station.  We  parted  from  this  very 
worthy  man  with  such  a  sense  of  his  services  as  made  us  regret  that 
he  did  not  hold  some  appointment  more  appropriate  to  his  deserts ; 
and  we  liked  him  all  the  better  for  the  honest  pride  with  which  he 
traced  his  descent  in  a  direct  line  from  the  Atlasoff  of  Kamschatka. 

From  Olekminsk,  where  it  was  five  versts  wide,  the  Lena  had  gradu- 
ally diminished  in  breadth,  till  now  it  resembled  in  size  the  Sas- 
katchewan at  Carlton,  with  only  about  half  a  mile  from  shore  to  shore, 
while  its  surface  was  still  farther  contracted  by  its  being  studded  with 
islands  of  pine,  birch,  and  willow.     Our  stations  were: 


I* 


162 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


Tilahelnaya 
Nocktooflkaya 
FidayHkaya 
KainciiHkaya 

30  verstt 
20       " 
85       " 
83       " 

« 

114  versts. 

Next  day,  being  our  ninth  from  nestarh,  carried  us  through  a  coun- 
try 80  sterile  and  poor,  that  the  inhabitants,  to  all  appearance,  contrived 
to  support  themselves  only  by  dint  of  the  most  miserable  expedients. 
The  cone  of  the  stone  pine,  when  roasted,  formed  a  part  of  their  food, 
being  far  inferior  in  flavor  to  the  same  kind  of  thing  that  we  had  re- 
ceived from  the  worthy  monks  of  Santa  Barbara.  Among  the  utensiN 
of  the  peasants,  I  noticed  a  quoirn,  such  as  was  once  commonly  used 
in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  for  grinding  oats  and  barley ;  and  I  also 
observed  shoes  of  birch  bark,  very  indifferent  wear,  I  should  imagine, 
for  rough  or  wet  roads.  These  poor  people  might  be  regarded  as  vic- 
tims for  the  public  good,  for  they  might  mend  their  position  even  by 
goiner  down  the  r'ver,  if  they  were  not  obliged  to  remain,  in  order  to 
presci .?  ♦^'  continuity  of  the  line  of  conveyance. 

Yerlinsky,  our  first  station  of  this  morning,  lay  within  the  limits  of 
the  Irkutsk  government.  At  this  place,  under  the  orthography  of 
Djeibensky  or  Jerbat,  Captain  Cochrane  found  a  remarkable  cave,  of 
which,  however,  the  unphilosophical  denizens  appeared  to  be  entirely 
ignorant.     Our  stations  were  : 

Yerbinskaya  35  versts 

Ninskaya  36       " 

Sildikooskaya  30       " 

Boogroogrinskaya  (halQ  ,  22 


i( 


123  versts. 

Next  day,  the  sole  incident  in  our  monotonous  life  was  the  purchase 
of  our  first  sheep.     Our  stations  were :  '  - 

Boogroogrinskaya  (half)  22  versts 

Moochtinskaya  25  " 

Kintiskaya  49  " 

Chamra  28  "        ' 


'* 


('•      I 


124  versts. 

Next  day  being  our  eleventh  from  Bestach,  we  passed,  in  the  after- 
noon, the  station  of  Kristoffskaya,  said  to  be  half-way  biiween  Yakutsk 
and  Irkutsk.  In  the  evening  we  went  ashore  at  Pooloodoffskaya,  where 
there  were  about  a  hundred  inhabitants,  with  many  fields  of  potatoes, 
barlisy,  rye  and  oats.  While  we  were  exploring  one  of  their  houses, 
prying,  perhaps,  too  curiously  into  everything,  we  were  furiously 
attcicked  by  a  woman,  who  took  us  for  petty  robbers ;  but  to  make 
amends  for  the  lady's  churlishness,  the  elder  of  the  village,  a  fine,  good- 
humored,  old  man,  oflered  us  cream,  berries,  and  nuts,  with  the  evident 


Kti 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  l/P  THE  LENA. 


153 


irough  a  coun- 
mcc,  contrived 
lie  expedients. 
:  of  their  food, 
hat  we  had  re- 
ng  the  ntensiliii 
ommonly  used 
3y  ;  and  I  also 
^ould  imagine, 
;garded  as  vic- 
sition  even  by 
tin,  in  order  to 

n  the  limits  of 

irthography  of 

rkable  cave,  of 

to  be  entirely 

its 


)ts. 

IS  the  purchase 

3tS 


StS. 

d,  in  the  after- 
ween  Yakutsk 
ffskaya,  where 
8  of  potatoes, 
their  houses, 
ere  furiously 
;  but  to  make 
3,  a  fine,  good- 
th  the  evident 


inlcntion  of  removing  any  bad  imprcHMion  from  our  minds.  The  nmuii* 
ing  fierceness  of  the  virago  in  question,  as  ilio  solitary  exception  to  the 
l^encral  rule,  only  tended  to  make  us  appreciate  more  highly  the  hos- 
pitality and  kindness  of  all  classes  of  the  poptdution  of  Kastcrn  Siberia. 
'I'o-day  we  overtook  six  fellows,  four  Kussians  and  two  Yakuti,  who 
were  going  to  Irkutsk  on  a  charge  of  murder,  and  who  were  beguiling 
i  ic  time,  as  they  went,  with  desperate  quarrels  and  fights  amnng  them- 
selves. As  already  mentioned  with  respect  to  Ileroux,  whom  I  saw 
moving  about  at  large  on  the  northwest  coast,  tlujse  wnitches  were 
not  in  irons.  Throughout  Russia,  in  fact,  there  would  appear  to  bo  a 
singular  disposition  to  run  into  opposite  extremes  on  the  subject  of 
punishment.  Though  we  had  seen  the  whip  and  the  ciulgel  applied 
lor  any  otTence  or  no  offence,  yet  we  were  told  that  death,  as  such, 
could  hardly  be  inllicted,  even  on  the  most  atro(Mous  criminals. 

Our  stations  of  to-day  were  : 
Etokfa 
KristofTskaya 
Pooloodoll'skaya 


ftS  versts 

21)     " 

•J  8     '* 

112  versts. 

Next  day,  being  the  thirtieth  of  the  month,  our  first  station  was  Vit- 
timsk,  a  large  village  with  a  population  of  two  or  three  hundred  souls. 
It  takes  its  name  from  the  Viltim,  which  empties  iiself  by  three  mouths 
into  the  Lena  immediately  opposite  to  the  station.  This  stream,  which, 
at  the  point  of  confluence,  is  nearly  ecjual  to  the  main  river,  rises  in 
the  Vittim  Steppe  not  far  from  the  Chinese  frontier.  Its  sables,  which 
have  a  high  character,  are  inferior  only  to  those  of  the  Olekma,  the 
difference  probably  arising  from  the  circumstance,  that  the  sources  of 
the  latter  are  more  immediately  in  contact  with  the  inaccessible  fast- 
nesses of  the  Yablonnoi  chain  than  those  of  the  former.  The  Vittim 
is  remarkable  also  for  a  talc  mine,  which  is  said  to  produce  the  largest 
and  clearest  sheets  of  the  substance  in  the  world,  some  of  them  being 
quite  pure  to  the  extent  of  two  feet  and  a  half  square. 

Vittimsk  may  be  considered  as  the  limit  between  the  Yakuti  and  the 
Tungusi,  as  practically  fixed  by  the  Cossacks,  when  they  came  to 
mediate,  with  the  strong  hand,  between  the  native  tribes.  Previously 
to  the  European  invasion  of  Siberia,  the  tide  of  population  flowed  from 
the  south.  The  Yakuti,  as  universal  tradition  testified,  had  descended 
from  the  Lake  Baikal  and  the  River  Amoor,  driving  before  them  into 
the  remotest  north  and  east,  the  miserable  remnants  of  the  Omoki,  the 
Yukahiri,  and  the  i'chuwanzi ;  while  the  Tungusi,  if  their  superior 
courage  and  energy  had  had  full  play  for  another  century,  would  most 
probably  have  sent  the  victors  after  the  vanquished,  to  the  unhospita- 
ble  borders  of  the  land  of  the  Tchuktchi.  In  fact,  this  tide  of  popu- 
lation could  have  hardly  ever  ebbed  to  the  southward,  for  the  tribes  of 
the  extreme  north,  if  they  had  attempted  to  return  to  a  richer  soil  and 
a  warmer  climate,  would  have  had  to  encounter  the  hordes  of  the 


!■'  i 


l» 


.li  '■  M 


■ii 

VllJ 

y 


^ 


154 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


■!•♦; 


■u:t. 


%  -i 


i.-^^ 


I 


■>        ■■■?        -b 


^ 


central  steppes,  far  more  populous,  and  not  a  whit  less  hardy,  than 
themselves. 

This  set  of  the  current  of  migration  would  explain  some  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  aborigines  of  Northern  Asia,  as  distinguished  from 
those  of  the  New  World.  It  would,  in  a  great  measure,  account  for 
the  fact,  that  most  of  the  dialects  of  Tartary  and  Siberia  bore  the 
plainest  traces  of  affinity,  even  when  the  dilferent  tribes  were  not  con- 
nected together  by  the  paramount  influence  of  the  neighboring  powers, 
while  the  languages  of  the  New  World,  except'ng,  of  course,  the 
branches  of  the  same  stem,  were  fundamentally  and  irreconcilably  dis- 
tinct. It  would  also,  in  a  great  measure,  account  for  the  fact,  that  Si- 
beria was  never  so  wholly  lost  to  civilization  as  America  had  been. 
Its  most  secluded  corner  was  linked  with  the  rest  of  the  world  t  th  by 
war  and  by  commerce,  those  grand  bonds  of  union  by  which  Provi- 
dence constantly  counteracted  the  isolating  tendency  of  the  confusion 
of  tongues  ;  and  it  was  doubtless  through  the  want  of  such  bonds,  a 
want  occasioned  parUy  by  the  immeasurable  distance,  and  pardy  by  the 
impassable  ocean,  that  the  natives  of  the  New  Continent  sank  into  a 
barbarism  unknown  and  unsuspected  before  the  days  of  Columbut!. 
Even  in  the  Old  World,  entire  seclusion  of  one  race  from  all  others 
would  appear  to  have  been  unfavorable  to  national  improvement.  In 
diametrically  opposite  climates,  the  Laplander  and  the  Hottentot  re- 
sembled each  other  in  being  the  lowest  specimens  of  humanity  in  their 
respective  quarters  of  the  globe,  while  the  Kamschadales,  in  spite  of 
the  vast  superiority  of  their  soil  and  climate,  were  inferior,  in  almost 
every  respect,  to  the  Tchuktchi,  who  enjoyed  no  other  advantage  than 
that  of  being  more  immediately  in  contact  with  other  tribes.  Spain, 
too,  on  the  one  hand,  and  China  and  Japan  on  the  other,  would  tend 
to  establish  the  principle  in  question,  for,  though  they  were,  in  point  of 
fact,  highly  civilized,  yet  they  alone  of  all  the  communities  on  earth 
that  were  so,  continued  at  best  to  be  stationary  in  their  civilization. 
If,  in  some  of  these  instances,  the  state  of  things  is  at  present  different, 
the  change  only  tends  to  confirm  the  rule ;  and,  to  offer  one  example, 
the  Chinese,  by  being  brought,  for  two  or  three  campaigns,  into  invo- 
luntary intercourse  with  the  British,  have  confessedly  learned  more, 
not  merely  of  the  science  of  war,  but  also  of  the  arts  of  peace,  than  any 
people  before  them  ever  learned  in  so  short  a  time. 

To  resume  my  narrative,  while  we  were  passing  some  steep  rocks 
to-day,  the  little  boat  in  tow,  in  which  were  our  servants  and  the 
Cossack,  was  upset;  and  all  the  baggage  got  thoroughly  soaked, 
though  fortunately  nothing  of  value  was  lost.  If  this  accident  had 
happened  at  night,  some  of  the  persons  in  the  boat,  and  perhaps  all  of 
them,  would  have  been  drowned,  for  even  good  swimmers,  in  the 
absence  of  assistance,  would  have  been  unable  to  extricate  themseves 
from  the  covering  of  the  capsized  vessel.        • '    ^ 

At  our  last  station,  we  were  obliged  to  wait  about  three- quarters  of 
an  hour  for  horses.  Our  visit  at  this  season,  when  the  people  were 
collecting  their  hay,  was  certainly  most  inconvenient;  nevertheless 
any  excuse  for  the  detention  of  travelers  would  have  been  wholly 


Bss  hardy,  than 

n  some  of  the 
[inguished  from 
jre,  account  for 
iberia  bore  the 
3  were  not  con- 
iboring  powers, 
of  course,  the 
econcilably  dis- 
he  fact,  that  Si- 
2rica  had  been. 
5  world  I'  th  by 
f  which  Provi- 
f  the  confusion 
'  such  bonds,  a 
nd  partly  by  the 
ent  sank  into  u 
3  of  Columbus, 
from  all  others 
provement.  In 
B  Hottentot  re- 
imanity  in  their 
ales,  in  spite  of 
erior,  in  almost 
advantage  than 
tribes.  Spain, 
ler,  would  tend 
vere,  in  point  of 
unities  on  earth 
eir  civilization, 
resent  different, 

one  example, 
igns,  into  invo- 

learned  more, 
peace,  than  any 

me  steep  rocks 
rvants  and  the 
)ughly  soaked, 
s  accident  had 
1  perhaps  all  of 
immers,  in  the 
cate  themseves 

ireequarters  of 
le  people  were 
;;  nevertheless 
e  been  wholly 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


155 


29  versts 

22 

it 

24 

(( 

24 

(( 

20 

(( 

[19  versts. 

inadmissible.  In  the  present  case,  we  bullied  the  elder  of  the  village, 
;i  sort  of  rural  mayor;  he,  in  his  turn,  bullied  all  others;  and,  after 
much  uproar,  we  could  get  only  women  and  boys  as  drivers,  one  of 
the  former  having  to  leave  her  suckling  infant  to  proceed  on  this  noc- 
turnal duty.  The  women  on  this  river  were  the  most  active  and 
laborious  of  their  sex  that  I  ever  saw,  while,  in  common  with  the 
men,  they  were  remarkably  civil  and  obliging.  Every  person,  too, 
was  of  a  pious  turn  of  mind,  at  least  so  far  as  external  observances 
went.  To-day,  for  instance,  on  looking  into  the  house  of  one  of  the 
drivers,  we  were  followed  by  the  man  himself;  and  no  sooner  was 
the  door  of  the  best  room  opened,  than  our  host  fell  into  a  fit  of  bow- 
ing and  crossing  in  honor  of  an  image  that  occupied  one  corner  of  the 
apartment.     Our  stations  were: 

Vittimsk 
Tshoriskaya 
Resinskaya 
Parshinskaya 
Kooraskaya  (half) 


Next  day,  being  the  last  of  July,  we  reached  Doobroffskaya  at  ten 
in  the  morning.  This  was  the  neatest  settlement  that  I  had  yet  seen. 
The  dwellings  were  large  and  commodious,  with  a  bath-house  attached 
to  each ;  and  everything  bespoke  a  more  than  ordinary  share  of  clean- 
liness and  industry.  At  our  preceding  stations  there  had  been  gene- 
rally but  one  bath-house  for  several  families,  into  which  young  and  old 
of  both  sexes  used  to  enter  indiscriminately  at  least  once  a  week.  In 
addition  to  the  clamor  of  the  elder  of  the  village,  the  cries  of  the  pos- 
tillions, the  scolding  of  our  Cossack,  the  barking  of  dogs,  and  all  other 
sounds  incidental  to  a  change  of  horses,  I  heard  a  precisely  similar 
uproar  from  the  opposite  bank  as  if  other  travelers  had  been  getting 
fresh  nags  at  a  rival  establishment.  The  whole  proved  to  be  the 
effect  of  one  of  the  most  correct  echoes  that  I  had  ever  heard,  whole 
sentences  being  repeated  distinctly.  At  our  bidding  the  echo  spoke 
English  to  admiration,  for  the  first  time,  perhaps,  in  its  existence. 

We  passed  some  perpendicular  rocks,  known  as  the  "  Cheeks  of 
the  Lena,"  which  contracted  the  stream  to  about  a  quarter  of  a  verst 
in  width,  with  a  current  of  four  knots ;  here  also  was  an  echo,  which  I 
tested  by  firing  a  pistol  several  times  ;  and,  in  each  case,  at  least  six 
successive  reports  were  reverberated  in  the  most  extraordinary  manner. 

In  my  rambles  of  to-day  I  found  currants  of  various  kinds,  cranber- 
ries, raspberries,  service-berries,  strawberries,  and  choke  cherries. 
As  to  provisions,  we  were  now  well  off,  having  a  regular  supply  of 
mutton,  fish,  potatoes,  eggs,  honey,  cream,  butter,  &c.,  with  excellent 
tea,  black  only,  three  times  a  day,  but  neither  wine,  nor  spirits,  nor 
beer.  The  indolent  routine  of  our  life  was  generally  as  follows.  We 
rose  at  ten ;  we  bathed ;  we  breakfasted ;  if  practicable,  we  walked  from 


■•iii 


f 


i 


*fti 


'h^^ 


■li"! 


'  i'>G 


^■f 


„  ■  -i.-fl 


156 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


20  versts 

29 

i( 

87 

u 

96 

U 

111  versts. 

three  to  ten  versts;  we  then  returned  to  bed  for  an  hour  or  two  in  order 
to  cool  ourselves ;  after  a  second  bath,  we  dined  about  four,  stretching 
our  legs  perhaps  for  a  few  minutes,  as  a  digester,  at  some  station  or 
other  ;  we  took  supper  at  nine,  going  to  bed  as  soon  thereafter  as  might 
be  agreeable.  In  justice,  however,  I  should  add,  that  we  did  occasion- 
ally read  and  write  and  talk. 
Our  stations  were : 

Kooraskaya  (half) 
Doobroffskaya 
Tshastinskaya 
Franerskova 


Last  evening  we  had  noticed  that  all  the  bath-houses  were  lighted 
for  active  service, — a  circumstance  which  proved  that  the  people  were 
sweating  themselves  into  a  state  of  purification  in  order  to  do  honor 
to  some  festival  or  other.  This  was  the  invariable  custom  on  Satur- 
day night  or  on  the  eve  of  any  grand  holiday. 

Accordingly  this  turned  out  to  be  our  Saviour's  name-day.  All  the 
inhabitants  were  decked  in  their  best  clothes,  enjoying  a  little  respite 
from  labor.  Wherever  we  put  ashore,  the  heads  of  families  hastened 
down  to  us  with  little  presents  of  eggs,  cream,  green  peas,  &c.,  uni- 
formly refusing  payment,  and  saying  that,  on  such  an  occasion,  it  was 
not  right  that  we  should  be  allowed  to  pass  their  dwellings  without 
partaking  of  what  they  had  to  bestow.  Notwithstanding  this  liberality, 
we  learned  that  the  poor  people  were  really  laboring  under  a  consider- 
able scarcity  of  food,  inasmuch  as  St.  Elias,  with  his  high  waters, 
however  friendly  he  had  been  to  us,  had,  in  a  great  measure,  cut  off 
their  principal  source  of  subsistence.  This  state  of  things  was  well 
expressed  in  the  comprehensive  phrase,  that  their  nets  were  too  small 
and  their  breeches  too  large. 

At  Fliimskaya,  which  we  reached  about  ten  in  the  evening,  the  in- 
habitants were  keeping  up  the  festivities  with  great  spirit.  The  whole 
of  them,  to  the  number  of  eighty  or  a  hundred,  had  met  in  two  houses, 
where,  besides  dancing,  they  were  moistening  their  clay  with  plentiful 
potations  of  a  vile  description  of  beer,  which,  weak  as  it  was,  had  made 
them  half  muzzy.  The  music  was  the  screeching  of  some  half  dozen 
old  women ;  and  the  floor  was  occupied  by  only  one  man  and  one 
woman  at  a  time.  First  the  lady  would  endeavor  to  escape  from  her 
lover  with  an  amusing  display  of  coyness  and  coquetry  ;  and  then  the 
gentleman,  in  his  turn,  would  draw  oflT,  while  his  mistress  would  strive 
by  every  winning  way  to  coax  the  truant  back  again.  At  the  conclu- 
sion of  each  dance,  the  fair  performer  gave  me  three  kisses,  conferring 
the  same  favor  on  each  of  the  other  strangers,  excepting  that  our  Cos- 
sack appeared  to  me  to  get,  or  perhaps  to  take,  a  double  dose.  All  the 
people,  whether  drunk  or  sober,  carried  their  civility  to  excess,  kissinij 
my  hand  frequently,  and  even  the  ground  on  which  I  had  been  stand- 
ing and  showering  on  me  their  perpetual  benediction  of  "  May  you 


Y.AKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


157 


or  two  in  order 
four,  stretching 
some  station  or 
reafter  as  might 
76  (lid  occasioQ- 


;s. 

les  were  lighted 
the  people  were 
ler  to  do  honor 
jstom  on  Satur- 

le-day.  All  the 
V  a  little  respite 
imilies  hastened 

peas,  &c.,  uni- 
occasion,  it  was 
veilings  without 
g  this  liberality, 
(ider  a  consider- 
is  high  waters, 
measure,  cut  off 
things  was  well 

were  too  small 

evening,  the  in- 

rit.    The  whole 

in  two  houses, 

y  with  plentiful 

was,  had  made 
ome  half  dozen 
5  man  and  one 
scape  from  her 
;  and  then  the 
iss  would  strive 

At  the  conclu- 
sses,  conferring 
g  that  our  Cos- 
I  dose.  All  the 
excess,  kissinir 
had  been  stand- 

of  "  May  you 


never  want  bread  and  salt."     Speaking,  by  the  by,  of  these  festivities, 
1  saw  hops  to-day  on  some  of  the  farms. 

To  myself,  as  well  as  to  these  poor  people,  this  was  a  day  of  joy 
and  gladness.  Just  as  we  were  sitting  down  to  dinner,  a  Cossack  ar- 
rived from  Yakutsk,  bringing  me  the  English  letters  that  I  had  passed 
on  the  road  near  Ochotsk.  Having  been  sent  back,  they  had  reached 
Yakutsk  on  the  fourth  day  after  my  departure ;  and,  on  the  same  even- 
ing, they  were  sent  after  me  by  the  worthy  governor,  in  charge  of  an 
active  man,  who  was,  with  all  speed,  to  travel  on  horseback  by  day, 
and  by  night  in  a  light  boat.  In  this  manner,  the  courier  had  followed 
MS  for  fifteen  hundred  versts,  accomplishing  in  ten  days,  what  had  oc- 
cupied us  for  fourteen ;  and  I  had,  therefore,  every  reason  to  be  satis- 
fied with  his  zeal  and  diligence.  The  attendant  expense  of  two  hun- 
dred and  sev  iity  roubles,  I  by  no  means  grudged,  for  the  intelligence 
from  my  family  was  honey  to  my  soul. 

We  passed  several  large  settlements,  in  two  of  which  there  were 
churches,  and  met  a  priest  in  a  canoe,  going  to  perform  duty  in  one  of 
the  places  of  worship.  In  this  part  of  Siberia,  there  would  appear  to 
be  very  few  ministers,  there  being,  in  fact,  a  lamentable  dearth  of  reli- 
gious and  moral  education  ;  and  the  sole  teachers  of  the  people,  in 
most  neighborhoods,  seem  to  be  the  Cossacks  and  the  magistrates. 
We  were  now  in  the  country  of  the  Tungusi ;  and  at  Fsherskaya,  we 
saw  a  few  of  the  tribe.  Both  physically  and  morally,  they  were  su- 
perior to  the  Yakuti,  active,  well-made,  and  independent  in  their  man- 
ners and  sentiments.     Our  stations  were  : 

Mooshinskaya  27  versts  ' 

Fsherskaya  2.3     " 

Darenskaya  31     " 

-    Fliinskaya  20     " 

'  ''.      '        '  101  versts.    . 

Next  day,  being  the  second  of  August,  the  banks  of  the  river  were 
hilly,  and  well  wooded ;  and  at  all  the  spots  fit  for  cultivation,  gene- 
rally distant  from  each  other  eight  or  ten  versts,  were  small  settlements 
of  fifteen  or  twenty  families  a  piece.  At  every  place  were  collected 
large  heaps  of  the  cones  of  the  stone  pine,  intended  partly  for  food, 
and  partly  for  being  crushed  into  an  oil,  which,  being  used  by  the  Rus- 
sians in  salads  and  cookery,  brings  as  much  as  ninety  roubles  a  pood. 
Among  other  manufactures  of  the  peasantry  of  the  neighborhood,  we 
observed  a  thick  felt  of  sheep's  wool,  used  for  bedding,  saddles,  &e., 
and  we  were  told  that  the  Mongols  and  other  southern  tribes,  made  a 
similar  article  of  camel's  hair,  of  which  they  sold  considerable  quan- 
tities, chiefly  for  tents,  to  the  Burats  of  Lake  Baikal. 

As  we  advanced  on  our  voyage,  that  very  disagreeable  complaint,  the 
goitres,  became  more  and  more  prevalent.  Other  maladies,  also  of  the 
blood,  or  of  the  general  system,  were  very  common.  Noses,  in  par- 
ticular, appeared  to  have  been  almost  decimated  ;  and  certainly,  in  no 
part  of  the  world,  did  I  ever  see  nearly  so  many  faces,  divested  of  their 
ornament  and  protection.  ♦ 


,t .  ;■ 


'n  I 


I* 


11 

■  si'' 


158 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


■'.i.s     :.*. 


At  Alexeyeffskaya,  the  poor  people  had  not  got  their  horses  quite 
ready, — an  ofTence  which  "his  worship,"  the  popular  designation  of 
a  Cossack,  resented  with  much  more  zeal  than  ceremony,  suiting  his 
style  to  his  subject  and  his  actions  to  his  words.  This  wretched  sys- 
tem of  irresponsible  cruelty  should  undoubtedly  be  reformed.  But, 
for  the  reasons  already  mentioned,  a  traveler  would  only  waste  his 
time  in  attempting  such  a  thing  in  his  own  case,  while  even  the  govern- 
ment, however  good  and  resolute  its  intentions  might  be  on  the  subject, 
could  not  immediately  remedy  the  evil.  The  law  might  prohibit  the 
use  of  the  cudgel,  supplying  its  place,  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  with  ;i 
better  motive  in  the  shape  of  a  higher  rate  of  remuneration  ;  but  in  the 
latter  branch  of  the  business  nine  out  of  every  ten  travelers  would  fim! 
an  additional  reason  for  kicking  and  cuffing  the  inofl'ensive  creatures, 
relying  on  the  proverbial  consolation  of  official  knaves,  that  the  empe- 
ror was  far  off,  and  calculating  on  the  interested  sympathy  of  nearly 
all  those  who  might  be  occupying  the  long  ladder  of  communication 
between  his  majesty  and  themselves.  Even  if  the  victim  of  a  wanton 
assault  could  sue  for  damages  or  some  other  satisfaction  in  the  local 
courts,  he  could,  in  general,  obtain  justice  only  by  outbidding  his 
oppressor,  who  would  most  probably  be  far  abler  to  buy  the  venal  com- 
modity in  question  than  himself.  In  fact,  the  head  of  an  extensive 
despotism  is  peculiarly  liable  to  be  deceived  by  his  subordinate  func- 
tionaries ;  and,  as  a  remarkable  instance,  the  brother  of  the  sun  and 
moon  is  said  to  have  been  the  last  man  in  Pekin  to  hear  of  the  capture 
of  Canton.  How  can  truth,  distorted,  as  she  proverbially  is,  in  passing 
from  one  street  to  another,  fight  her  way,  unadulterated  and  unsullied, 
over  thousands  of  miles,  where  every  tenth  individual  that  she  meets, 
has  an  interest  in  moulding  her  to  serve  his  own  ends  or  those  of  his 
friend  or  his  party  ? 

Moreover,  there  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  a  good  deal  of  difficulty 
in  bringing  the  ignorant  people  to  believe,  that  nobody  had  a  right  to 
beat  them,  for  the  same  middlemen,  who  would  prevent  the  emperor 
from  hearing  their  complaints,  could  still  more  easily  prevent  them 
from  knowing  the  emperor's  benevolence.  The  simplicity  and  credu- 
lity of  the  great  mass  of  the  population  of  Siberia,  with  respect  to 
everything  that  does  not  fall  within  their  own  daily  routine,  are  quite 
incredible.  When  an  astronomical  party,  for  instance,  was  traveling 
the  country,  astonishing  the  natives  night  after  night  with  their  tele- 
scopes and  sextants,  a  wag  of  a  fellow  set  the  curiosity  of  the  good 
folks  quite  at  rest,  by  telling  them  that  his  majesty  had  missed  one  of 
his  stars,  and  had  sent  out  his  wise  men  to  find  it. 

Our  stations  were :  ' 


Spoloshinskaya 
..%0  Vistinyakaya 

.   Gorboffskaya 
...  Alexeyeff*skaya 


25  versts 

20 

(« 

27 

28 

(( 

100  versts. 

.V^ 


\. 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


159 


eir  horses  quite 
r  designation  of 
lony,  suiting  liis 
is  wretched  sys- 
reformed.     But. 

only  w.iste  his 
even  the  govern- 
3  on  the  subject, 
ajht  prohibit  the 
lecessity,  with  ;i 
tion  ;  but  in  the 
elcrs  would  find 
nsive  creatures, 
,  that  the  einpe- 
ipathy  of  nearly 

communication 
tim  of  a  wanton 
tion  in  the  local 

outbidding  h'\^ 
y  the  venal  coni- 
of  an  extensive 
ibordinate  func- 
of  the  sun  and 
ir  of  the  capture 
Uy  is,  in  passing 
I  and  unsullied, 

that  she  meets, 

or  those  of  his 

eal  of  difficulty 
y  had  a  right  to 
nt  the  emperor 

prevent  them 
icity  and  credu- 
with  respect  to 
mtine,  are  quite 

was  traveling 
with  their  tele- 
ity  of  the  good 

missed  one  of 


Next  morning,  by  six  o'clock,  we  reached  Kirensk,  being,  in  point 
of  size  and  importance,  the  second  town  on  the  Lena;  by  reason,  liow- 
ever,  of  a  thick  fog,  we  could  see  nothing  more  than  the  looming  of  a 
number  of  houses  through  the  vapor.  It  was  said  to  contain  about 
lifteen  hundred  inhabitants,  principally  Russians,  and  to  be  regularly 
laid  out,  with  one  school,  five  churches  and  several  substantial  houses. 
We  were  visited  by  the  mayor,  who  was  also  head  of  the  police,  the 
commissary  and  the  postmaster,  all  equipped  in  their  best  uniform  for 
the  occasion. 

At  this  place  our  Cossack  would  really  have  had  some  excuse  for 
inflicting  his  summary  justice,  inasmuch  as  we  were  detained  two 
hours  for  want  of  horses — a  delay  such  as  we  had  never  experienced, 
even  at  the  meanest  station  on  the  route.  Unfortunately,  however, 
the  offender  in  the  present  case  was  a  peg  or  two  above  the  jurisdiction 
of "  his  worship."  Our  Cossack  had  gone  to  rouse  the  postmaster, 
whose  maid  of  all  work,  hearing  the  terrible  voice  of  our  disciplinarian, 
speedily  brought  a  message  from  her  master  that  the  applicant  should 
first  take  his  podorashnoya  to  the  head  of  the  police.  With  considera- 
ble difficulty  the  magistrate  in  question  was  got  out  of  bed;  and  at  last 
the  postmaster  and  himself  presented  themselves  to  us  in  their  grandest 
outfit,  having  evidently  made  us  wait  longer  than  was  necessary,  that 
they  might  show  themselves  off  to  the  best  advantage.  The  postmaster 
apologized  by  saying  that  he  was  a  hard  sleeper,  so  much  so  that  his 
maid  of  all  work  had  positive  orders  to  keep  stirring  him  till  he  rose, 
and  even  then  not  to  leave  him  till  he  was  half  dressed ;  but  that  the 
damsel,  in  her  eagerness  to  satisfy  our  Cossack,  had  not  sufficiently 
shaken  him  that  morning.  To  prove  the  truth  of  his  statement  and 
the  sincerity  of  his  regret,  he  offered  to  trounce  the  girl  on  the  spot; 
and,  though  we  then  and  there  denied  him  that  pleasure,  yet  he  most 
probably  paid  the  fair  delinquent  with  interest  after  our  departure. 
The  ob'Mous  truth  was,  that  the  two  gentlemen,  having  heard  that 
strangers,  .vho  were  very  great  men,  were  coming  up  the  Lena,  had 
conspired  to  manage  matters  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  each  of  them- 
selves to  see  and  be  seen. 

The  Lena,  from  its  seven  versts  at  Yakutsk,  was  now  reduced  to 
three  hundred  yards  in  width,  while  its  shallow  stream  was  overgrown 
at  the  bottom  with  grass  and  reeds,  which  greatly  impeded  our  progress. 
Getting  tired  of  the  delays  experienced  by  the  boat,  one  of  my  fellow 
travelers  and  myself  resolved  to  amuse  ourselves  by  walking  along  the 
bank.  Coming  to  a  track,  which  struck  through  the  woods,  apparently 
as  a  short  cut  from  one  side  of  a  deep  point  to  another,  we  followed  it 
for  seven  or  eight  versts,  till  we  again  came  out  upon  the  Lena.  Seeing 
nothing  of  our  little  squadron,  we  sauntered  up  the  towing  path  for 
five  or  six  versts  farther,  expecting  every  moment  to  be  overtaken ;  but 
towards  sunset,  being  certain  that  we  were  ahead  of  our  friends,  we 
retraced  our  steps,  fortunately  reaching,  when  it  was  now  nearly  dark, 
the  station  of  Soberskaya.  At  this  settlement,  which  appeared  to  con- 
sist of  a  single  hut,  we  found  twelve  or  thirteen  men  and  lads,  who 
gave  us  a  hearty  reception.     In  fact,  our  appearance  and  condition 


P 


■f   r 


'^!i 


.  t 


Ft 


160 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


•' -i  •: 


would  have  excited  the  compassion  of  less  hospitable  people.  To 
say  nothing  of  hunger,  we  were  suffering  from  cold,  and  were  almost 
crippled,  for  we  had  started  in  the  heat  of  the  day,  without  shoes,  and 
with  no  other  clothes,  in  fact,  than  our  shirts  and  trowsers.  The 
peasants,  taking  pity  on  our  forlorn  state,  made  a  grand  fire  for  us,  and 
offered  us  a  share  of  their  own  supper,  which  consisted  of  black  bread, 
a  litde  salt,  and  a  dish  of  cold  water,  which,  that  it  might  look  as  like 
soup  as  possible,  was  taken  with  a  spoon.  Immense  piles  of  the  un- 
savory cakes  rapidly  disappeared ;  and  each  person,  as  he  finished  his 
meal,  bowed  to  some  images  that  stood  against  the  wall  of  the  best 
room,  of  which  the  door  was  open.  Perceiving  that  we  enjoyed  the 
heat  much  more  than  the  victuals,  the  peasants,  after  explaining  that 
this  was  a  fast-day  with  them,  boiled  some  potatoes,  which,  with  the 
salt  and  a  few  spoonfuls  of  the  cold  water,  were  very  acceptable. 
Speaking,  by  the  by,  of  the  water  and  the  salt,  and  of  the  ceremony, 
with  which  they  were  used,  the  two  articles  in  question  hold  a  high 
place  throughout  Russia,  as  being  the  sacred  emblems  of  hospitality. 
Even  in  the  poorest  hovel,  they  are  at  the  service  of  the  stranger, 
while  the  partaker  receives  a  benediction  as  well  as  a  welcome.  A 
story  is  told  that,  during  the  French  invasion,  the  inmates  of  a  house, 
who  had  hid  themselves  on  the  approach  of  a  few  soldiers,  could  not 
refrain  from  pronouncing  the  customary  blessing  while  the  marauders 
were  helping  themselves  to  water  under  their  roof.  Thus  lar  the 
anecdote  is  quite  in  keeping  with  the  national  character;  nor  is  the 
sequel,  in  my  opinion,  altogether  improbable.  The  hospitable  and 
pious  ejaculation  was  the  death-warrant  of  the  family;  and  they  were 
one  and  all  butchered  by  their  ruffianly  guests.  Soon  after  midnight 
we  were  much  relieved,  both  in  mind  and  body,  by  the  arrival  of  my 
servant  and  our  Cossack,  who  had  walked  ahead  of  the  party  to  meet 
us,  or  to  search  for  us,  bringing  our  coats  with  them.  They  informed 
us,  that  the  detention  of  the  boats  had  been  caused  partly  by  the  shal- 
lowness of  the  stream,  and  partly  by  the  fact  that  the  bend  of  the  ri^r 
was  five  or  six  times  as  long  as  the  neck  of  land  that  we  ourselves 
had  crossed.  Embarking  in  a  canoe  to  meet  our  people,  we  got  on 
board  again  by  two  in  the  morning;  and,  in  the  course  of  an  hour,  we 
made  amends  in  the  shape  of  a  hearty  supper  for  the  day's  misfor- 
tunes. 

In  the  course  of  the  rambles  just  mentioned,  I  saw  a  good  deal  of 
land  under  cultivation  with  tolerable  crops  of  wheat,  barley,  oats,  rye, 
potatoes,  hops,  flax,  &c.  Here  I  saw  also  something  that  I  had  never 
seen  before.  I  had  often  heard  of  "  nettle  kail"  in  Scotland,  and  per- 
haps had  eaten  it;  but  never,  till  I  visited  the  banks  of  the  Lena,  had 
I  found  nettles  artificially  grown  as  greens.  At  Sitka  I  had  partaken 
of  them, dried  and  preserved;  and,  to  my  taste,  they  were  an  excellent 
vegetable.     Our  stations  were: 


Kirensk 
Soberskaya 


24  versts 
60       " 

84  versts. 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


161 


e  people.  To 
id  were  almost 
liout  shoes,  and 
rowsers.  The 
fire  for  us,  and 
of  black  bread, 
rht  look  as  like 
)iles  of  the  un- 
he  finished  his 
all  of  the  best 
ve  enjoyed  the 
explaining  that 
vhich,  with  the 
ery  acceptable. 
'  the  ceremony, 
on  hold  a  high 

of  hospitality, 
jf  the  stranger, 
a  welcome.  A 
ites  of  a  house, 
diers,  could  not 
3  the  marauders 

Thus  iar  the 

Iter;  nor  is  the 

hospitable  and 

and  they  were 

1  after  midnight 

e  arrival  of  my 

e  party  to  meet 

They  informed 

tly  by  the  shal- 

end  of  the  ri^r 

t  we  ourselves 

iple,  we  got  on 

of  an  hour,  we 

3  day's  misfor- 

'  a  good  deal  of 
arley,  oats,  rye, 
hat  I  had  never 
otland,  and  per- 
the  Lena,  had 
I  had  partaken 
ere  an  excellent 


On  rising  unusually  late  next  forenoon,  I  found  that  we  were  pass- 
ing through  a  highly  interesting  country.  The  banks  of  the  river 
were  undulating  and  well  wooded,  while  every  spot,  that  was  capable 
of  cultivation,  was  occupied  by  an  agricultural  setllenient.  In  the 
course  of  the  afternoon,  we  were  obliged  to  remain  a  short  time  at 
Oolk^nskaya  in  order  to  stop  a  leak.  The  village  at  this  station  was 
divided  into  two  parts  by  a  small  stream,  from  which  it  was  said  to 
derive  its  name;  and,  while  strolling  about,  I  observed  in  the  brook  a 
number  of  baskets  and  weirs  for  taking  fish,  such  as  1  had  seen  on  the 
Columbia  and  in  New  Caledonia.  At  this  same  place,  to  its  credit  be 
it  spoken,  I  noticed  an  indispensable  building,  which  was  the  only  ex- 
ample of  its  species  that  I  had  seen  in  Asia,  excepting  one  apology  for 
the  convenience  at  Ochotsk  and  another  at  Yakutsk. 

The  settlers  told  me  that  their  crops  were  better  this  year  than  usual, 
but  that  sometimes  they  had  been  so  unproductive  as  to  render  neces- 
sary the  purchase  of  grain.  They  also  complained,  that  the  wolves 
and  bears,  which  were  numerous,  frequently  carried  off  their  cattle, 
pigs,  horses  and  sheep.  From  all  accounts,  these  beasts  of  prey  would 
appear  to  be  much  fiercer  here  than  in  America. 

The  more' that  I  saw  of  the  peasants,  the  better,  generally  speaking, 
did  I  like  them.  In  two  or  three  instances,  however,  I  was  induced  to 
suspect,  that  they  must  have  inherited  from  their  ancestors,  who  had 
been  chiefly  convicts,  a  few  prejudices  on  the  important  subject  of 
private  property.  The  loss  of  a  bridle,  and  of  two  or  three  other 
small  articles  proved,  that  pilfering  was  not  altogether  unknown  on  the 
Lena. 

Our  stations  were : 

Makaroffskaya 
Potapoffskaya 
Oolkanskaya 
^  Markoofskaya 


Next  day,  being  the  fifth  of  the  month,  the  water  was  deeper  and 
the  footing  for  the  horses  better,  so  that  this  was  by  far  the  longest 
march  that  we  made.  The  banks  of  the  river  continued  to  improve  in 
fertility  and  populousness. 

AH  the  settlements  on  the  Lena  usually  stand  at  the  outlets  of  rivers 
or  creeks,  or  on  low  points  of  alluvial  formation.  Such  situations, 
though  advantageous  in  regard  to  soil,  are  yet  very  undesirable  in  this 
respect,  that  they  are  liable  to  be  deluged  as  often  as  the  waters  are 
high.  During  such  inundations,  the  inhabitants  are  frequently  obliged 
to  take  refuge  in  the  upper  stories  of  some  of  the  loftier  houses,  while, 
in  almost  every  season,  several  dwellings  and  families  are  swept  away 
from  some  neighborhood  or  other  by  the  current. 

Besides  the  crops  already  mentioned,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Upper 
Lena  raise  tobacco  sufficient  for  their  own  consumption.  In  short, 
without  being  dependent  on  any  market,  they  produc  for  themselves 

PART   II. 11 


(\ 


m 


18  versts 

25 

(( 

30 

(t 

24 

(t 

97 

versts. 

•'1/ 


162 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


in 


an  abundance  of  food,  make  their  own  clothing,  build  their  own  houses, 
grind  their  own  corn  either  in  water-mills  of  simple  construction  or  by 
jneans  of  quoirns,  and,  though  last  not  least,  prepare  their  own  snuff. 

It  is  chiefly  in  the  form  of  snuff  that  tobacco  is  used  throughout  this 
country,  whether  among  whites  or  among  natives.  This  mode  of  con- 
suming the  weed  prevails  among  the  Mongols,  the  Burats,  the  Tun- 
gusi,  the  Yakuti,  the  Tchuktchi,  the  Aleutians,  and  all  the  aborigines 
of  Russian  America,  from  Beering's  Straits  downwards.  Hence  one 
might  reasonably  infer,  that  the  use  of  tobacco  traveled,  at  least  into 
the  northern  parts  of  the  New  World,  from  Asia;  and  if  so,  the  thing 
more  probably  took  place  before  the  commencement  of  Russian  domi- 
nation than  after  it,  inasmuch  as  the  Cossacks,  who,  however  fond  of 
tobacco  in  other  shapes,  did  not  take  snuff  themselves,  were  not  likely 
to  teach  others  to  take  it. 

At  Kosarki  I  found  that  the  people  were  suffering  from  dysentery  in 
its  worst  form,  a  complaint  previously  unknown  in  this  quarter.  The 
malady  first  made  its  appearance  in  some  salt  works,  situated  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Kuta  about  fifty  versts  further  up  the  river,  where  it  had 
carried  off  forty  or  fifty  persons.  Unfortunately  there  were  no  medi- 
cal men  in  the  neighborhood  at  the  time,  who  might  have  arrested  the 
progress  of  the  disease.  In  a  country  so  poor  and  so  thinly  peopled, 
resident  physicians  are,  of  course,  out  of  the  question  ;  but  the  govern- 
ment everywhere  employs  competent  individuals  to  make  circuits,  and 
to  report  on  the  health  of  the  inhabitants.  ..  *  . 

At  this  same  station  of  Kosarki  all  goods  are  transhipped,  those 
going  down  being  conveyed  thus  far  on  rafts  in  order  to  be  put  on 
board  of  the  large  barges  already  described,  and  those  coming  up  being 
transferred  into  small  boats. 

Our  last  station  of  to-day,  Oostooskaya,  lay  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Kuta,  occupying,  I  apprehend,  the  very  site  of  the  first  building  that 
was  ever  erected  by  Europeans  on  the  Lena.  Its  very  name  would 
imply  this  much.  Signifying,  as  it  does,  the  city,  or  town,  or  station, 
or  post  of  the  mouth  of  the  stream,  it  could,  with  propriety,  be  applied 
only  by  those  who  had  reached  the  spot  not  by  the  Lena,  but  by  the 
Kuta.  lu  fact,  this  settlement,  which  was  commenced  in  or  about 
1630,  formed  the  grand  centre  of  operations  for  the  conquest  of  all 
Siberia  to  the  eastward.  On  the  one  hand  the  founders  of  Oostooskaya 
built  Yakutsk  as  the  first  grand  stage  on  the  road  to  the  Pacific  Ocean; 
and  on  the  other  they  established  Irkutsk  as  the  stepping  stone  to  Lake 
Baikal,  and  the  vast  regions  beyond  it.  It  was  from  the  Tonguska, 
the  nearest  feeder  of  the  Yenissei,  that  the  Cossacks  made  their  way 
to  the  Lena,  being  more  anxious,  as  already  mentioned,  to  penetrate  to 
the  east  than  to  the  south;  and  it  is  a  curious  fact,  that,  by  ascending 
the  Lena  and  crossing  the  height  of  land  to  the  site  of  Irkutsk,  they 
were,  in  a  manner,  only  retracing  their  steps  to  the  principal  auxiliary 
of  the  Tonguska.  But,  even  if  they  had  known  that  the  Angara, 
rising  far  up  in  the  fork  between  the  Vittim  and  the  Lena,  would  itself 
have  carried  them  ten  degrees  more  to  the  eastward,  they  would,  per- 


I. 

eir  own  houses, 
iistruction  or  by 
leir  own  snuff. 

throughout  this 
lis  mode  of  con- 
Jurats,  the  Tun- 
l  the  aborigines 
Is.  Hence  one 
ed,  at  least  into 

if  so,  the  thing 
r  Russian  domi- 
[lowever  fond  of 

were  not  likely 

om  dysentery  in 
s  quarter.  The 
s,  situated  at  the 
er,  where  it  had 
!  were  no  medi- 
lave  arrested  the 
thinly  peopled, 
;  but  the  govern- 
ake  circuits,  and 

unshipped,  those 
er  to  be  put  on 
coming  up  being 

entrance  of  the 

•st  building  that 

ery  name  would 

town,  or  station, 

riety,  be  applied 

icna,  but  by  the 

ced  in  or  about 

conquest  of  all 

of  Oostooskaya 

e  Pacific  Ocean ; 

ig  stone  to  Lake 

the  Tonguska, 

made  their  way 

,  to  penetrate  to 

at,  by  ascending 

of  Irkutsk,  they 

incipal  auxiliary 

hat  the  Angara, 

ena,  would  itself 

hey  would,  per- 


YAKUTSK  AND  VOYAGE  UP  THE  LENA. 


163 


haps,  have  considered  the  rapidity  of  its  current  as  a  sufficient  reason 
lor  trying  their  fortunes  on  another  stream. 
Our  stations  were : 

.'  — 

Nasaroffskaya 

Siochoffskaya 

Kookoosk 

Kosarki 

Yakoorina 

Oostooskaya 

28  versts 
28     " 
24     " 
22     " 
28     " 
18     " 

148  versts. 

Next  forenoon  wc  obtained  at  one  of  the  settlements,  a  rather  nau- 
seous substitute  for  milk.  It  was  water,  in  which  the  cones  of  the 
stone  pine,  after  being  crushed  for  oil,  had  been  steeped.  It  had  a 
reddish  and  whitish  color,  something  like  a  mixture  of  milk  and  brick- 
dust,  excepting  that  it  was  liardly  so  palatable.  This  was  part  of  a 
fast  of  two  weeks,  very  religiously  observed  in  the  Greek  Church, 
though  really  I  could  not  see  why  our  milk  should  be  stopped,  inas- 
much as  most  of  us  had  no  interest  in  the  matter. 

Our  stations  were : 


Toorootskaya 

16  versts 

Rushskaya 
OsmolofTskaya    .   • 
Bosgarskaya 
Skokmenskaya 

36     " 

18     " 

,    24     " 

20     " 

Tarasoffskaya 

24     " 

138  versts 

[  ' 


Next  day,  the  seventh  of  the  month,  we  were  all  in  high  spirits  at 
the  prospect  of  leaving  our  prison,  and  proceeding  by  land  to  Irkutsk. 
Our  stations  were  : 

Oremskaya 
Basoffskaya 
Dodinskaya 
Galaffskaya 


On  the  eighth  of  August  our  long  voyage  on  the  lazy  Lena,  lazy 
upwards  from  the  shallowness  of  its  waters,  as  well  as  downwards 
from  the  slowness  of  its  current,  came  to  an  end.  At  Oostuginskaya, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Ilga,  we  were  delighted  to  learn  that  carriages 
were  waiting  at  the  next  station  to  convey  us  to  Irkutsk ;  and  accord- 
ingly at  Figoloffskaya  we  exchanged  our  inexpressibly  indolent  mode 
of  traveling  for  one,  perhaps,  unrivaled  in  point  of  whirling,  and  jolt- 
ing, and  thumping.  We  took  our  seats  in  a  tarantasse  drawn  by  five 
horses,  and  a  telege  with  three,  while  three  vehicles,  that  had  eight 
horses  between  them,  followed  with  our  baggage. 


17  versts 

21     " 

21     " 

V 
pa.',.-.' 

32    " 

f  ■  .  *  ■ 

91  versts. 

■;1 


ll 


hn 


■    M 


164 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  :  ij'UTSK. 

The  carriages,  in  which  we  were  now  traveling,  had  been  sent  to 
meet  us  by  the  Governor  of  Irkutsk,  under  the  charge  of  a  magistrate 
of  police,  who,  after  having  waited  for  us  a  whole  week,  had  been 
obliged,  almost  immediately  before  our  arrival,  to  retrace  his  steps  in 
person  to  the  capital. 

Being  no  longer  exposed  to  the  impediments  which  had  retarded  us 
on  the  water,  we  pushed  on  sharply  all  night,  stopping  merely  to 
change  horses,  and  to  view  some  of  tfse  more  important  settlements  on 
the  route.  At  Tzoomenzord,  we  breakfasted  on  eggs,  cream,  and 
strawberries,  adding  to  these  delicacies  of  the  season  in  the  centre  of 
Asia,  a  little  of  our  pemmican  from  the  heart  of  North  America, — such 
a  pic-nic  between  the  two  continents,  as  neither  of  them  had  ever  seen 
before.  Thus  far,  the  road  had  been  bad,  and,  at  some  places,  even 
dangerous,  first  looking  down  on  the  Lena  from  the  edge  of  cliffs  seve- 
ral hundred  feet  high,  and  then  descending,  as  if  to  renew  our  aquatic 
troubles,  into  the  very  stream  itself. 

After  breakfast  our  trac^  lay  along  the  base  of  some  precipices  of 
limestone.  Soon,  however,  we  entered  a  fertile  valley.;  with  our  old 
friend,  the  peaceful  Lena,  still  by  our  side,  in  which  wsis  prettily  em- 
bosomed, the  ancient  town  of  Vercholensk.  The  level  b;  nks,  and  the 
slopi  ig  hills  on  either  hand,  were  closely  cultivated,  excepting  where 
clumps  of  trees  had  been  left  by  way  of  ornament ;  so  that,  in  plant- 
ing this,  their  original  post  as  the  name  would  imply,  towards  the  head 
of  the  stream,  the  Cossacks  displayed  as  much  taste  and  judgment  in 
the  selection  of  a  site,  as  ever  the  Jesuits  displayed  in  Canada,  or  the 
Franciscans  in  California.  Speaking  of  the  signification  of  the  name 
in  question,  Verchney  and  Neshnez,  respectively  equivalent  to  Upper 
and  Lower,  would  appear  to  be  derived  from  the  simpler  forms  of 
Verch,  as  in  Vercholensk  and  Verchozansk,  and  Nish,  as  in  Nishego- 
rod,  the  abbreviated  edition  of  Nishnez  Novgorod;  and,  if  one  utterly 
ignorant  of  the  language,  might  still  farther  presume  to  offer  another 
suggestion,  which,  if  correct,  might  be  the  groundwork  of  extensive 
and  important  investigations,  I  should  be  inclined  to  trace  some  resem- 
blance and  connection,  between  Nish  and  Verch  respectively,  and  our 
vernacular  Beneath  and  Over. 

At  this  town  I  was  received  with  great  attention.  The  whole  popu- 
lation flocked  to  see  the  expected  travelers,  of  whose  importance  they 
had  received  very  exaggerated  accounts ;  and  amongst  the  crowd  of  our 


-*/ 


PROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


165 


\  been  sent  to 
)f  a  magistrate 
eek,  had  been 
ce  his  steps  in 

ad  retarded  us 
)ing  merely  to 
settlements  on 
rs,  cream,  and 
in  the  centre  of 
America, — such 
1  had  ever  seen 
[le  places,  even 
re  of  cliffs  seve- 
ew  our  aquatic 

e  precipices  of 
■,  with  our  old 
irjvs  prettily  em- 
bi  nks,  and  the 
Kcepting  where 

that,  in  plant- 
wards  the  head 
d  judgment  in 
Canada,  or  the 
m  of  the  name 
alent  to  Upper 
npler  forms  of 
as  in  Nishego- 

,  if  one  utterly 
o  offer  another 
k  of  extensive 
36  some  resem- 
tively,  and  our 

18  whole  popu- 
nportance  they 
e  crowd  of  our 


admirers,  wc  found  a  rlork  of  the  Russian  American  Company,  who 
had  brought  a  close  carriage  for  my  use,  all  the  way  from  Irkutsk. 
We  called  on  a  wealthy  peasant,  the  occupier  and  proprietor  of  a  beautiful 
mansion,  where  an  old  lady  of  eighty  received  us,  performed  the  office 
of  hostess  to  perfection,  aiul  was  even  a  little  otTended  at  our  refusing 
to  partake  of  refreshment  under  her  roof.  This  man  was,  of  course, 
a  peasant  merely  in  name.  Throughout  Siberia,  the  descendants  of  exiles, 
generally  speaking,  are  classed  as  serfs  of  the  crown,  being  practically, 
neither  more  nor  loss,  than  unprivileged  subjects ;  and  such  of  them  as 
may  have  risen  above  the  rank  of  laborers,  are  as  little  liable  to  be 
dragged  down  from  their  actual  position,  as  any  nobleman  in  the  land. 
In  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  this  portion  of  the  empire,  slavery, 
properly  so  called, — the  submission  of  one  subject  to  the  irresponsible 
caprices  of  another, — is  entirely  unknown.  In  fact,  there  is  not  in  the 
country,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  a  single  germ  of  a  territorial 
nobility ;  and  perhaps  this  peculiarity  in  the  constitution  of  society, 
has  its  bad  side  as  well  as  its  good,  inasmuch  as  it  exempts  the  great 
mass  of  the  public  functionaries  from  any  local  check  in  the  shape  of 
an  influence  unconnected  with  themselves.  But  the  very  exiles  them- 
selves, to  say  nothing  of  their  descendants,  are  virtually  left  to  carve 
out  their  own  fortunes.  A  well-dressed  man,  who  spoke  with  a  strong 
German  accent,  introduced  himself  to  us.  He  proved  to  be  a  Gallician, 
who  had  been  banished  twenty-six  years  before  for  smuggling,  but  had 
raised  himself,  by  his  steadiness  and  talent,  to  be  one  of  the  most  re- 
spectable inhabitants  of  the  town.  He  had  an  excellent  house  with  a 
very  neat  little  wife  in  it ;  and,  as  a  proof  of  the  extent  of  his  busi- 
ness and  resources,  he  supplied  all  the  horses  for  five  successive  stages. 

According  to  the  statement  of  my  smuggling  friend,  the  place  con- 
tained a  population  of  two  hundred  and  forty  souls ;  and  though,  from 
the  number  of  the  houses,  I  was  inclined  to  prefer  a  higher  estimate, 
yet  my  informant  referred  me  to  the  unanswerable  authority  of  the 
checkered  post,  which,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  served 
as  a  standing  record  of  a  state  of  things  perhaps  twenty  years  old. 
Meanwhile  the  Vercholenskians  had  undeniably  multiplied;  but  the 
worthy  Gallician,  having  come  so  far  to  learn  experience,  had  appa- 
rently made  up  his  mind  to  take  on  trust  everything  that  had  a  legal 
look.  These  official  values,  as  it  were,  of  each  settlement  are  intended, 
to  a  certain  extent,  to  regulate  taxation  in  the  gross  for  considerable 
periods. 

Hitherto  I  had  had  but  five  horses,  three  wheelers  and  two  leaders ; 
but  from  Vercholensk,  as  the  road  would  be  hilly,  my  wheelers  were 
increased  to  five.  Before  reaching  the  next' station,  we  overtook  the 
magistrate  of  police,  who  had  waited  so  long  for  us  at  Figoloffskaya ; 
and,  after  the  ceremony  of  introduction  was  over,  he  joined  our  caval- 
cade, which  thus  consisted  in  all  of  seven  vehicles  and  thirty-five  or 
forty  horses.  We  flew  over  the  ground,  the  roads,  the  cattle  and  the 
weather  being  as  fine  as  heart  could  wish.  A  stranger,  however, 
would  require  a  considerable  amount  of  moral  courage  to  permit  him- 
self to  be  driven  along  at  the  rate  of  twelve  or  fourteen  versts  an  hour, 


:ut 


166 


FROM  Fir.OLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


'  '?■*• 

#  t' 

■■     '-■ 

1) 

■ . 

with  so  niiiny  utirontrollahlo  hoofs  and  wIutIh  hchind  him.  Any  arci- 
dont,  it'  it  did  not  h(>(riii  with  a  broken  nrck,  wouhl  bo  Hurn  to  dnd  with 
sonuUhinif  Hiill  worse. 

At  Katschoo^a  1  was  mot  by  the  hoad  of  the  pohce  and  tho  principal 
inhabitants,  and  stopped  to  hineh  with  a  rich  nierehant.  I  was  here 
intro(Uiecd  to  a  ehiel  or  taeshow  of  the  HiiratH.  havinjr  tlie  eonnnand 
and  snpervision  of  about  five  thousand  of  his  tribe;  he  was  a  hand- 
some man,  wearin{r  unift)rin  and  [lossessinsr  soinelbinj;  of  aihlress  and 
education.  Thouj^h  liis  authority  was  of  the  same  subordinate  kind 
as  that  of  a  princeling  among  lh»!  Yakufi,  yet,  in  airtual  position,  he 
was  infinitely  higher  than  our  old  friend  .facnb.  His  subjects  were  as 
superior  to  our  first  spf  cimens  of  the  aborigines  in  civilization  as  they 
were  in  number, — a  fact  easily  «'xplained  by  their  more  southerly 
situation.  I  had  also  the  pleasure  of  being  introduced  to  the  wife  of 
the  head  of  the  police,  the  prettiest  woman  that  I  had  hitherto  seen  in 
Asia.  She  made  a  thousand  apologies  for  her  husband's  neglect  in  not 
having  gone  some  three  hundred  v«?rsts  down  the  Ijcna  to  meet  me  at 
the  limit  of  his  district;  and,  if  the  honest  man  had  been  guilty  of  a 
great  deal  more  than  what  she  was  polite  enough  to  impute  to  him,  he 
would  have  been  quite  safe  with  such  advocates  on  his  behalf  as  her 
black  eyes,  glossy  inair,  pouting  lips  and  dimpling  cheeks. 

Katschooga  appeared  to  be  a  thriving  place,  as  one  might  expect 
from  its  being  the  entrepot  of  the  whole  of  the  trade  between  Irkutsk 
and  the  settlements  on  the  Lena.  Some  of  the  most  influential  among 
the  inhabitants  were  exiles  to  whom,  so  far  as  we  could  judge,  no 
stigma  was  attached ;  and,  in  fact,  considering  the  numbers  sent  to 
Siberia  for  political  oflences  or  even  for  not  being  able  to  give  a  satis- 
factory account  of  themselves,  the  mere  idea  of  banishment  could  hardly 
be  supposed  to  involve  the  same  moral  and  social  incidents  among  the 
Russians  as  among  ourselves.  A  German,  in  relating  his  history  td 
us  without  any  apparent  hesitation  or  reserve,  playfully  said  that  he 
had  come  on  a  visit  to  Siberia,  but  had  not  yet  made  up  his  mind  as 
to  the  time  of  his  return ;  and  an  old  man  with  a  flowing  beard  and 
altogether  of  very  remarkable  appearance,  thougli  this  happened,  by 
the  by,  at  our  next  station,  told  us  that,  upwards  of  thirty  years  before, 
he  had  had  the  misfortune  to  commit  a  small  mistake  in  Moscow. 

At  Katschooga  we  took  our  last  swim  in  the  Lena,  an  embrace,  as 
it  were,  at  parting.  How  diflerent  was  the  scene,  when  first  we 
viewed  the  river  on  our  approach  to  Yakutsk.  To  look  at  the  stream 
itself,  a  breadth  of  seven  versts  had  shrunk  into  two  or  three  hundred 
yards;  while  its  shores,  instead  of  being  a  sterile  flat  in  an  inhospitable 
climate,  were  varied  by  hill  and  dale,  wood  and  m  ater,  pasture  and 
cultivation,  skill  and  labor  having  done  their  utmost  to  heighten  the 
charms  which  nature  had  bestowed  with  a  liberal  hand. 

After  crossing  the  Lena,  we  left  it  to  pursue  its  way  up  a  valley  to 
the  right,  while  we  ourselves  struck  into  a  beautiful  })rairie  to  the  left, 
through  which  flowed  the  small  stream  Issel,  with  mnny  Russian  and 
Burat  farms  on  its  banks.  Thence  a  rise  of  about  fifty  feet  took  us 
into  another  plain  of  much  greater  extent,  bounded  by  hills  which  were 


FROM  Fir.OLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


167 


im.     Any  firci- 
urc  to  dnd  witli 

1(1  the  priniMp:il 
it.     I  was  here 

the  command 
he  was  ii  haiul- 

of  address  and 
d)ordinate  kind 
lal  position,  he 
uhjects  were  as 
lization  as  they 
nore  southerly 
d  to  the  wife  of 
hitherto  seen  in 
's  ne<rleet  in  not 
a  to  meet  me  at 
lecn  guilty  of  a 
pute  to  }nm,  he 
is  behalf  as  her 
ks. 

0  might  expect 
etween  Irkutsk 
illucntial  amon^ 
;ould  judge,  no 
umbers  sent  to 

1  to  give  a  satis- 
?nt  could  hardly 
lents  among  the 
r  his  history  to 
lly  said  that  lie 
up  his  mind  as 
wing  beard  and 

happened,  by 

ty  years  before. 

n  Moscow. 

an  embrace,  as 

when  first  we 

)k  at  the  stream 

r  three  hundred 

an  inhospitable 

;er,  pasture  and 

to  heighten  thf 

• 

^^  up  a  valley  to 
[lirie  to  the  left, 
ly  Russian  and 
\y  feet  took  us 
dlls  which  were 


cultivated  to  their  very  HuniinitH.  At  the  end  again  of  tlii.s  Net^oiul  ex- 
panse, which  was  marked  i)y  the  station  of  CliorliatHkaya,  we  entered 
ilie  Hratsky  Steppe,  ho  fatuouH  for  its  beauty.  This  magniticent  pra'- 
rie,  through  which  meandered  the  beautiful  Manzurka  (Ui  i»s  way  to 
the  liCna,  was  studded  with  Hurat  settlements,  wliili^  thousaiuls  of  cat- 
tle, horses,  goats  and  sheep  were  gra/itig  oti  lUv  rich  |)asture  all  round 
as  far  as  the  eye  eoidd  reach.  'I'he  surface  was  undulating;  and  on 
every  side  the  laud-icape  ttsrmiuated  in  hills,  which  bore  traces  of  arti- 
ficial vegetation  to  i  teir  very  tops. 

While  halting  at  >  \v,  of  tlu;  sfnilements,  I  was  introduced  to  another 
tacshow,  with  whoui  I  had  the  honor  of  drinking  kumyss  and  eating 
sour  milk  in  his  uwii  yourte;  aiul  I  afterwards  visited  his  son's  yoiirte, 
to  whose  princess,  arrayed  in  a  curious  mixture  of  barliarisnt  and  civi- 
lization, a  sheepskin  with  plenty  of  plated  ware  abotit  it  and  an  em- 
broidered <'ap,  I  was  presented  with  all  due  c'eremony.  'I'hc  old  chief 
was  said  to  send  annually  to  market  grain  to  the  value  of  thirty  or  forty 
thousand  roid>les,  and  to  Ix;  worth  altogether  about  twenty  thousand 
poumis  sterling  in  cash.  The  deputy  or  assistant  of  the  taeshow  had 
received  orders  from  the  governor  of  Irkutsk  to  accompany  me;  and 
he  accordingly  here  added  one  more  to  the  nundier  of  my  suite. 

At  Manzurskaya,  which  we  thus  reached  with  a  formidable  line  of 
eight  carriages,  all  tlu;  good  people,  young  and  old,  rushed  out  of  doors 
to  see  the  English  stranger,  who,  being  only  the  second  or  third  visitor 
of  our  nation  in  these  parts,  was,  of  course,  a  great  curiosity. 

Soon  after  leaving  Manzurskaya  I  began  to  be  remiiuled,  i)y  sundry 
hints  not  to  be  mistaken,  that  I  had  not  closed  my  eyes  for  msarly  for- 
ty-eight hours.  The  world,  both  in  its  sights  and  in  its  sounds,  seemed 
to  be  gettiitg  into  all  the  possible  varieties  of  disorder  and  confusion ;  and 
at  length  I  fell  into  a  profound  slumber,  which  the  bells  of  the  horses,  the 
jolting  of  the  vehicles  and  the  changing  of  our  teams  amid  a  discordant 
din  of  Russ  and  Bratsky,  so  little  disturbed,  that,  when  I  awoke,  I  had 
no  other  evidence  than  the  mere  change  of  scene  that  I  had  been  asleep 
at  all.  The  drivers  and  horses  had  been  succeeded  by  other  bipeds 
and  quadrupeds;  the  darkness  had  given  place  to  broad  day;  and  the 
landscape  had  expanded  itself  from  the  fertile  valley  of  a  murmuriuy 
brook  into  a  sea  of  plains,  which,  but  for  the  villages  and  the  (locks 
and  the  herds,  I  might  have  taken  to  be  part  of  the  boundless  prairies 
of  the  Assiniboine. 

We  were  still  on  the  Bratsky  Steppe.  The  soil,  though  it  was  light 
and,  in  some  places,  sandy,  had  yet  been  fertilized  by  pasturage;  and 
white  clover  was  abundant.  In  order  to  secure  a  sutlicient  quantity  of 
provender  for  the  seven  long  months  of  winter,  the  borders  of  every 
stream,  where  the  grass,  of  course,  was  more  than  ordinarily  luxuriant, 
wereset  apart  by  fences  for  hay,  while,  still  farther  to  increase  the  sup- 
ply, large  meadows  were  artificially  irrigated. 

At  Yerdoffskaya,  after  stretching  along  a  line  of  a  hundred  and  sixty 
versts,  this  grand  plain  of  the  Burats  gradually  narrowed  itself  into  a 
small  valley  ;  and  thenceforward  to  Koodinskaya,  the  country  strongly 
remiaded  me  of  some  parts  of  Scotland,  particularly  of  Strathpeffer,   A. 


I 


168 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


'M 


,t      s. 


short  time  before  reaching  the  last  mentioned  station,  we  passed  through 
a  village  of  political  exiles  of  distinction;  and  I  saw  peeping  out  of 
the  windows  many  a  face  that  betokened  high  birth,  while  the  hearts 
of  the  owners  doubtless  thought  rather  of  Moscow  and  Petersburg,  to 
which  we  were  flying,  than  of  ourselves. 

At  Koodinskaya,  where  we  breakfasted,  I  experienced  an  instance 
of  civility,  which  astonished  me  even  in  the  peasants  of  this  country. 
Intending  to  bathe,  I  questioned  a  man  as  to  the  depth  and  bottom  of 
the  river :  and  his  only  answer  was,  after  stripping,  to  wade  up  to  his 
chin,  this  giving  me  ocular  demonstration  of  the  quantity  of  water  and 
the  tirmness  of  the  footing.  Our  swim  did  us  a  great  deal  of  good,  for, 
independently  of  the  heat  of  the  weather,  our  outside  horses  had  done 
little  or  nothing  but  kick  up  clouds  of  dust  in  our  faces.  In  fact,  we 
had  discovered  that  the  grandeur  of  having  five  horses  abreast  was 
hardly  worth  the  annoyance. 

Seven  or  eight  versts  beyond  Koodinskaya  brought  us  to  the  top  of 
a  hill,  whence  we  gained  our  first  view  of  the  metropolis  of  Eastern 
Siberia,  lying  on  three  rivers,  the  Angara,  the  Irkut,  and  the  Ousha- 
koffka.  From  this  distance,  Irkutsk  presented  a  fine  appearance  with 
its  fifteen  churches  and  their  spires,  its  convents,  its  hospitals,  and  its 
other  public  buildings.  But  this  favorable  impression  vanished,  as  we 
approached  ;  and  we  were  disappointed  at  seeing  so  little  bustle  in  the 
wide  streets,  and  so  many  edifices  going  to  decay. 

We  entered  the  city  over  a  long  wooden  bridge,  rattling  along  with 
no  small  commotion,  till  we  reached  an  excellent  house,  which  the 
governor  had  caused  to  be  prepared  for  our  reception.  This  mansion 
belonged  to  the  great  monopolist  in  the  way  of  wines  and  spirits, 
already  mentioned  under  the  head  of  Yakutsk,  as  paying  so  large  a 
sum  for  one  exclusive  license  in  his  trade.  The  leviathan  himself  was 
residing  at  Krasnoyarsk ;  but  two  of  his  agents  introduced  us  into  the 
handsomely  furnished  house,  providing  us  at  the  same  time  with  a 
dozen  or  so  of  attendants  of  all  sorts,  sizes,  and  countries. 

Having  arrived  about  two  in  the  afternoon,  we  were  immediately 
visited  by  the  principal  magistrate  of  police  with  a  complimentary 
message  from  the  governor,  who  was  followed  by  Mr.  Didoff,  the  ager.i 
of  the  Russian  American  Company.  After  dinner,  my  Russian  fellow 
traveler,  who  acted  as  our  interpreter,  left  us  in  order  to  make  some 
arrangements  for  our  future  proceedings.  To  beguile  the  time,  my 
other  fellow  traveler  and  myself  ventured  to  take  a  stroll  through  the 
town  without  a  guide ;  and,  after  we  had  wandered  about  among  the 
churches  and  shops,  till  twilight  came  on,  we  turned  our  thoughts  home- 
wards, soon  discovering  that  we  knew  neither  the  name  of  our  street 
nor  its  situation.  In  this  predicament  we  strayed  at  random  from  place 
to  place,  in  hopes  of  meeting  some  person  acquainted  with  English  or 
French ;  and  at  length  a  gentleman  in  a  drosky,  who  must  have  sus- 
pected the  truth,  conducted  us  to  Mr.  DidofTs.  As  that  gentleman 
could  not  understand  a  word  that  we  uttered,  he  was,  of  course,  a  good 
deal  astonished  at  so  unseasonable  a  visit.  Like  a  true  Russian,  how- 
ever, he  gave  us  a  hearty  welcome,  and  a  bottle  of  champagne ;  and, 


■  if  a 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


169 


i: 


passed  through 
peeping  out  of 
:hile  the  hearts 
1  Petersburg,  to 

ed  an  instance 
»f  this  country. 
L  and  bottom  of 
wade  up  to  his 
y  of  water  and 
eal  of  good,  for, 
orses  had  done 
s.  In  fact,  we 
es  abreast  was 

us  to  the  top  of 
slis  of  Eastern 
ind  the  Ousha- 
ppearance  with 
ospitals,  and  its 
vanished,  as  we 
tie  bustle  in  the 

lling  along  with 
luse,  which  the 
This  mansion 
les  and  spirits, 
ying  so  large  a 
lan  himself  was 
ced  us  into  the 
tie  lime  with  a 

2S. 

re  immediately 
complimentary 
)idofr,  the  ageni 
Russian  feliow 
•  to  make  some 
!  the  time,  my 
•oil  through  the 
(Out  among  the 
houghts  home- 
le  of  our  street 
dom  from  place 
vith  English  or 
must  have  sus- 
that  gendeman 
course,  a  good 
Russian,  how- 
impagne ;  and, 


when  at  length  we  explained  the  mystery  to  him  by  signs,  he  sent  us 
home  in  his  drosky,  about  midnight. 

Next  morning  being  the  eleventh  of  August,  I  received,  in  addition 
to  several  complimentary  visits,  a  still  more  solid  proof  of  politeness 
and  attention.  A  handsome  carriage  with  four  magnificent  grays,  as 
also  a  smaller  vehicle  and  pair,  were  placed  at  my  disposal  by  the 
governor,  with  postillion,  footman,  and  bearded  coachman,  all  com- 
plete. I  was  now  able  to  make  a  round  of  calls  in  princely  style,  be- 
ginning, as  in  all  duty  bound,  with  the  governor.  His  excellency, 
M.  Patneffsky,  proved  to  be  a  civilian,  the  first  person  of  his  class 
whom  I  had  yet  seen  holding  an  important  office  in  Siberia ;  he  was  a 
middle-aged,  affable,  intelligent  man,  and  welcomed  us  very  courteously. 
He  made  many  inquiries  with  respect  to  my  voyage,  such  as  whether 
I  had  found  police  officers  and  postmasters  civil,  vehicles,  horses,  and 
provisions  good,  &c.  &c. ;  and  he  concluded  by  inviting  us  all  to  din- 
ner for  the  same  day.  I  next  proceeded  to  the  country  residence  of 
General  Rupert,  the  Governor  General  of  Eastern  Siberia,  a  gray- 
headed,  handsome,  soldierly  man  of  sixty.  He  informed  me  that  he 
had  the  emperor's  commands  to  facilitate  my  movements  in  every  pos- 
sible way,  and  was  pleased  to  add  that  he  should  individually  derive 
great  satisfaction  from  the  fulfilment  of  his  instructions.  I  accordingly 
explained,  that  my  own  intentions  then  were  to  start  next  day  for  Lake 
Baikal  nnd  Kiachta,  to  return  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  lastly,  to 
resume  my  homeward  journey  the  day  following  that  on  which  I  might 
get  back  to  Irkutsk.  His  excellency  recommended  that  I  should 
remain  another  day  before  entering  on  my  southern  trip,  assuring  me 
that  this  trifling  delay  would  really  occasion  no  loss  of  timve,  as  it  would 
better  enable  him  to  dispatch  orders  as  far  as  the  western  limits  of  his 
jurisdiction  to  have  horses,  &c.,  ready  for  us  along  the  route.  Such  a 
recommendation  would,  of  course,  have  been  equivalent  to  a  command, 
even  if  his  excellency  had  not  specially  forestalled  the  morrow  by  in- 
viting us  to  dinner. 

T  called  again  on  my  friend,  Mr.  Didoff ;  and  we  were  all  very  merry 
o-.er  our  adventures  of  the  preceding  night.  This  gentleman's  house 
had  been  the  Russian  American  Company's  place  of  business  ever 
since  the  association  existed  under  any  form ;  and  he  himself  had  been 
in  the  service  for  more  than  forty  years.  Besides  Mr.  DidofT  there 
were  at  this  establishment  three  clerks  and  several  servants,  with  hired 
laborers  for  particular  occasions.  All  these  agencies  in  Siberia,  re- 
stricted, as  they  are,  almost  exclusively  to  the  business  of  transport, 
must  be  i.  heavy  drag  on  the  Company's  resources. 

At  the  governor's,  where  we  had,  of  course,  an  excellent  dinner,  the 
party  was  small,  consisting  only,  besides  his  excellency  and  his  lady, 
of  a  councilor  and  a  doctor  with  their  wives  and  ourselves.  In  fact, 
we  had  heard,  as  far  down  the  Lena  as  Kirensk,  something  that  ex- 
plained the  circumstance.  As  Yakutsk  had  its  feud  between  Governor 
Roodikoff  and  Mi.  Shagin,  so  Irkutsk  again,  entirely  eclipsing  its 
northern  rival  in  this  respect,  had  its  feud  between  General  Rupert 


M' 


'J 


'm.' 


m 


i^ 


,:1 

i 


''ft- 


.1    ■•S#-'?^ff' 


170 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


and  Governor  Palneffsky ;  and  we  had  accordingly  been  prepared  to 
find  society  in  a  divided  and  disjointed  condition. 

After  dinner,  which  was  at  two  o'clock,  Madam  Patneffsky  took  us 
into  her  workroom,  in  which,  to  say  nothing  of  a  number  of  Chinese 
curiosities,  was  the  lady's  own  loom  with  the  most  superb  piece  of 
embroidery  in  it  that  I  ever  saw.  The  governor  afterwards  showed 
us  his  valuable  collection  of  minerals,  comprising  some  splendid  speci- 
mens of  aqua  marine,  topaz,  amethyst,  gold  ore,  and  various  other 
metals  and  stones  found  in  Siberia;  and  we  understood,  that  one  of 
the  blocks  of  topaz  in  particular  was  the  third  largest  in  the  world. 
His  excellency  informed  us,  that  gold  had  recently  been  discovered  in 
some  marshes  or  toondii  close  to  Irkutsk. 

On  the  following  day  I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  visits  from  the 
governor,  the  mayor,  a  councilor,  and  lastly  the  brother  of  one  of  the 
medical  gentlemen  of  New  Archangel.  I  afterwards  paid  my  respects 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Eastern  Siberia,  who,  in  England,  would  have 
been  reckoned  very  young,  being  not  more  than  thirty-five  or  forty 
years  of  age,  to  fill  so  important  an  office.  On  my  entering,  he  rose 
to  receive  me,  and,  taking  me  apparently  for  an  obedient  child  of  the 
Greek  Church,  held  out  his  hand  for  me  to  kiss.  Being  ignorant  of 
the  custom,  I  gave  him  a  hearty  shake,  for  I  really  was  prepossessed  ?  ' 
his  favor  at  first  sight;  and,  though  I  observed  him  withdraw  his  han(i 
awkwardly  from  my  grasp,  yet  I  did  not  precisely  see  the  error  of  my 
ways,  till  one  of  the  party  went  through  the  orthodox  ceremony  with 
all  due  devotion.  The  archbishop  conversed  readily  on  the  subject  ot 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  vast  country  committed  to  his  charge,  telling 
us,  that,  besides  his  metropolitan  jurisdiction  over  the  Bishop  of  Sitka, 
his  immediate  diocese  comprehended  all  Eastern  Siberia,  with  the 
exception,  of  course,  of  Kamschatka  and  Ochotsk.  The  good  prelate 
complained,  that  the  prevalent  mania  for  searching  for  the  precious 
metals,  which  had  of  late  been  greatly  aggravated  by  the  productiveness 
and  extension  of  the  mines  and  washeries,  was  prejudicial  to  the  pros- 
perity of  agriculture,  and,  in  a  certain  degree,  to  tlie  diffusion  also  of 
Christianity ;  nor  did  he  appear  to  think,  that  an  equitable  return  was 
made  from  the  west  side  of  the  Uralian  Mountains,  for  the  vast  quanti- 
ties of  silver  and  gold  which  were  annually  sent  across  them  from  the 
east.  The  archbishop  had  nothing  austere  or  repulsive  in  his  manners. 
He  was,  on  the  contrary,  most  affable  and  courteous ;  while  his  con- 
versation showed,  that,  without  diminishing  his  interest  in  his  own 
sacred  vocation,  he  had  acquired  a  large  fund  of  general  knowledge 
and  had  mixed  much  in  the  world.  I  spent  with  him  one  of  the  most 
interesting  hours  of  my  long  and  varied  journey;  and,  in  fact,  I  might 
truly  say,  that  no  other  individual,  of  whom  I  saw  so  little  in  my 
travels,  stood  higher  in  my  estimation  than  the  primate  of  Eastern 
Siberia.  If  my  former  acquaintance  of  Sitka  and  this  his  immediate 
superior  were  to  be  considered  as  average  samples  of  the  prelates  of 
the  Greek  Church,  the  whole  of  them,  as  a  body,  would  certainly  form 
a  hierarchy  inferior  in  dignity  and  respectability  only  to  that  of  our 
country. 


,i:l<| 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


171 


n  prepared  to 

leffsky  took  us 
)er  of  Chinese 
uperb  piece  of 
wards  showed 
splendid  speci- 
various  other 
)d,  that  one  of 
it  in  the  world. 
1  discovered  in 

visits  from  the 
r  of  one  of  the 
lid  my  respects 
id,  would  have 
ty-five  or  forty 
itering,  he  rose 
int  child  of  the 
ling  ignorant  of 
prepossessed  i  ' 
hdraw  his  hanii 
the  error  of  my 
ceremony  with 
n  the  subject  of 
3  charge,  telling 
lishop  of  Sitka, 
beria,  with  the 
he  good  prelate 
)r  the  precious 
1  productiveness 
;ial  to  the  pros- 
ifTusion  also  o( 
ible  return  was 
the  vast  quanti- 

them  from  the 
in  his  manners. 

while  his  con- 
est  in  his  own 
eral  knowledge 
Due  of  the  most 
in  fact,  I  might 
30  little  in  my 
ate  of  Eastern 

his  immediate 
the  prelates  of 
1  certainly  form 

to  that  of  our 


A  trip  to  Kiachta  and  its  Chinese  neighbor,  the  village  of  Maimat- 
schin,  I  had  always  regarded  as  likely  to  be  one  of  the  most  interesting 
portions  of  my  voyage ;  and  what  was  my  disappointment  to  receive, 
at  the  very  moment  of  intending  to  start,  a  hurried  note  from  Governor 
Patneffsky,  stating  that,  according  to  information  just  obtained  by  his 
excellency,  the  Chinese,  without  assigning  any  reason,  had  suddenly 
interdicted  all  communication  with  foreigners  of  every  nation.  This 
was  a  death-blow  to  my  cherished  hopes  of  bringing  *'  the  flowery 
people"  within  the  range  of  my  travels.  Though  the  prohibition  in 
question  was  general,  yet  I  could  not  help  being  vain  enough  to  infer 
that  my  own  little  party  was  the  special  object  of  celestial  jealousy. 
The  authorities  at  Maimatschin  had  had  plenty  of  time  to  hear  of  the 
contemplated  visit  of  English  travelers;  and  they  might  either  have 
suspected  us  of  being  spies,  or  have  thought  that,  at  that  particular 
time,  they  had  already  too  many  of  "the  fierce  barbarians"  on  the 
other  side  of  "  the  central  land." 

Butj  as  all  the  preparations  for  my  journey  had  been  completed,  I 
determined  to  go  at  once  as  far  as  the  Baikal  Lake,  distant  about  sixty 
versts  from  Irkutsk.  The  road  was  good,  lying,  for  the  most  part, 
along  the  banks  of  the  Angara,  whose  rapid  current  formed  a  striking 
contrast  with  the  sluggish  waters  of  the  Lena ;  and  in  a  few  hours  we 
reached  the  point  at  which  the  river  was  gushing  from  its  inexhaustible 
cistern.  At  the  first  glance  of  this  the  largest  body  of  fresh  water  on 
the  Old  Continent,  my  thoughts  flew  back  over  my  still  recent  foot- 
steps to  that  parent  of  many  Baikals,  the  Lake  Superior  of  the  New 
World ;  and  I  involuntarily  reflected,  with  some  degree  of  pride,  that 
no  preceding  traveler  of  any  age  or  nation  had  ever  stood  on  the  shores 
of  the  two  greatest  of  the  inland  seas  of  the  globe.  Even  if  my  pre- 
vious wanderings  through  the  wildernesses  of  North  America  had  not 
given  me  any  personal  interest  in  the  matter,  I  could  hardly  have  re- 
frained from  indulging  in  a  comparison  between  the  Baikal  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  Superior  with  its  giant  progeny  on  the  other. 

In  mere  position  they  resemble  each  other  in  a  very  remarkable 
manner.  Touching,  though  in  opposite  directions,  one  and  the  same 
parallel  of  latitude,  tKey  are  intersected,  at  the  outlet  of  the  Ontario 
and  at  the  western  extremity  of  the  lake  before  us,  by  one  and  the 
same  circle  of  longitude — almost  the  very  meridian,  by  the  by,  of  the 
highest  and  lowest  extremities  both  of  Asia  and  of  America,  of  the 
head  of  Baffin's  Bay  and  of  the  western  entrance  of  the  Strait  of  Ma- 
gellan, of  Cape  Taymoor  and  of  the  southern  point  of  the  Peninsula  of 
Malacca.  With  respect  to  the  extent  of  country  drained,  the  Baikal 
has  certainly  the  advantage  of  all  its  American  rivals  put  together,  for, 
while  the  latter  are  pressed  in  every  direction  by  the  height  of  land, 
the  former  is  fed  by  its  two  principal  tributaries  from  sources  distant 
from  each  other,  in  a  straigiit  line,  at  least  a  thousand  miles.  But,  if 
from  the  adjacent  regions  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  ultimate  destina- 
tion of  the  waters  which  are  received,  the  reservoir  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
infinitely  surpasses  that  of  the  Angara,  for,  while  the  latter  stream  loses 
itself  in  an  always  impracticable  ocean,  the  former,  annually  bearing 


■•-.tit 

■■'■I 

:■  .^r:^ 


I 


i'A:.::! 


r 


* 


>'A 


172 


•V' 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


upwards  of  a  thousand  sea-going  ships  on  its  bosom,  forms  the  channel 
of  communication  between  the  most  commercial  country  on  earth  and 
her  most  important  colony.  Moreover,  the  reservoirs  themselves,  in 
point  of  navigable  utility,  bear  pretty  much  the  same  relation  to  each 
other  as  their  outlets  do.  Though,  with  the  exception  of  the  Superior 
alone,  every  one  of  the  connected  lakes  of  North  America,  the  Huron, 
the  Michigan,  the  Erie,  and  the  Ontario,  is  traversed,  both  in  its  length 
and  in  its  breadth,  by  considerable  numbers  of  sailing  vessels  and  steam- 
boats, yet  the  Baikal  is  little  better,  in  regard  to  traffic,  than  a  barren 
waste.  Surrounded  by  lofty  mountains,  whose  precipitous  sides  sink 
at  once  into  the  bottomless  waters,  it  possesses  but  few  harbors  or 
anchorages;  formed  with  a  length  of  ten  times  its  breadth,  it  is  subject 
at  once  to  violent  gales,  which  blow  along  it  as  through  a  funnel,  and 
to  sudden  squalls,  which  sweep  across  it  as  they  rush  down  from  the 
defiles  of  its  amphitheatre  of  hills;  and  situated  in  a  bed,  which  looks 
like  the  work  of  the  volcano  and  the  earthquake,  it  is  still  liable  to  be 
dangerously  agitated,  without  any  visible  cause,  by  subterranean  ener- 
gies. To  make  matters  still  worse,  the  craft  in  use,  apparently  carrying 
from  eighty  to  a  hundred  tons  each,  are  the  most  awkward,  clumsy, 
crazy  tubs  in  the  world.  Under  all  these  circumstances,  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  vast  traffic,  which  is  carried  on  between  Irkutsk  and  the 
boundless  regions  beyond  the  Baikal,  either  passes  in  sledges  over  the 
frozen  lake,  or  is  conveyed  round  its  southern  extremity  by  rugged 
and  perilous  roads. 

The  traffic  in  question  is  connected  partly  with  the  mines  of  Nert- 
shinsk,  but  chiefly  with  the  international  emporium  of  Kiachta. 

Nertshinsk  is  famous  for  gold  and  silver,  lead  and  iron ;  and  its 
various  establishments  are  the  ordinary  destination  of  convicts  of  the 
worst  class.  So  long  as  the  Amoor  remains  closed  against  the  Rus- 
sians, all  the  incidental  transport  must  either  cross  or  double  the  Bai- 
kal on  its  way  to  and  from  Irkutsk  ;  and  even  if  the  Amoor  should 
follow  the  political  fortunes  of  all  the  other  great  rivers  of  Northern 
Asia,  the  present  line  of  communication  between  Nertshinsk  and  Ir- 
kutsk would  gain  far  more  than  it  could  lose,  by  being  extended  all  the 
way  to  the  Pacific,  sacrificing  perhaps  part  of  the  business  of  the  mines, 
but  almost  entirely  superseding  the  route  by  Ochotsk  and  Yakutsk. 
Nertshinsk,  by  tlie  by,  stands  on  a  tributary  of  the  Amoor.  It  is  the 
remotest  place  of  any  note  in  that  quarter  of  Siberia ;  and  it  is  remark- 
able as  the  spot  at  which  the  Russians  reluctantly  consented  to  stop  in 
their  eastward  progress,  as,  in  fact,  the  only  spot  in  the  wide  circuit 
of  their  empire  at  which  they  ever  permanently  halted  in  the  career 
of  conquest. 

With  respect  again  to  the  trade  of  Kiachta,  the  Treaty  of  Nert- 
shinsk, to  which  I  have  just  alluded,  stipulated,  in  general  terms,  for  a 
reciprocal  liberty  of  trafficking  between  the  Russians  and  the  Chinese ; 
and  accordingly,  under  its  sanction,  individuals  on  their  own  account 
and  caravans  on  behalf  of  the  government  used  to  visit  Peking.  But 
the  Muscovites  constantly  set  so  bad  an  example  before  the  sedate 
folks  of  the  imperial  city,  in  the  way  of  drinking  and  roystering,  that 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


173 


ms  the  channel 
^  on  earth  and 

themselves,  in 
elation  to  each 
of  the  Superior 
ica,  the  Huron, 
>th  in  its  length 
ssels  and  steam- 

than  a  barren 
tons  sides  sink 
'ew  harbors  or 
Ith,  it  is  subject 
I  a  funnel,  and 
lown  from  the 
d,  which  looks 
itill  liable  to  be 
terranean  ener- 
irently  carrying 
kward,  clumsy, 
ices,  nearly  the 
[rkutsk  and  the 
iledges  over  the 
mity  by  rugged 

mines  of  Nert- 
Kiachta. 

iron ;  and  its 
convicts  of  the 
gainst  the  Rus- 
double  the  Bai- 
Amoor  should 
irs  of  Northern 
tshinsk  and  Ir- 
xtended  all  the 
ssof  the  mines, 

and  Yakutsk. 
loor.  It  is  the 
id  it  is  remark- 
inted  to  stop  in 
he  wide  circuit 
i  in  the  career 

'reaty  of  Nert- 
ral  terms,  for  a 
d  the  Chinese; 
own  account 
Peking.  But 
ore  the  sedate 
roystering,  that 


after  exhausting  the  patience  of  the  celestials  during  a  period  of  three 
and  thirty  years,  they  were  entirely  deprived  of  their  commercial  pri- 
vileges in  1722.  After  all  intercourse  between  the  two  nations  had 
ceased  for  five  years,  the  Russians,  having  first  made  some  concessions 
and  apologies,  obtained  a  new  treaty  in  1728,  by  which,  in  order  to 
prevent  future  misunderstanding,  the  international  trade,  so  far  at  least 
as  private  individuals  were  concerned,  was  to  be  conducted  on  the 
international  frontier;  and  on  the  very  ground  which  the  diplomatists 
occupied  during  the  negotiation,  Kiachta  was  soon  afterwards  built. 
Still,  however,  Kiachta  found  a  rival  in  Peking,  for  public  caravans 
were  permitted  by  the  new  treaty  to  penetrate  as  before  to  the  capital 
of  the  celestials ;  and  it  was  only  in  1762  that  Catherine  the  Second, 
by  relinquishing  the  imperial  monopoly  in  question,  rendered  this  little 
town  the  grand,  if  not  the  sole  emporium  of  the  commerce  between 
Russia  and  China. 

Kiachta  stands  on  a  brook  of  the  same  name,  which,  rising  in  Si- 
beria and  crossing  the  line  of  boundary,  washes  also,  at  the  distance  of 
half  a  furlong,  the  Chinese  village  of  Maimatschin.  Taken  by  itself, 
the  position  has  nothing  to  recommend  it.  It  is  beset  on  all  sides  by 
rugged  mountains  ;  and  the  streamlet,  which  forms  a  bond  of  union 
between  the  two  most  extensive  empires  in  Asia,  or  perhaps  in  the 
world,  is  so  inconsiderable,  that,  even  with  the  aid  of  damming,  it  often 
fails  to  afford  an  adequate  supply  of  water  to  the  dwellers  on  its  banks. 
The  two  settlements  are  situated,  as  nearly  as  possible,  on  the  fiftieth 
parallel  of  latitude,  being  about  a  thousand  miles  from  Peking,  and 
about  four  thousand  from  Moscow.  Though  the  Chinese  route  to  this 
secluded  mart  is  vastly  shorter  than  the  Russian  one,  yet  it  is,  at  least 
in  some  slight  degree,  certainly  less  practicable.  At  the  distance  of 
about  a  week's  march  to  the  northward  from  Peking,  the  Chinese  have 
still  before  them  a  journey  of  forty  days  and  upwards,  through  a  dis- 
mal desert  of  table-land,  parched  with  heat  during  one  half  of  the  year, 
and  covered  with  snow  during  the  other.  The  Russians  again,  whether 
they  come  from  the  west  with  manufactures  or  from  the  north  and  east 
with  the  produce  of  the  chase,  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  peopled 
country  and  of  navigable  waters  nearly  all  the  way  to  Irkutsk ;  and, 
when  they  have  met  at  this  the  common  centre  of  all  the  lines  of  com- 
munication, they  may,  and  often  do,  prosecute  the  rest  of  their  journey 
to  the  very  neighborhood  of  Kiachta,  by  crossing  Lake  Baikal  and 
ascending  its  principal  feeder  the  Selenga. 

The  Russians  bring  chiefly  furs,  woollens,  cottons,  linens,  &;c.,  and 
the  Chinese  principally  teas,  silks,  sugar-candy,  «fec.  But,  in  order  to 
convey  to  the  reader  more  definite  and  accurate  notions  on  a  subject 
so  interesting  to  many  classes  of  our  own  population,  I  shall  subjoin 
the  substance  of  an  official  statement  of  the  trade  of  1837,  premising 
that  the  Russian  goods  are  valued  at  their  actual  worth,  but  that  the 
Chinese  commodities  are  estimated  at  rates  laid  down  by  agreement  in 
1801. 

To  begin  with  the  Russian  side  of  the  market,  the  whole  of  the 
wares,  the  foreign  as  well  as  the  native,  amounted  to  19,501,281  rou- 


a. 


M 


'    ■  '  I  ■ 


•Hi 


^I'-l: 


:it- 


1*5! 


174 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


m 


bles,  the  native  being  16,792,082,  and  the  foreign  2,709,199.  Of  the 
native  wares  the  furs,  embracing  the  incredible  number  of  2,931,347 
squirrels,  were  7,406,188  roubles,  the  woollens  5,156,296,  the  cottons 
1,722,747,  the  linens  522,279,  and  the  leather,  entirely  whole  hides, 
1,508,395,  so  that  the  furs  alone  were  about  5,000  roubles  more  than 
the  linens,  and  the  cottons,  and  the  woollens,  taken  together ;  and  of 
the  less  important  articles,  amounting  in  all  to  476,177  roubles,  the 
works  in  tin,  iron,  steel,  brass,  copper,  and  lead,  were  76,595,  mirrors 
162,956,  and  grains  of  various  descriptions  88,110,  while  a  host  of 
manufactures  and  productions  were  valued,under  the  head  of  sundries, 
at  148,516  roubles.  In  addition  to  glue,  isinglass  and  talc,  the  sun- 
dries in  question  comprised  many  things,  such  as  China,  two  or  three 
ages  ago,  did  not  expect  to  import  from  Russia,  542  reams  of  writing 
paper,  and  about  4,000  pieces  of  crockery  for  the  tea-table ;  and  this 
sending,  as  it  were,  of  coals  to  Newcastle,  however  trifling  the  quan- 
tity, would  appear  to  place  in  the  most  striking  light  the  superiority  of 
the  material  civilization  of  Europe  over  that  of  Asia.  Again,  of  the 
foreign  wares,  the  furs,  very  nearly  half  of  the  amount  being  the  value 
of  lamb  skins  from  Bokhara,  were  1,041,661  roubles,  and  the  manu- 
factures of  all  kinds,  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  whole  being  velveteens 
and  camlets,  were  1,667,538. 

To  come  to  the  Chinese  side  of  the  market,  the  total  value  of  all 
manufactures  and  productions,  according  to  the  principle  of  valuation 
already  laid  down,  was  7,697,357  roubles.  But,  as  the  trade  is  ex- 
clusively conducted  by  barter  without  the  intervention  of  either  coin  or 
bullion,  the  actual  worth  must  have  been  at  least  thrice  this  amount, 
consisting  of  the  declared  value  aforesaid  of  the  Russian  goods,  and  of 
the  duties  on  the  exportation  of  the  same.  With  respect  to  the  differ- 
ent articles  taken  in  detail,  the  official  statement,  from  which  I  draw 
my  information,  does  not  specify  any  valuation  whatever,  limiting 
itself  generally  to  number  and  weight.  Of  black  tea  there  were  about 
77,000  packages,  which  weighed  133,274  poods;  of  green  tea,  all  of 
the  best  quality,  there  were  about  420  packages  and  625  poods ;  and 
of  brick  tea  there  were  9,320  packages  and  654  pieces,  weighing  be- 
tween them  about  28,000  poods.  Of  sugarcandy  there  were  3,546 
poods;  and  of  apples  and  other  fruits  there  were  rather  more  than 
91.  Of  manufactured  articles,  silks  and  cottons,  neither  of  them  in 
any  very  great  quantity,  formed  the  staple,  while  of  writing  paper 
there  were  only  1,500  sheets,  and  of  porcelain  4,154  cups,  with  9,900 
cups  of  wood. 

Besides  all  this  wholesale  trade,  a  retail  traffic  is  conducted  for  the 
express  purpose  of  supplying  the  Chinese  with  the  agricultural  pro- 
ductions of  the  country  beyond  the  Baikal. 

On  the  Russian  side,  this  retail  traffic  amounted  to  719,531  roubles 
in  all,  the  value  of  individual  articles  not  being  specified.  As  this 
branch  of  the  international  commerce  throws  considerable  light  on  the 
economical  condition  of  the  two  empires  at  this  their  principal  point  of 
contact) — showing  fertility  to  the  north  of  the  line  of  boundary,  and 


,199.     Of  the 
of  2,931,347 
16,  the  cottons 
whole  hides, 
)le8  more  than 
Tether ;  and  of 
'7  roubles,  the 
6,595,  mirrors 
hile  a  host  of 
ad  of  sundries, 
I  talc,  the  sun- 
1,  two  or  three 
tms  of  writing 
able;  and  this 
[ling  the  quan- 
I  superiority  of 
Again,  of  the 
jeing  the  value 
ind  the  manu- 
eing  velveteens 

al  value  of  all 
le  of  valuation 
le  trade  is  ex- 
f  either  coin  or 
'.e  this  amount, 
1  goods,  and  of 
ct  to  the  differ- 
I  which  I  draw 
itever,  limiting 
ere  were  about 
reen  tea,  all  of 
J5  poods ;   and 
s,  weighing  he- 
re were  3,546 
ler  more  than 
ler  of  them  in 
writing  paper 
ips,  with  9,900 

iducted  for  the 
Tricultural  pro- 

19,531  roubles 
ified.  As  this 
)le  light  on  the 
incipal  point  of 
boundary,  and 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


175 


barrenness  to  the  south  of  it, — I  extract  the  entire  table,  just  as  I  find 
it,  from  my  official  statement : 


Iron  manufactured 

150  poods 

Soap 

269 

ki 

Tallow  candles 

51       ' 

( 

Hart's  horns 

386 

i 

Wheat  flour,  fine 

6010 

It 

Wheat  flour,  common 

36,637      ' 

« 

Rye       do 

112,848 

( 

Wheat 

11«,386      ' 

i 

Rye 

24,507 

It 

Barley 

12,759 

i 

Peas 

3,567 

( 

Oats,  buckwheat  meal  and 

pea  flour        398 

li 

Beef  and  mutton 

4,695 

li 

Fat 

1,711 

» 

Butter 

854      ' 

t 

Mushrooms  dried 

S                    618 

u 

Bread 

368 

( 

Fish 

273d    " 

Flax  or  hemp  prepared  for 

spinning    3.670  hanks 

Horn  combs 

5,510  pieces 

Eggs 

117,845      " 

Geese,  ducks  and  fowls 

8,194      " 

Sheep 

7,350      " 

Pigs 

2,172      " 

Camels 

137      " 

Horses 

1,338      ' 

i 

In  former  times  this  business  was  still  more  extensive,  as  well  as 
more  profitable,  till  at  last  the  Chinese  induced  the  Mongols  to  culti- 
vate the  banks  of  the  Orkhon,  a  tributary  of  the  Selenga,  thereby  exciting 
a  competition  against  the  Russian  and  Burat  settlers  on  the  lower 
waters  of  the  latter  stream. 

Again  on  the  Chinese  side,  this  retail  traffic  amounted,  according  to 
the  principle  of  valuation  already  laid  down,  to  398,157  roubles,  being 
fully  one-third  higher  in  proportion  than  the  equivalent  for  the  Russian 
commodities  in  the  wholesale  trade.  This  advantage,  however,  on  the 
part  of  the  Muscovite  retailer  is  more  likely  to  have  been  apparent 
than  real,  more  likely  to  have  arisen  from  a  diffisrent  selection  of  celes- 
tial articles  than  from  a  higher  profit  on  native  productions.  In  point 
of  fact,  the  selection  was  as  different  as  one  could  well  have  imagined. 
Of  black  and  green  teas  there  was  little  or  nothing,  barely  315  poods, 
while  of  most  other  things  there  was  a  proportional  increase,  and  of 
some  things  even  an  actual  preponderance.  This  will  be  made  clear 
by  the  following  comparison,  keeping  in  view  that  the  wholesale 
trade  of  1837  on  the  side  of  the  Russians,  was  twenty-seven  times  as 
valuable  as  the  retail  trade : 


;,t'it 


ip'V^ 

^4 

1 

1  ■  ii 
;  1. 


'ill 


'  - . '   I  i 


m 


176 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


Sugarcandy 
Cups  of  porcelain 

Do    wood 
Brick  tea 
Raw  silk 
Cottons 
Nankeens 


Wholesale. 
3,546  poods 
4,154  pieces 
9,900      " 

28,000  poods 
12     " 

13,021  pieces 
8,290      " 


Retail. 
1,410  poods 
562  pieces 
17,971       " 
29,136  poods 

47      " 
18,095  pieces 
30,923      " 


With  the  single  exception  of  the  raw  silk,  every  one  of  these  results 
may  be  explained  by  the  fact,  that  the  retail  dealer  selects  his  equiva- 
lents with  reference  to  the  local  demand  of  Siberia,  while  the  whole- 
sale trader  turns  his  attention  to  the  more  aristocratic  markets  of  Nish- 
ney  Novgorod  and  Moscow. 

The  grand  season  for  business  is  the  winter.  There  is  not,  how- 
ever, any  regulation  to  this  effect,  for  the  barter  begins  just  as  soon  as  the 
goods  on  both  sides  have  reached  the  scene  of  operations.  Though, 
in  some  of  the  immediately  preceding  years,  the  trade  had  commenced 
as  early  as  November,  yet,  in  1837,  it  did  not  commence  before  the  20lh 
of  January,  or,  according  to  our  reckoning,  before  the  1st  of  February. 
In  disposing  of  their  commodities  the  Chinese  have  a  considerable  ad- 
vantage, inasmuch  as  their  teas  never  remain  unsold  in  Maimatschin, 
while  the  Russian  goods,  partly  through  a  diminution  of  the  demand, 
and  partly  through  the  artifices  of  the  celestials,  are  often  so  depreciated 
in  value  as  to  wait  to  a  second,  or  perhaps  even  a  third,  year  for  a 
market. 

The  Chinese  send  their  purchases  on  camels  and  in  carts  drawn  by 
oxen  to  Kalgan,  where  the  goods  are,  for  the  most  part,  again  sold  to 
other  buyers  ;  and  in  this  way  they  find  immediate  use  for  the  beasts 
of  burden  received  in  the  retail  trade,  for  they  have  to  carry  to  the 
south,  including  the  agricultural  produce,  a  far  greater  bulk  than  what 
they  bring  to  the  north. 

The  Russians  convey  nearly  the  whole  of  the  returns,  at  least  of  the 
wholesale  trade,  to  Nishney  Novgorod  and  Moscow,  availing  them- 
selves, in  general,  of  the  waters  of  the  Yenissei  and  the  Oby  by  descend- 
ing one  branch  and  ascending  another,  and  so  on  as  far  as  Tiumen,  on 
the  Tobol,  while  one  is  lost  in  wonder  to  reflect,  that,  after  all  their 
windings  and  wanderings,  the  teas  and  silks  of  China  visit  the  great 
fairs  of  European  Russia  only  to  commence,  in  many  cases,  a  new 
series  of  distant  travels.  From  Nishney  Novgorod,  for  instance,  a 
large  quantity,  even  of  so  coarse  an  article  as  brick  tea,  is  annually 
dispatched  into  the  province  of  Astrukhan,  for  the  use  of  the  Calmucs. 
At  our  wages  of  labor,  no  goods,  unless  of  the  most  costly  description, 
could  bear  the  expenses  of  such  a  transport,  for  even  in  Russia,  with 
its  remarkably  low  rates  of  remuneration  for  man  and  beast,  the  freight 
is  startling  in  its  amount,  being  about  forty  pounds  sterling  a  ton  be- 
tween Moscow  and  Kiachta.  On  this  point  my  official  statement 
aforesaid  furnishes  tolerably  complete  information.     In  1837,  the  ave- 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


177 


+  ■■'..);' 


rage  prices  of  carriage  to  Kiachta  for  a  pood  were,  in  roubles  ami  ko- 
pecks, as  follows : 


From  Moscow 

15,47 

"     Nishney  Novgorod 

12,65 

"     Kazan 

12,30 

"     Tinmen 

0,57 

"     Tomsk 

5,91 

"     Krasnozarsk 

3,00 

"     Irkutsk 

1,05 

As  the  cost  of  transport  of  105,000  poods  from  all  places  was  820,000 
roubles,  being  an  average  of  seven  roubles  and  eighty  kopecks,  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  whole  weight  must  have  been  brought  from  the 
Asiatic  side  of  the  Uralian  Mountains,  so  as  to  reduce  the  carriage  all 
overhead  to  something  like  three-fifths  of  the  rate  even  from  Kazan. 
In  fact,  a  considerable  quantity  of  the  manufactures  did  come  from 
Tiumen.  But  the  gross  freight  to  the  westward  was  fully  thrice  the 
total  amount  just  mentioned,  having  been  2,500,000  roubles.  Besides 
being  themselves  heavier  than  their  equivalents,  the  teas  were  secured, 
every  chest  of  them,  in  raw  hides  against  all  damage ;  and  the  pack- 
ages, over  and  above  being  thus  increased  in  weight,  were  nearly  all 
sent,  paying,  of  course,  the  higher  rates  of  transport,  to  Nishney  Nov- 
gorod and  Moscow.  Enormous  as  all  this  expense  is,  when  taken  in 
the  mass  or  stated  by  the  ton,  still  the  cost  of  fourpence  a  pound  avoir- 
dupois, scarcely  equal  to  a  middleman's  gain,  is  not  a  very  alarming 
addition  to  the  price  of  rich  silks  and  fine  teas.  The  inland  freight 
from  York  Factory  to  Red  River  Settlement  is  about  the  half  of  that 
between  Kiachta  and  Moscow ;  and  yet  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
sells  everything  but  the  very  heaviest  goods  at  considerably  lower 
rates  than  any  retailer  in  the  Canadas,  excepting,  perhaps,  and  only 
perhaps,  in  the  larger  towns.  The  moral  of  tlie  whole  is  this,  that  all 
the  delays  and  obstacles  of  nature  are  as  nothing,  when  compared  with 
the  artificial  burdens  of  repeated  transfers  and  of  long  credits,  of  inter- 
mediate profits  and  of  bad  debts. 

How  far  the  trade  of  Kiachta  will  be  affected  by  the  opening  of  cer- 
tain ports  in  China  to  all  nations,  time  alone  can  tell.  Even  if  part  of 
it,  as  is  likely  to  be  the  case,  be  diverted  to  the  coast,  the  deficiency 
will,  in  all  probability,  be  more  than  supplied,  by  that  growing  taste  lor 
foreign  productions,  which  a  more  extensive  intercourse  with  foreign 
visitors  is  sure  to  cherish.  So  far  at  least  as  experience  goes,  the  Rus- 
sians have  no  great  reason  for  apprehension,  inasmuch  as  the  abolition 
of  the  East  India  Company's  monopoly,  wliich  might  have  been  ex- 
pected vastly  to  enlarge  the  maritime  commerce  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
inland  traffic,  was  actually  followed  by  a  considerable  increase  of  the 
business  done  at  Kiachta.  But  the  truth  is,  that  the  Russians  enjoy 
peculiar  advantages,  both  local  and  political.  The  black  teas  of  Mai- 
matschin,  which  are  far  superior  to  anything  of  the  kind  that  is  ever 
seen  in  England,  are  produced  in  the  north  of  China,  and  may  be  more 
cheaply  transported  to  Siberia  than  to  Canton  ;  and  again,  Russia  alone, 

PART   II. 12 


,1. 


JK^^I 


'.  1  ' 


178 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


ofall  the  States  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  possesses  a  national  establishment 
in  Peking,  for  the  education  of  her  youth,  and  the  ministrations  of  her 
religion,  being  probably  more  disposed  to  make  tli«;  re(iuisite  submis- 
sions for  soothing  the  pride  of  the  Celestials,  than  if  she  were  standing 
on  the  coast,  in  the  presence  of  jealous  rivals. 

To  return  to  Lake  Baikal,  the  transport  between  Irkutsk  on  the  one 
hand,  and  Kiachta  and  Nertshinsk  on  the  other,  which  must  either 
cross  that  upland  sea  or  double  it,  cannot  be  estimated  at  less  than  400,000 
poods  a  year,  besides  passengers.  Now  all  that  is  wanted  in  order  to  en- 
able this  large  business  to  take  the  shortest  route,  and  thereby  economize 
both  time  and  money,  is  ihe  introduction  of  steam.  I  accordingly 
suggested  this  scheme  to  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Irkutsk  ;  and  I 
mentioned  to  the  governor  in  particular,  that  Moore,  the  engineer  at 
Sitka,  would  next  year  be  passing  through  Siberia,  and  might  be  useful 
to  any  advcntuiers  willing  to  embark  in  the  project.  Though  I  was 
uniformly  assured  that  the  thing  was  impossible,  inasmuch  as  no 
steamer  could  live  during  the  windy  seasons,  I  yet  felt  satisfied  that 
the  plan  was  not  only  practicable,  but  would  be  profitable.  According 
to  the  public  prints,  the  impossibility, — that  beast  of  a  word,  as  Napo- 
leon is  said  to  have  styled  it, — has  since  then  been  achieved;  so  that 
goods  cither  now  are,  or  soon  will  be,  carried  to  and  from  Irkutsk, 
without  breaking  bulk,  by  the  Angara,  the  Baikal,  and  the  Selenga. 
But  the  mere  economy  of  money  and  time  will  be  the  least  part  of  the 
benefit.  The  settlement  of  the  country  will  be  promoted  ;  agriculture 
will  be  rewarded  ;■  and  commerce  will  be  encouraged;  while,  last 
though  not  least,  an  invaluable  impulse  will  be  given  to  the  general 
mind,  for  the  effecting  of  public  improvements. 

The  Baikal  is  about  seven  or  eight  hundred  ven^ts  in  length,  and 
about  seventy  or  eighty  broad  at  its  widest  part.  Its  waters  are  as 
clear  as  crystal,  everywhere  deep  and  in  many  places  unfathomable. 
Besides  the  numberless  cascades  that  rush  down  its  wall  of  mountains, 
it  receives  many  rivers,  more  especially  the  Angara  at  its  northern  ex- 
tremity, and  the  Selenga  on  its  eastern  side  towards  the  south ;  and  its 
single  outlet,  in  spite  of  the  superior  claims  of  the  Selenga  on  the 
double  ground  of  position  and  magnitude,  professes  in  its  name  to  be 
a  continuation  of  the  remote  and  comparatively  inconsiderable  Angara. 
The  two  Angaras  are  sometimes  distinguished  from  each  other  as 
Upper  and  Lower.  The  quantity  of  water,  which  issues  from  the 
lake,  is  believed  to  be  vastly  less  than  that  which  flows  into  it — the 
difTerence  being,  in  all  probability,  too  great  to  be  explained  by  evapo- 
ration alone.  In  this  view  of  the  thing,  a  large  portion,"  as  a  matter  of 
course,  must  be  absorbed — an  operation  which  the  volcanic  origin  of 
the  huge  hollow  may  be  supposed  likely  to  facilitate.  In  fact,  the  lake 
presents  certain  features  which  have  induced  individuals  to  infer,  that 
it  has  a  subterranean  communication  with  the  ocean.  It  is  the  only 
body  of  fresh  water  in  the  world  that  possesses  seals ;  and,  when  agi- 
tated, in  the  way  already  mentioned,  by  invisible  causes,  it  throws  up 
to  its  surface  quantities  of  small  fish,  which  are  never  seen  at  any 
other  time.     In  illustration  of  the  mysterious  agencies  of  nature,  which 


/«^ 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


179 


produces  the  same  ends  by  rontrary  means,  I  subjoin  two  passages 
from  Baron  Wrangell's  interesting  work. 

"These  flat  valleys  are  occasionally  filled  with  water,  by  the  over- 
flowing of  the  rivers  in  spring,  when  they  form  lakes  of  various  sizes, 
all  very  full  offish.  The  intense  frosts  of  winter  cause  large  defis  in 
the  ground,  by  which  the  water  drains  ofl",  sometimes  in  the  course  ot 
a  single  year,  sometimes  in  several. 

"A  curious  phenomenon  occurs  in  the  lakes  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
village  of  ALiseya.  In  the  middle  of  winter  the  water  sometimes  sud- 
denly disappears  without  any  side-channels  being  visible.  In  such 
cases  a  loud  noise  is  heard  at  the  time  the  water  disappears,  and  when 
the  bottom  of  the  lake  is  laid  bare,  large  clefts  are  visible,  occasioned 
by  the  severity  of  the  frost." 

The  Baikal  contains  a  vast  variety  of  fish,  no  fewer  than  fourteen 
sorts  of  the  salmon  alone.  Of  the  salmon  the  omul  is  but  a  little  larger 
than  the  herring,  which,  in  fact,  it  resembles  so  closely  in  flavor  as  to 
my  taste  not  to  be  distinguishable;  still,  however,  it  has  the  scales  and 
teeth  of  its  own  tribe.  In  this  lake  sturgeon  al«o  are  taken,  weighing 
as  much  as  four  hundred  pounds.  Most  of  the  fish,  as  well  as  the 
seals,  confine  themselves  to  the  Baikal,  being  never  found  in  the  waters 
of  the  Angara;  and  the  omul  in  particular  is  said  never  to  be  seen  any- 
where else,  excepting  in  the  Polar  Ocean,  the  Sea  of  Kamschatka  and 
a  certain  pool  in  Siberia  that  has  no  ouUet. 

Till  very  lately,  the  country  beyond  the  Baikal  presented  another 
object  besides  Kiachta,  which,  of  itself,  might  have  induced  me  to  cross 
the  lake.  About  five-and-lwenty  years  ago,  several  English  mission- 
aries of  the  Protestant  faith  were  established,  under  the  patronage,  and 
partly  also  at  the  expense,  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  among  the  Bu- 
rats  of  the  Selenga  ;  and  this  specimen  of  religious  liberality,  unmatched 
in  any  other  country  in  Christendom,  was  still  permitted  to  work  its 
way  under  the  auspices  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  But  these  devoted 
exiles,  less  fortunate,  in  this  respect,  than  their  brethren  of  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  found  that  a  bad  religion,  whatever  might  be  its  counter- 
vailing merits,  was  a  worse  enemy  of  the  pure  and  simple  Christianity 
of  the  Bible  than  no  religion  at  all.  The  Burats  professed  the  Lama- 
ism  of  Thibet,  with  its  dominant  priesthood  and  its  whole  libraries  of 
creeds  and  commentaries;  and  under  the  influence  of  their  hereditary 
prejudices,  local  and  national,  social  and  political,  literary  and  ec- 
clesiastical, they  deliberately  and  obstinately  preferred  the  flickering 
glare  of  their  own  idolatry  to  the  genuine  light  of  the  Gospel.  In  a 
word,  the  missionaries,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  made  not  one 
real  convert,  while  they  were  still  more  seriously  discouraged  by  the 
fact,  that  every  pretended  proselyte  openly  relapsed  as  soon  as  he  had 
gained  the  secular  ends  of  his  interested  hypocrisy.  About  two  years 
ago  they  retired  from  the  barren  field  of  their  zealous  labors.  For  this 
step,  in  addition  to  the  mere  despair  of  success,  two  immediate  causes 
were  assigned.  From  political  motives  the  Russian  government  was 
said  to  be  anxious  to  conciliate  Lamaism;  and  the  Greek  Church  had 
its  jealousies  roused  by  the  suspicion,  that  the  baffled  Protestants  were 


.!'n 


K 


ISO 


FROM  FIG0L0FF8KAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


strivinjT  to  prevent  the  Biirnts  from  embracing  any  other  form  of  Chria- 
tiaiiity  than  their  own. 

About  seven  or  eight  verHts  beyond  the  oiitlet  of  the  Baikal,  some- 
what ambitiously  distinguished  as  *'  The  ]*ort,"  we  passed  the  night 
;it  Lcstvcnnechnain,  having  reached  this  station  by  a  road  cut  on  the 
lace  of  a  hill  overhanging  the  lake,  and  protected  by  a  parapet  wall 
Jowards  the  water.  At  the  distance  of  forty  versts  from  Lestven- 
nechnain  there  was  a  gold  washery,  which  I  could  not  spare  time  to 
visit.  In  fact,  a  traveler  would  never  get  along  through  Siiieria,  if  he 
were  to  allow  himself  to  be  infected  with  its  endemic  mania,  for  the 
whole  surface  of  the  country,  from  the  Uralian  Mountains  to  the 
Yablonnoi  chain,  would  appear  to  be  one  vast  bed  of  the  precious 
metals.  The  government  reserves  to  itself  all  the  mines,  turning  them 
to  excellent  account  both  as  sources  of  revenue  and  as  penal  colonies. 
The  washeries,  however,  are  open  to  private  enterprize  on  paying  to 
the  crown  a  tenth  of  the  proceeds.  When  capitalists  wish  to  embark 
in  the  business,  they  employ  peasants  of  experience  to  make  a  survey  of 
a  certain  district  of  country  ;  and,  as  soon  as  any  favorable  ground  is 
discovered,  application  is  made  to  the  authorities  for  a  license  to  com- 
mence operations.  Volunteer  laborers  are  easily  found,  on  condition 
of  being  fed  and  clothed,  and  of  participating  in  the  profits;  and  there 
have  been  instances  in  which  peasants  have  earned  fifty  roubles  a 
day,  during  the  two  or  three  months  of  the  working  season. 

Having  returned  to  Irkutsk  on  the  following  day,  I  learned  that  I 
might  have  gone  to  Kiachta  aftrfr  all  without  much  risk  of  disappoint- 
ment. If  General  Rupert  had  been  informed  in  time  of  the  interdict 
which  had  deterred  me  from  attempting  the  journey,  he  would  have 
sent  an  officer  with  us  for  the  express  purpose  of  offering  any  neces- 
sary explanations,  and  of  thereby  gaining  us  admission  into  Maiinat- 
schin.  On  the  whole,  however,  I  thought  that  things  had  been  ordered 
for  the  best,  for  the  Chinese,  after  they  had  got  me  within  the  gates  of 
their  village,  might  have  kept  up  the  metaphor  of  the  celestial  cha- 
racter of  their  empire,  by  never  letting  me  out  again. 

The  three  days,  which  I  spent  in  Irkutsk  after  my  return,  were 
passed  in  a  constant  succession  of  hospitality  and  festivity.  I  expe- 
rienced marked  attention  and  kindness  from  all  the  principal  inhabit- 
ants, particularly  the  governor-general,  the  governor,  the  mayor.  Prince 
Gallitzen,  M.  Didoff,  M.  Sofronoff  the  distiller,  and  M.  Chezolet,  a 
leading  merchant  of  the  place.  In  the  house  of  General  Rupert,  we 
were  entertained  with  all  the  pomp  and  magnificence  befitting  the  dig- 
nity of  the  governor  of  Eastern  Siberia,  and  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Cossacks.  The  dinner  was  served  in  an  oval  hall  of  spacious  pro- 
portions, which  was  thronged  with  servants ;  a  military  band  in  the 
orchestra  played  at  intervals ;  and  our  host  and  all  his  male  guests, 
excepting  ourselves,  were  arrayed  in  glittering  uniforms.  There 
were  present  Madame  Rupert,  with  her  six  highly  accomplished  and 
remarkably  interesting  daughters  and  two  little  boys,  three  aides-de- 
camp and  a  doctor.  The  viands,  both  solids  and  liquids,  were  in  the 
greatest  variety  and  of  the  choicest  kinds.     Before  taking  our  leave, 


FROM  FIG0L0FF8KAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


181 


>rm  of  Chria- 


we  were  conducted  by  hifl  excelloncy  into  hin  extcnsivo  nuHeuni  of 
curio8itiL'!4,  nuneralM,  <fcc.  ^c,  ronHidrred  :ih  the  most  valuabh?  in 
Siberia.  I  was  particularly  «lruck,  while  1,'oifig  round  the  preiniHcs, 
with  two  dwarf  ponies  l)rouii[ht  from  Peking  of  moHt  Hvnimetrical 
forms,  and  also  wilJi  a  macrnilicent  charter,  presented  to  the  jrimeral 
by  tlie  Grand  Duke  Michael.  After  dinner,  which  was  all  over  by  half 
past  three,  we  spent  a  delitrhtful  eveninjr  with  M.  Didul)',  who  had 
invited  I'rinco  (iallitzen,  a  most  aj,'reeablc  companion,  to  meet  us.  Our 
banquet  at  the  mayor's  was  tlu;  most  sumptdious  display  of  the  kind 
that  I  saw  during  the  whole  course  of  my  travels.  We  had  melons, 
pineapples,  ehampairtic  at  eight(!en  roubles  a  bottle  or  nearly  ten 
pounds  sterling  a  dozen ;  and,  in  short,  the  arrangements  in  general 
would  hnvr  done  honor  to  a  royal  table.  M.  jVIedvcKlnikoir,  however, 
could  well  aflbrd  the  expense,  \)c'\,  'i  believed  to  be  worth  five  millions 
of  roubles.  In  truth,  the  merch*.  iits  of  Irkutsk,  ilividing  with  their 
brethren  of  Moscow  the  bulk  of  the  tnt  Je  of  Kiachta,  might  well  be 
styled  princes.  Their  houses  were  pal  ices;  ;ind,  in  fact,  the  olVicial 
residence  of  the  governor  general  h-ul  once  belonged  to  :.  merchant, 
the  father  of  Madame  Medvednikoff.  Speaking  of  tl  .s  lady,  who  was 
said,  by  the  by,  to  be  the  beUe  of  Irkutsk,  we  met  <.  u  this  occasion  a 
very  extraordinary  old  fellow  in  the  person  of  he  uncle.  He  was  a 
millionaire  and  a  complete  miser.  His  ho  ooked  as  if  '  iiad  been 
built  for  the  mere  purpose  of  shutting  out  the  "orld,  preseniing  to  the 
street  a  dead  wall  with  the  exception  ol  a  door  of  sulky  and  inhr  • 
pitable  dimensions  ;  and  he  was  said  never  to  admit  any  human  bein', 
within  his  portals,  unless  to  his  single  annual  entertainment.  On  this 
one  day  of  the  year,  pride,  with  an  inconsistency  common  enough  to 
the  tribe  of  skinflints,  got  the  belter  of  avirice.  The  apartments  of 
the  den,  which  were  gorgeously  flnished  and  luxuriously  furnished, 
were  osientatiously  thrown  open,  while  the  tables  would  groan,  llie 
more  d«'(iply,  of  course,  from  want  of  exercise,  under  a  profusion  of 
the  most  costly  dainties. 

SiberiMii  entertainments,  however,  are  not  without  their  little  draw- 
backs. Before  dinner  all  the  ''uests  drink  schnaps  out  of  the  same 
glass,  cMt  caviare  and  herring  \"\&  ihe  same  fork,  and  help  themselves 
to  preserves  with  the  same  spoon  ;  and,  during  dinner,  changes  of  knives 
and  f()il;s  are  unknown.  These  barbarities  I  witnessed  even  in  the 
elegant  establishments  of  Oie  three  highest  oflicial  functionaries  in 
Irkutsk,  the  mayor,  the  -ri^vernor,  and  the  governor  general. 

Irkutsk,  in  spite  of  ail  its  magnificence  and  wealth,  presented  a  me- 
lancholy appearance  of  dilapidation  and  decay,  the  wide  streets  being 
almost  deserted,  and  many  of  the  houses  tumbling  into  ruins.  The 
population  was  said  to  be  al)0ut  twenty  thousand.  Of  public  buildings 
there  was  no  lack.  The  churches,  convents,  and  hospitals  were  fully 
worthy  of  a  provincial  capital;  and  one  new  church  in  particular,  was 
in  course  of  erection,  which  was  to  have  its  cupola  covered  with  silver. 
Among  the  charitable  institutions,  I  was  especially  pleased  with  a  school 
intended  for  the  maintenance  and  education  of  fifty  female  orphans, 
though  happily,  at  present,  only  thirty-eight  of  these  unfortunates  could 


M 


182 


FROM  FIGOLOFFSKAYA  TO  IRKUTSK. 


be  found.  The  girls  receive  such  a  training  as  is  likely  to  render  them 
useful  in  life ;  and,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  they  are  generally  provided 
with  situations. 

On  the  day  of  my  departure,  I  paid  and  received  several  farewell 
visits ;  and  I  really  bade  adieu  to  my  kind  friends  of  Irkutsk  with 
great  regret — a  regret  which  could  not  fail  to  be  felt  by  any  stranger, 
who,  after  passing  through  a  wild  and  almost  uninhabited  country,  had 
suddenly  entered  a  city  where  he  had  had  unbounded  hospitality 
lavished  upon  him.  We  provided  ourselves  with  two  tarantasses  for 
the  journey.  As  the  seasons  are  so  short,  and  the  means  of  accom- 
modation on  the  road  so  scanty,  these  carriages  are  so  constructed,  that 
one  can  travel  by  night  as  well  as  by  day,  without  altogether  sacrificing 
the  form  of  going  to  bed.  At  the  bottoms  of  our  vehicles  we  could 
stretch  ourselves  in  order  to  obtain  such  repose  as  our  rapid  progress 
over  rough  roads  might  admit.  By  order  of  tbe  governor,  ?  magistrate 
of  police,  in  whose  charge  was  placed  our  podoroshnoya,  was  to  pre- 
cede us  along  the  road,  and  see  that  everything  requisite  was  prepared 
for  us  beforehand.  We  were  allowed  one  horse  for  each  passenger, 
three  animals  for  my  tarantasse,  and  two  for  the  other.  For  each  of 
our  five  beasts  we  paid  seven  kopecks  a  verst,  being  something  less 
than  five  farthings  a  mile  ;  while  each  of  our  two  postboys  had  a  fee, 
according  to  the  length  of  the  stage,  in  the  proportion  of  two  roubles  to 
three  versts.  But  where  more  cattle  were  really  rendered  necessary 
by  the  state  of  the  roads,  they  were  to  be  furnished  without  any  addi- 
tional charge.  Such  were  our  arrangements  for  our  overland  journey 
of  about  four  thousand  miles. 


*>, 

. 

'^ 

'  , 

,      •* 

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^J 


-  )  '  CHAPTER  XIX. 

FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  August,  at  seven  in  the  evening,  we  left  Irkutsk, 
crossing  in  a  ferry  boat  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Angara,  and  accom- 
plishing, before  midnight,  two  stages  of  twenty-five  versts  each.  The 
weather,  which  had  been  threatening  us  for  some  days  past,  now  be- 
gan to  be  as  good  as  its  word ;  and  torrents  of  rain  fell  during  the 
night.  With  roads  which  were  bad  at  the  best,  this  was  rather  an 
uncomfortable  omen  for  people  in  a  hurry ;  and  we,  of  course,  made 
ourselves  as  miserable  as  possible.  To  be  jolted  through  four  thou- 
sand miles  of  quagmire  was  by  no  means  a  pleasant  anticipation. 

Next  day  something  like  real  trouble  seemed  to  thicken  upon  us. 
In  the  morning  my  Russian  companion's  axle  took  fire,  and  occasioned 
some  detention.  In  the  evening  his  reins,  through  the  driver's  care- 
lessness in  letting  them  go,  got  entangled  round  the  wheel  and  brought 
up  the  horses  with  a  jerk.  One  of  the  animals  had  his  hind  legs 
broken,  while  the  other  was  choked  to  death.  Had  there  been  a  knife 
at  hand,  the  creature  might  have  been  saved  from  strangulation.  But 
neither  master  nor  man  had  such  an  article,  while  the  post-boy  could 
not  legally  carry  about  him  any  weapon  of  the  kind;  and  our  carriage 
was  out  of  sight. 

Till  the  afternoon  the  weather  was  raw  and  wet.  The  country  ap- 
peared to  be  almost  exclusively  appropriated  to  pasturage  ;  and  it  would 
have  been  uninteresting  on  account  of  its  flatness,  had  it  not  been 
covered  with  flocks  and  herds.  We  passed  many  populous  villages, 
as  also  some  salt  works  and  other  manufactories. 

On  the  seventeenth  we  accomplished  a  hundred  and  twenty-five 
versts  before  breakfasting  at  Sharaboo.  Talking  of  eating,  we  had 
only  two  meals  a  day,  being  indebted  even  for  them  to  the  exertions 
of  my  servant.  The  stations  did  not  profess  to  supply  us  with  food 
on  any  terms;  and  we  had  consequently  to  forage  and  cook  for  our- 
selves, getting  very  little  for  our  pains  but  coarse  bread  and  tough 
fowls.  So  far,  however,  as  horses  were  concerned,  we  regularly 
derived  great  benefit  from  the  proceedings  of  the  police  ofiicer,  who 
was  ahead  of  us. 

The  roads  were  bad,  while  many  streams  were  to  be  crossed,  par- 
ticularly the  La  and  the  Iga,  two  feeders  of  the  Angarsv,;  and  what 
was  worse  than  half  a  score  of  such  rivers,  the  Russian's  axle  was 
again  at  its  mischief,  giving  way  altogether  and  d'^talningus  four  hours. 
We  were  now  in  the  midst  of  a  population,  whose  habits  and  manners 


•  v.- 1. 


'      1' 

''   ■    I: 

i  J- 


M 


184 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


rendered  any  little  delay  far  more  disag^reeahle  than  we  had  ever  found 
it  to  be  ainon^  the  honest  and  civil  peasantry  of  the  Lena.  Many  of 
the  settlers,  in  fact,  were  themselves  convicts,  in  whom  a  change  of 
residence  had  not  produced  any  essential  change  of  character  ;  and,  in 
spite  of  all  our  caution  and  vigilance,  several  things  were  last  evening 
stolen  from  our  very  carriage  at  Zeminsky.  On  tlie  contrary,  the  na- 
tive peasants,  though  generally  the  descendants  of  convicts,  appeared 
to  be  remarkably  steady  and  obliging.  They  were  strong  and  com- 
pact ;  and,  throughout  the  district,  they  were,  as  a  body,  the  largest 
race  of  men  that  I  had  ever  seen. 

In  one  of  the  villages  a  handsome  church  of  wood,  the  work  of  a  self- 
taught  native  of  the  neighborhood,  was  nearly  completed.  Generally 
speaking,  the  places  of  worship  were  substantially  built  and  neatly 
finished.  Whether  they  were  well  fdled  I  had  some  reason  to  doubt, 
for  every  holiday,  Sunday  as  well  as  Saturday,  and  Saturday  as  well 
as  Sunday,  seemed  to  be  celebrated  by  drunkenness.  St.  Nicholas,  I 
suspect,  is  the  only  name  in  the  calendar  that  has  a  dry  day ;  and  even 
St.  Nicholas,  as  we  have  already  seen,  has  the  loss  made  up  to  him 
by  having  a  wet  festival  to  boot  as  well  as  his  neighbors.  Speaking  of 
tippling,  we  last  night  met  on  the  road  that  indispensable  patron  of 
patron  saints,  the  wealthy  distiller  whose  mansion  we  occupied  in 
Irkutsk  ;  and  I  was  grieved  that  I  had  not  an  opportunity  of  personally 
returning  my  thanks  to  him  for  the  kindness  that  I  had  experienced  at 
the  hands  of  his  agents. 

At  noon  on  the  eighteenth  we  reached  the  town  of  Nishney  Udinsk, 
having  traveled  live  hundred  versts  in  sixty-five  hours.  Our  friend 
ahead  had  provided  quarters  for  us  here,  in  case  that  we  might  feel 
disposed  to  remain  a  few  hours  ;  and  I  was  met  by  the  poFimaster, 
the  commissary,  and  the  other  authorities,  all  in  full  uniform,  for,  be- 
sides the  verbal  announcements  of  my  importance,  my  passport  gave 
me  the  title  of  "governor,"  the  highest  rank  known  in  Siberia.  If  such 
honors  and  ceremonies  could  have  resulted  in  a  comfortable  room  and 
a  good  dinner,  I  might  have  liked  them  better  ;  but,  as  things  were,  I 
should  have  placed  mor^  of  a  hungry  man's  reliance  on  the  smile  and 
nod  of  '•  mine  host"  of  the  humblest  alehouse — even  of  "  The  Pig  and 
Whistle"  itself — in  Merry  England.  On  several  occasions  I  was  dis- 
gusted with  an  obsequiousness  which,  in  my  opinion,  a  sovereign- could 
not  accept  without  a  feeling  of  degradation.  I  allude  to  the  custom  of 
bowing  down  and  kissing  the  ground  before  people  of  distinction.  One 
of  those  who  thus  saluted  me  was  a  Dutch  beggar,  who,  as  he  did  not 
appear  to  be  really  an  object  of  charity,  pocketed  merely  his  labor  for 
his  pains.  A  similar  slavishness  of  disposition  was  exhibited  by  a 
subordinate  functionary  in  Irkutsk ;  but  among  the  serviles  I  did  not 
reckon  my  Yakut  eaters,  for,  though  they  did  kiss  the  ground,  yet  they 
had  not  bowed  down  for  the  purpose. 

Nishney  Udinsk  was  a  straggling  collection  of  wooden  houses,  con- 
taining a  population  of  about  eight  hundred  souls ;  and  the  neighbor- 
liood  was  more  hilly  than  anything  that  we  had  seen  to  the  west  of  the 
Baikal.    The  principal  inhabitant,  the  son  of  an  exiled  Jew  of  the  name 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


185 


.  1,  !i; 


of  Priceman,  was  said  to  be  worth  two  millions  of  roubles,  partly  made 
by  his  father,  as  a  distiller,  and  partly  by  himself,  as  a  general  trader. 
From  t'i'r-  merchant  of  the  first  guild,  for  such  he  was,  we  purchased 
some  >iif(..r  at  three  roubles  a  pound,  and  some  fowls  at  three  pence  a 
piece.  We  had  also  the  pleasure  of  seeing  his  daughter,  celebrated 
not  only  as  the  great  beauty,  but  as  the  rich  prize,  of  the  little  world 
of  which  Nishney  Udinsk  was  the  centre.  I  witnessed,  by  the  by,  a 
scene  in  the  street,  which  would  induce  one  to  hope  that  Mademoiselle 
Priceman's  lovers  might  adjust  their  respective  claims  without  fighting 
about  her.  Two  fellows  had  quarreled  about  the  wife  of  one  of  them- 
selves, and  were  doing  all  the  damage  to  each  other  that  they  could.  To 
say,  that  the  combatants  came  to  blows,  would  be  an  abuse  of  language, 
for  they  did  nothing  but  pull  and  shake,  push  and  jostle,  scratch  and 
tear ;  and  I  would  rather  have  taken  all  that  passed  between  the  hus- 
band and  the  paramour,  than  the  scolding,  which  the  lady  fair,  who 
was  the  subject  of  the  controversy,  addressed  to  her  lord  and  master. 

In  consequence  of  almost  constant  rains  for  some  time  past,  the 
roads  were  so  heavy  that,  next  morning,  we  made  only  twenty-five 
versts  before  breakfast.  This  meal  we  took  at  Alzamoos,  in  the 
dwelling  of  a  peasant,  the  station-house  itself  being  under  repair.  Our 
host,  however,  did  not  remain  to  do  the  honors,  having  evacuated  the 
premis',3,  with  his  whole  family,  on  our  approach ;  and  this  proceed- 
ing he  doubtless  intended  as  a  signal  mark  of  respect  and  hospitality. 
A  guitar  and  some  other  articles  of  the  kind  proved  him  to  be  a  man 
of  some  education  and  taste  ;  and  he  appeared  to  be  in  tolerable  cir- 
cumstances, for  we  found,  in  his  cupboard,  a  little  of  the  best  nalifky 
that  we  had  ever  seen.  We,  of  course,  made  ourselves  at  home,  as, 
in  the  absence  of  inns,  every  traveler  must  do  in  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. But  still,  in  spite  of  the  extremely  hospitable  disposition  of  the 
people,  we  could  not,  without  a  great  sacrifice  of  time,  have  depended 
on  them  for  food,  being  obliged,  in  this  important  department,  to  take 
care  of  ourselves,  to  pick  up  a  fowl  at  one  place,  a  loaf  at  another,  and 
some  eggs  at  a  third,  and  to  cook  all  at  a  fourth. 

Not  only  are  the  peasants  of  Siberia  remarkable  for  their  civility, 
but  all  grades  of  society  are  decidedly  more  intelligent  than  the  cor- 
responding classes  in  any  other  part  of  the  empire,  and  perhaps  more 
so  than  in  most  parts  of  Europe.  The  system,  on  which  Siberia  has 
been,  and  continues  to  be,  colonized,  is  admirable  alike  in  theory  and 
in  practice.  The  perpetrators  of  heinous  crimes  are  sent  to  the  mines ; 
those  who  have  been  banished  for  minor  delinquencies,  are  settled  in 
villages  or  on  farms;  and  political  offenders,  comprising  soldiers, 
authors  and  statesmen,  are  generally  established  by  themselves  in  little 
knots,  communicating  to  all  around  them  a  degree  of  refinement  un- 
known in  other  half-civilized  countries. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  we  crossed  the  Burassa,  forming  the 
boundary  between  the  provinces  of  Irkutsk  and  Yenissei.  Fortunately, 
however,  we  were  still  within  General  Rupert's  jurisdiction,  so  that 
our  police  officer  continued  to  go  ahead  in  order  to  provide  for  our 
comforts;  and  yet,  notwithstanding  this  advantage  in  our  favor,  we 


':.f. 

■i 


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i^^ 


'11' 


'm 


186 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


soon  discovered,  that  Ycnissei  deserved  its  reputation  of  being  the 
worst  governed  district  in  all  Siberia.  The  country  about  the  river  is 
hilly  and  picturesque,  and  contains  several  gold  washeries. 

Our  Russian  again  detained  us  two  hours  by  the  breaking  down  of 
his  vehicle,  which,  to  tell  the  truth,  was  overloaded  with  all  sorts  and 
sizes  of  valuables. 

On  the  twentieth  we  reached  Kansk,  standing  on  a  river  of  the 
same  name,  and  containing  a  population  of  three  thousand  souls.  At 
the  ferry  we  were  met  by  the  mayor,  the  commissary,  the  hatman  of 
Cossacks,  and  other  officers.  It  was  the  most  interesting  place  that 
we  had  seen  to  the  west  of  Irkutsk,  occupying  a  beautiful  valley  sur- 
rounded by  green  hills,  and  possessing  a  woollen  manufactory  besides 
some  salt  works.  Still  we  remained  only  a  couple  of  hours,  being 
unwilling  to  lose  time,  more  particularly  as  the  improvement  of  the 
roads,  in  consequence  of  the  undulating  character  of  the  surface,  was 
enabling  us  to  gallop  over  hill  and  dale  at  the  rate  of  twelve  versts. 

The  villages  were  very  numerous,  not  only  on  the  road  but  as  far 
back  on  either  side  as  we  could  see;  and  the  people  all  looked  healthy, 
comfortable  and  happy.  In  any  place,  where  the  post  house  was  out 
of  repair,  our  police  officer  used  to  pounce  on  the  best  house  for  our 
use ;  and  as  the  owners  would  neither  make  any  demand  nor  accept 
any  remuneration,  we  were  generally  obliged  to  compromise  the  matter 
by  forcing  a  small  gift  on  the  host's  wife  or  daughter.  The  dwelling 
in  which  we  breakfasted  to-day,  was  that  of  a  person  who  had  been 
sent  to  Siberia  against  his  will.  Finding  that  there  was  only  one  way 
of  mending  his  condition,  he  worked  hard  and  behaved  well.  He  had 
now  a  comfortably  furnished  house  and  a  well  cultivated  farm,  while  a 
stout  wife  and  plenty  of  servants  bustled  about  the  premises.  His  son 
had  just  arrived  from  Petersburg  to  visit  his  exiled  father,  and  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  him  amid  all  the  comforts  of  life,  reaping  an 
abundant  harvest,  with  one  hundred  and  forty  persons  in  his  pay. 

In  fact,  for  the  reforming  of  the  criminal, in  addition  to  the  punishment 
of  the  crime,  Siberia  is  undoubtedly  the  best  penitentiary  in  the  world. 
When  not  bad  enough  for  the  mines,  each  exile  is  provided  with  a  lot 
of  ground,  a  house,  a  horse,  two  cows,  and  agricultural  implements,  and 
also,  for  the  first  year,  with  provisions.  For  three  years  he  pays  o 
taxes  whatever — and  for  the  next  ten  only  half  of  the  full  amount. 
To  bring  fear  as  well  as  hope  to  operate  in  his  favor,  he  clearly  under- 
stands, that  his  very  first  slip  will  send  him  from  his  home  and  his 
family  to  toil,  as  an  outcast,  in  the  mines.  Thus  does  the  government 
bestow  an  almost  parental  care  on  all  the  less  atrocious  criminals. 

In  the  afternoon,  after  passing  through  a  new  settlement  of  exiles 
called  Borodino,  we  came  in  sight  of  the  Siansky  Mountains,  celebrated 
for  their  singularly  rich  mines  of  gold  and  silver. 

Next  day  we  entered  Krasnoyarsk,  the  capital  of  the  province  of 
Yenissei,  already  mentioned  in  these  pages  as  the  place  at  which  the 
Chancelor  Von  ResanofiT,  the  lover  of  Donna  Conception  of  Santa 
Barbara,  met  his  premature  fate.  We  were,  as  usual,  received  with 
great  civility  by  the  municipal  authorities,  who  came  to  meet  us  at  the 


** 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


187 


1/  { 


ferry  on  the  Yenissei,  and  proviiled  us  with  an  excellent  house.  I 
called  on  the  governor,  a  civilian  of  the  name  of  KapilloiT,  who  very 
politely  pressed  me  to  dine  with  him  the  next  day,  being  the  anniver- 
sary of  the  emperor's  accession  to  the  throne.  I  declined  the  honor, 
however,  through  my  anxiety  to  get  forward,  and  begged  for  horses  to 
continue  our  journey  as  soon  as  ever  our  carriages  should  have  under- 
gone a  few  necessary  repairs.  I  called  also  on  the  chief  magistrate  of 
police,  who  was  very  attentive,  placing  his  carriage  and  four  horses 
at  my  disposal:  whilst  with  him,  I  happened  to  sneeze,  when,  accord- 
ing to  etiqustte,  he  bowed  to  me  and  wished  me  good  health. 

We  strolled  through  the  town,  finding  little  to  interest  us  excepting 
the  tomb  of  Von  Resanoff,  erected  in  1831  by  the  Russian  American 
Company.  There  was  the  usual  number  of  public  buildings,  all  of 
wood,  such  as  churches,  hospitals  and  barracks.  Among  the  exiles  in 
the  place  there  was  ftne  of  high  rank,  Lieutenant  General  Davidofl", 
banished  for  participating  in  some  attempt  or  other  at  revolution.  He 
was  very  comfortably,  nay  happily,  settled  with  his  whole  family  about 
him,  sons-in-law,  brother-in-law,  and  so  on,  and  appeared  to  enjoy  all 
the  luxuries  and  elegancies  of  polished  life.  So  far  as  the  eye  could 
judge.  General  Davidoff  was  no  more  an  exile  than  Governor  Kapilloff 
himself. 

For  our  own  immediate  purpose  of  racing  against  time,  we  could 
hardly  have  come  more  inopportunely  to  Krasnoyarsk.  Everybody 
was  idler  than  his  neighbor,  on  the  occasion  of  the  consecration  of  a 
new  church  by  the  Bishop  of  Tomsk,  situated  rather  ornamentally,  I 
thought,  than  usefully,  on  the  face  of  a  hill  at  the  distance  of  a  verst 
and  a  half  from  the  nearest  house.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremony, 
the  chairman  of  the  building  committee  gave  a  grand  entertainment  to 
the  bishop,  the  governor,  and  all  the  higher  functionaries  generally, 
the  whole  party,  I  understood,  displaying  as  much  zeal  as  if  St.  Nicho- 
las's wet  day  had  brought  them  together ;  and,  in  imitation  of  so  good 
an  example,  the  lower  orders  speedily  filled  the  streets,  and  kept  them 
filled,  too,  for  the  most  of  the  night,  with  drunken  males  and  females. 
I  had  heard  that  the  men  of  Krasnoyarsk,  on  account  of  their  size 
and  strength,  were  frequendy  drafted  into  the  Imperial  Guards ;  but 
whether  it  was  that  I  was  out  of  humor  by  reason  of  the  delay,  or 
that  they  showed  themselves  under  disadvantageous  circumstances,  I 
saw  nothing  particular  to  admire  in  them. 

The  town  stands  on  the  Yenissei  in  a  level  plain,  embosomed  in 
hills,  being  said  to  derive  its  name  from  some  neighboring  cliffs  of  red 
earth.  It  may  be  considered  as  the  centre  of  the  district,  where  the 
mania  for  gold  washing,  which  broke  out  about  fifteen  years  ago,  has 
been  carried  to  its  greatest  height,  a  mania  which  has  brought  not  only 
agriculture,  but  even  commerce  into  comparative  neglect  and  disrepute. 
Of  the  population,  amounting  to  about  six  thousand,  the  great  majorit/ 
are  more  or  less  infected  with  the  malady.  As  an  instance  of  the 
speculative  character  of  this  occupaUon,  one  individual,  who  embarked 
in  the  business  about  three  years  ago,  obtained  no  returns  at  all  till  this 
season,  when  he  has  been  richly  repaid  for  his  ouUay  of  a  million  and 


'm 

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..1. 1 


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Ik- 


I  I  :  ii  I 


188 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


a  half  of  roubles,  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  poods  of  gold,  worth  thirty- 
seven  thousand  roubles  each,  or  rather  more  than  five  millions  and  a 
half  in  all.  Such  a  lucky  hit  as  this  serves,  of  course,  to  give  a  fresh 
impulse  to  the  spirit  of  gambling,  which  animates  both  foreigners  and 
natives  alike.  A  Prussian  botanist  and  physician,  entirely  wrapped  up 
in  the  love  of  his  favorite  sciences,  had  actually  started  on  a  pilgrim- 
age to  Karaschatka  for  the  sole  purpose  of  examining  the  vegetation. 
When,  however,  he  got  as  far  as  the  golden  district  of  Yenissei,  he 
paused  and  pondered  for  a  time  in  the  fair  town  of  Krasnoyarsk,  till  at 
length,  as  the  bad  luck  of  physic  and  botany  would  have  it,  he  was 
chained  to  the  spot  in  the  double  capacity  of  husband  and  gold  washer. 

Speaking  of  marriage,  a  young  lady's  charms  are  here  estimated  by 
the  weight  not  of  herself,  but  of  her  gold.  A  pood  is  a  very  good  girl ; 
and,  according  to  Cocker,  who  appears  to  get  the  better  of  Cupid  here 
as  well  as  elsewhere,  two  or  three  poods  are  elderly  twice  or  thrice  as 
good  a  wife. 

At  present  the  mines  and  washeries  are  very  unfavorable  to  the  set- 
tlement and  cultivation  of  Siberia,  by  calling  away  the  laborers  from 
more  steady  occupations  to  the  precarious  pursuit  of  the  precious 
metals.  Already  has  the  effect  been  seriously  felt  in  Krasnoyarsk, 
where  a  pood  of  meat  has  risen,  in  ten  years,  from  a  roiil)le  and  a  half 
to  twenty  roubles,  and  where  fowls,  such  as  we  bought  at  Nishney 
Udinsk  for  a  quarter  of  a  rouble  a  piece,  cost  three  roubles  a  pair. 
When,  however,  these  mining  and  washing  operations  shall  have  been 
reduced  to  a  more  regular  system,  they  will  afford  an  extensive  market 
for  the  produce  of  the  surrounding  country,  and  thus,  in  the  end, 
become  the  firmest  support  of  the  very  agriculture  which  they  now 
embarrass. 

The  province  of  Yenissei  alone  has  this  year  yielded  five  hundred 
poods  of  gold.  The  most  valuable  washeries  are  those  on  the  Ton- 
guska,  which  falls  into  the  river  that  gives  name  to  the  district,  a  con- 
siderable way  to  the  north  of  Krasnoyarsk.  The  richest  washing  tract 
in  Eastern  Siberia  is  said  to  be  the  triangle  bounded  by  the  Angara  to 
the  east,  the  Yenissei  to  the  west,  and  Chinese  Tartary  to  the  south. 

Expecting  that  we  should  start  during  the  night,  I  laid  myself  down 
in  the  evening,  as  I  had  done  ever  since  leaving  Irkutsk,  at  the  bottom 
of  the  carriage.  In  the  morning,  however,  I  found  that  I  had  slept 
without  being  rocked,  for  there  we  were  still  in  Karsnoyarsk ;  and, 
notwithstanding  my  reiterated  applications  for  horses,  we  were  detained 
till  ten  in  the  morning,  in  a  place,  of  which  hardly  a  single  inhabitant, 
what  between  washeries  and  holidays,  seemed  capable  of  attending  to 
any  ordinary  business.  Almost  everything,  in  fact,  had  gone  wrong, 
since  we  entered  the  province  of  Yenissei ;  and  even  our  policeman 
was  generally  so  far  behind,  that  we  had  to  wait  for  him  at  the  stations. 

We  passed  through  a  beautiful  country  for  pasturage,  well  wooded 
and  well  settled.  Soon  after  leaving  the  town,  we  Overtook  •''^  princi- 
pal chief  of  the  Burats  on  his  way  to  visit  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  In 
face  and  general  appearance,  he  resembled  an  Indian  of  North  America ; 


'U 


PROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


189 


he  was,  however,  a  man  of  education  and  .iddress,  and  wore  a  hand- 
some uniform.  This  potentate  was  attended  by  an  interpreter. 

In  each  town  and  village,  by  the  by,  along  the  great  thoroughfare, 
there  is  an  ostrog  with  a  sentry  at  the  door.  These  wooden  forts  are 
used  for  locking  up  the  convicts,  while  passing  onward  to  their  respect- 
ive destinations.  The  convicts  travel  in  parties  of  two  or  three  hun- 
dred each,  very  lightly  chained  together,  and  escorted  by  soldiers ;  and, 
in  order  still  further  to  prevent  escape,  sentinels  are  stationed  at  every 
three  or  four  miles  on  the  road.  Under  all  these  circumstances,  at- 
tempts at  desertion  are  very  rare  and  scarcely  ever  succeed. 

At  Kesalskaya,  which  we  reached  at  one  next  morning,  we  found 
the  postmaster  drunk  and  stupid.  He  not  only  would  give  us  no  horses 
himself,  but  endeavored  also  to  deter  others  from  giving  us  any,  alleging 
that  he  had  received  private  instructions  not  to  render  us  any  assist- 
ance. Not  contented  with  negative  churlisliness,  the  fellow  insisted 
on  removing  the  candle,  which  bylaw  should  be  kept  burning  all  night 
in  every  post-house.  A  scuffle  ensued  between  my  ever  ready  fellow- 
traveler  and  the  worthy  functionary,  in  which  the  former  was  likely 
to  come  off  second  best;  but,  feeling  that,  at  least  on  this  occasion,  he 
had  done  nothing  to  merit  a  drubbing,  I  rescued  him.  candle  and  all, 
from  the  rascal's  fury.  In  the  course  of  an  hour  we  obtained  cattle 
from  some  of  the  villagers  and  took  our  departure. 

Sixty  versts  of  very  bad  roads  brought  us,  at  two  in  the  afternoon,  to 
Atchinsk,  where  we  were  provided  by  the  authorities  with  a  house,  in 
which  we  took  breakfast  and  dinner  in  one.  Our  landlady  was  a 
jolly,  good-humored,  handsome  dame,  whose  husband  was  washing 
away  for  gold  at  the  distance  of  a  hundred  versts.  Under  this  agree- 
able and  communicative  lady's  tuition  I  should  have  picked  up  the 
Russ  in  no  time. 

The  population  of  this  town  is  about  two  thousand,  while  that  of  the 
surrounding  villages  is  fiv6  times  the  amount.  All  this  is  the  work  of 
the  last  twenty  years;  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the  neighborhood, 
almost  rivaling  the  mushroom-like  settlements  of  the  United  States, 
show  how  successfully  the  government  is  proceeding  in  the  coloniza- 
tion of  Siberia.  Many  of  the  inhabitants,  and  even  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal merchants,  are  Jews.  Though  the  soil  in  the  vicinity  is  said  to 
be  very  rich,  yet  here,  as  well  as  at  Krasnoyarsk,  the  monotonous  la- 
bors of  the  husbandman  have  been,  in  a  great  measure,  superseded  by 
the  more  attractive  occupation  of  hunting  up  the  precious  metals. 

Atchinsk  stands  on  the  Tchulim,  a  tributary  of  the  Oby,  which  i  here 
so  tortuous  in  its  course,  that  a  circuit  of  six  hundred  versts,  according 
to  my  information,  may  be  avoided  by  a  portage  of  twenty-five.  It  is 
the  most  westerly  town,  at  least  on  this  route,  in  this  tiresome  pro- 
vince; and,  at  the  distance  of  seventeen  versts  beyond  it,  there  stands 
a  pillar  to  mark  the  boundary  not  only  between  Yenissei  and  Tomsk, 
but  also  between  Eastern  and  Western  Siberia.  The  traveler,  however,  -^ 
has  but  little  reason  for  congratulating  himself  upon  the  change.  The 
farther  that  one  advances  to  the  westward,  the  more  rapidly  do  the 
roads,  the  post-houses  and  the  horses  degenerate.     The  same  regula- 


m 


1    :\ 


:    !   1  j 


M\ 


!:;  :J 


I 


m 


190 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


^ 


tions,  it  is  true,  apply  to  the  whole  country,  so  that  the  entire  difference 
lies  not  in  the  theory  but  in  the  practice.  These  regulations,  drawn 
up  by  Catherine  the  Second  in  her  own  handwriting,  are  a  lasting  me- 
morial of  the  sagacity  and  vigilance  of  that  illustrious  sovereign. 

About  a  hundred  versts  from  Atchinsk,  there  are  said  to  be  some  re- 
mains, in  the  shape  of  dilapidated  tombs,  of  a  race  that  had  apparently 
made  greater  advances  in  civilization  than  any  of  the  modern  aborigines 
of  Siberia.  There  is  also  a  steppe  about  two  hundred  versts  <listant, 
on  which  the  neighboring  Tartars  have,  from  time  immemorial,  been 
accustomed  to  congregate,  for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  all  kinds  of  ath- 
letic sports.  On  such  occasions  they  stake  their  women,  horses  and 
other  valuables ;  and,  though  the  authorities  often  re-.eive  complaints 
of  foul  play  from  the  losers,  yet,  for  obvious  reasons,  they  seldom  in- 
terfere between  the  gamblers. 

In  the  course  of  the  day,  a  distance  of  three  versts  occupied  several 
hours.  The  road  was  execrable  and  the  night  dismal,  dark  and  wet. 
We  repeatedly  got  off  the  right  track;  and,  when  at  length,  to  our  joy, 
we  reached  a  post-house  at  midnight,  we  found  neither  fire  nor  light, 
while  the  inmates,  a  man,  two  women  and  a  child,  were  all  fast  asleep 
on  the  same  shakedown. 

Next  day  everything  seemed  to  become  worse  and  worse, — the  roads 
abominable,  the  stages  long,  the  country  dreary,  the  stations  comfort- 
less, the  delays  constant  and  the  postmasters  uncivil.  Besides  being 
poor  and  miserable  in  appearance,  the  people  were  said  to  be  really 
bad,  robberies  and  murders  being  so  common  as  to  render  traveling 
very  unsafe  in  some  parts  of  the  district.  At  our  first  station  of  to-day 
we  were  detained  two  hours  for  want  of  horses,  while  the  post-house 
was  a  filthy  hovel  with  a  draggle-tailed  creature  of  a  landlady.  Besides 
breakfasting,  we  killed  time,  as  well  as  we  could,  by  entering  into  con- 
versation with  our  draggle-tailed  hostess,  who  proved  to  be  an  amusing 
gossip.  Her  husband  had  been  "  exiled,"  as  she  said,  for  being  saucy 
to  his  master,  or  more  probably,  we  thought,  to  his  master's  goods  and 
chattels.  She  was  very  inquisitive  about  ourselves,  taking  me  at  first  for 
a  Turk  turned  Russian,  next  guessing  that  I  was  a  German,  and  lastly 
hitting  on  my  country.  Under  this  lively  lady's  roof  we  witnessed  an  in- 
stance of  the  strictness  with  which  some  of  the  traveling  regulations  were 
observed.  The  courier  with  the  mail  had  lost  his  podoroshnoya  at  his 
last  station;  and  though,  in  most  countries,  the  bags  would  have  been 
a  sufiicient  passport,  yet  the  luckless  fellow  was  here  detained,  till  a 
certificate  of  his  having  once  had  a  podoroshnoya  could  be  procured. 

In  the  course  of  the  day  we  passed  a  number  of  small  carts  on  four 
wheels,  each  drawn  by  two  horses  and  loaded  with  twenty  poods  of 
tea,  on  its  long  and  weary  way  to  Russia.  Autumn  had  commenced 
in  right  earnest;  and  the  fall  of  the  leaf  was  rapid.  We  had  still  before 
us,  on  this  the  fifth  of  our  English  September,  fully  three-fourths  of  the 
distance  from  Irkutsk  to  Petersburg ;  so  that,  if  things  did  not  mend, 
we  had  a  fair  chance  of  being  overtaken  by  the  early  and  sudden  winter 
of  this  climate. 

At  the  Kia,  another  tributary  of  the  Oby,  we  spent  three  hours  in 


ee  hours  in 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


191 


crossing;  and,  cold,  wet,  sleepy,  and  unwell  as  I  was,  I  thought  this 
the  most  miserable  portion  of  my  whole  journey.  After  crossing,  we 
came  to  the  ruins  of  Kyskal,  a  village  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  houses, 
which  was  consumed  by  fire  on  the  morning  of  the  preceding  Easter 
Sunday.  Several  lives  had  been  lost;  and  many  more  would  have 
been  so,  if  the  flames  had  burst  forth  a  few  hours  earlier,  when  most 
of  the  inhabitants,  according  to  time-hallowed  custom,  were  helplessly 
drunk.  We  had  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  shelter,  till  a  young  and 
pretty  woman  induced  her  drowsy  husl)and  to  admit  the  starving  and 
shivering  strangers ;  and  we  were  not  sorry  to  be  detained  in  this  snug- 
gery, for  want  of  horses,  till  daylight. 

Our  next  two  days  were  as  uncomfortable  as  possible,  weather  and 
roads  bad,  nothing  to  eat  but  black  bread  and  sour  milk,  and  most  vexa- 
tious delays  at  every  station.  On  the  second  of  these  miserable 
marches,  when  we  were  wiUiin  four  miles  of  Tomsk,  our  Russian's 
ricketty  vehicle — a  drag  in  every  sense  of  the  word-J— again  broke 
down  ;  and,  as  the  peasants,  from  some  scruple  or  other,  would  neither 
be  coaxed  nor  bullied  into  taking  it  on,  the  owner  was  obliged  to  em- 
bark with  us,  amid  some  superstitious  forebodings  on  our  part  as  to  the 
probable  consequences.  On  reaching  Tomsk,  where  there  proved  to 
be  no  posthouse,  we  repaired  to  the  proper  magistrate,  who,  after  ex- 
amining our  podoroshnoya  and  finding  all  right,  proceeded  to  billet  us 
on  some  of  the  citizens.  Our  lot  fell  on  a  dismal  house  in  the  suburbs, 
of  which  the  proprietor  had  gone  to  Tobolsk,  leaving  his  young  wife,  a 
buxom  enough  damsel,  in  charge  of  an  ancient  duenna ;  and,  in  spite 
of  the  vigilance  of  her  guaidian,  the  fair  mistress  of  the  mansion  peeped 
into  the  room,  merely  to  ascertain,  of  course,  whether  Englishmen 
looked  like  other  people. 

The  absence  of  my  Russian  fellow  traveler's  wardrobe,  by  prevent- 
ing us  from  calling  on  the  governor  before  the  morrow,  added  upwards 
of  half  a  day  to  the  wrong  side  of  that  gentleman's  account — a  very 
vexatious  entry  in  our  traveling  ledger  at  this  advanced  season  of  the 
year. 

Between  the  events  of  the  day,  and  a  severe  cold  caught  at  the  pass- 
age of  the  Kia,  I  went  to  bed  in  no  very  good  humor,  though  this  was 
the  first  time  for  fourteen  nights  that  I  had  doffed  my  clothes  or  slept 
out  of  the  carriage.  I  had  no  great  reason,  however,  to  congratulate 
myself  on  the  change,  for  I  scarcely  closed  an  eye.  I  felt  feverish ;  I 
missed  my  accustomed  jolting ;  and,  what  was  worse  than  everything 
else,  the  good  lady  of  the  house,  who  was  sleeping  in  an  adjacent  gal- 
lery, perhaps  to  enjoy  the  fresh  air,  or  perhaps  to  watch  the  premises, 
kept  sending  forth,  during  the  whole  night,  coughs,  sneezes,  and  sighs, 
with  various  other  noisy  tokens  of  her  whereabouts.  I  was  glad  to 
rise  early,  and  perambulate  the  town,  visiting  the  markets,  where  I 
found  the  butchers,  like  their  brethren  in  England,  dressed  in  blue 
frocks.  Was  the  coincidence,  I  asked  myself,  the  result  of  accident, 
or  of  imitation,  or  of  some  innate  congeniality  between  the  color  of  the 
coat  and  the  unctuousness  of  the  occupation  ? 

Tomsk  stands  on  the  Tom,  and  is  a  handsome  and  flourishing  town 


a^ 


riii 


U      •: 


.■■1! 


192 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


■a 


with  wide  streets.  Thonph  mnny  of  the  buildings  are  of  brick,  yet 
nineteen-twentioths  of  the  houses  are  murcly  log  huts.  On  eithoi  side 
of  the  roads,  which,  in  rainy  weather,  are  so  many  rivers  of  mud, 
tliere  are  boarded  paths  for  the  accommodation  of  pedestrians.  The 
population  varies  considerably  in  amount,  according  to  the  season, 
being  about  eighteen  thousand  in  summer,  and  twenty-four  thousand  in 
winter.  The  fluctuation  is  occasioned  chiefly  by  the  prevailing  mania 
of  the  country ;  and  as  the  birds  of  passage  must  contain  far  more  than 
an  average  proportion  of  adults,  the  extent  of  the  washing  speculations, 
as  compared  with  the  other  employments  of  the  inhabitants,  may  be 
easily  estimated.  This  fashionable  pursuit  is  a  perfect  lottery,  in  which 
a  hundred  become  poorer  for  one  that  is  made  rich,  while,  with  respect 
to  the  lower  classes,  even  the  most  fortunate  laborers  seldom  derive 
any  other  benefit  from  their  earnings  than  a  winter  of  idleness,  vaga- 
bondism, and  dissipation.  Indeed,  the  washeries  themselves,  during 
the  very  season  of  work,  have  too  often  become  dens  of  drunkenness 
and  riot;  so  that  the  diflerent  governors  have  been  obliged,  personally, 
to  visit  the  establishments  lying  in  their  respective  provinces,  in  order  to 
curb  the  turbulent  and  profligate  conduct  of  the  adventurers. 

I  found  here  various  races  of  people  collected  together,  Russians, 
Tartars,  Jews,  Poles,  &c.,  while,  in  proof  of  the  spirit  of  toleration, 
Catholicism,  Judaism  and  Mohammedanism  had  each  its  own  places 
of  worship  as  freely  and  openly  as  the  national  establishment  itself. 

After  breakfast,  we  paid  our  respects  to  the  governor,  a  frank,  plain, 
good-humored  old  soldier,  who  gave  us,  at  my  request,  a  Cossack  to 
precede  us  as  far  as  Omsk,  the  new  capital  of  Western  Siberia. 
General  Tartarenoff  talked  much  about  our  country  and  particularly 
about  the  difllculty  of  acquiring  our  language,  repeating  to  us  over  and 
over  again  with  great  glee  his  whole  stock  of  English,  a  few  words 
picked  up  from  the  free-and-easy  vocabulary  of  a  common  sailor  at 
Nemel.  ,■ 

I  met  with  a  greater  number  of  petty  annoyances  at  Tomsk  than  at 
any  other  place  in  Siberia.  Our  Tartar  driver  was  so  quarrelsome  as 
to  require  to  be  taken  before  a  magistrate ;  horses  could  hardly  be  got 
for  love  or  money  ;  and,  on  crossing  the  river  at  our  departure,  the 
Charon  had  a  grand  dispute  with  us  in  consequence  of  our  resisting 
his  attempts  at  imposition.  Then  our  fare  was  poor  and  unwhole- 
some, though  our  dinner  did  boast  of  three  courses.  First  there  came 
soup  made  of  grits,  cabbage  and  water ;  secondly,  bread  and  salted 
cucumbers;  thirdly,  fresh  cucumbers  and  pickled  mushrooms,  with 
bread  and  tea.  In  the  kitchen,  our  servants  had  the  first  two  courses 
the  same  as  ourselves  in  the  parlor,  while,  in  lieu  of  the  third  course, 
they  were  regaled  with  plenty  of  nice  sour  milk.  We  had  no  reason, 
however,  to  complain  of  our  hostess,  for  such  was  the  ordinary  diet  of 
the  middle  classes. 

Among  the  foreigners  in  Tomsk  there  was  an  albino  of  English  birth 
of  the  name  of  Crawley.  For  a  long  time  this  white  negro  had  ex- 
hibited himself  for  money,  not  only  throughout  Europe  but  also  in 
various  parts  of  Asiatic  Russia,  picking  up,  by  the  by,  a  huge  wife  at 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TODOLSK. 


193 


Vienna;  am',  after  he  ]\;u\  got  as  far  as  Tomsk  on  his  way  to  ChiiKi, 
he  emancipated  himself  from  his  caravan  in  order  to  keep  an  eating' 
house  and  a  billiard  room.  I  was  sorry  that  I  had  not  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  him;  and  he  was  equally  disappointed  at  not  srcing  me,  inas- 
much as  he  had  met  only  one  Englishman  since  he  settled  in  Tomsk, 
namely  Mr.  Cottrell,  the  author  of"  Recollections  of  Siheria."  With 
respect  to  Mr.  Cottrell,  one  of  our  party,  who  visited  (.'rawley,  led  me 
into  an  enormous  mistake  on  the  albjno's  autli(nity,  telliiii:  me  that  the 
gendeman  in  question,  after  reaching  Tomsk  on  his  way  to  the  far 
east,  had  here  lost  courage  and  returned  to  Etirope.  What  was  my 
surprise  to  find,  on  arriving  in  JiOndon,  that  Mr.  Coitrcll,  instead  of 
stopping  short  at  Tomsk,  had  penetrated,  in  the  de|)th  of  winter,  to 
Kiachta  and  Maimatschin.  The  inciiient,  however,  was  not  lost  on 
me,  for  this  unaccountable  instance  of  a  groundless  I'aljlo  induced  nie, 
in  revising  the  draft  of  my  journal,  to  sift,  as  thorouiihiy  as  I  coidd. 
every  statement  that  depended  on  local  information.  I  fell  more  anxious 
than  ever  on  the  subject,  when  I  observed  into  what  incredil)le  blunders 
a  recent  traveler  in  Siberia  had  fallen, — blunders  of  which  a  brief 
enumeration  would,  I  thought,  at  least  inspire  my  reader  with  caution 
and  suspicion,  as  the  next  best  thing  to  my  own  attainment  of  perfect 
accuracy. 

In  his  preface,  the  recent  traveler  speaks  of  "  Baron  Wrangell's 
voyage  of  discovery  in  the  Northeast  of  Siberia  and  Kanischaika." 
Now  the  voyage  in  question  had  not  the  remotest  reference  to  the 
latter  country,  having  been  exclusively  confined  to  the  former.  But, 
not  contented  with  this  partial  error,  the  recent  traveler  subsequently 
gives  to  Kamschatka  the  entire  credit  of  the  voyage  in  question,  ex- 
cluding the  Northeast  of  Siberia  from  all  part  and  lot  in  the  matter. 
In  page  249,  he  says  that  M.  Hedenstrom  of  Tomsk,  "  was  einplo3ed 
for  three  years  during  the  preceding  reign,  in  making  discoveries  in 
Kamschatka,  while  the  commission  under  Baron  Wrangell,  the  account 
of  whose  journey  has  been  lately  published,  was  sent  to  verify." 
This  misapprehension  is  the  more  remarkable,  inasmuch  as  the  recent 
traveler  professes  to  have  drawn  his  facts  from  M.  Hedenstrom  him- 
self. If  the  recent  traveler  had  either  recollected  what  his  informant 
must  have  said,  or  glanced  at  my  noble  friend's  book,  he  would  have 
known  that  both  M.  Hedenstrom  and  Baron  Wrangell  limited  their 
labors  to  a  portion  of  the  northern  coast  of  Eastern  Siberia  and  to  the 
islands  lying  opposite  to  the  same,  attempting,  of  course,  to  make 
farther  discoveries  in  the  adjacent  parts  of  the  Arctic  Ocean.  How- 
ever innocently  the  recent  traveler  might  have  misunderstood  M. 
Hedenstrom's  information,  or  however  easily  he  might  have  forgotten 
it,  there  was  no  room  for  either  forgetting  or  misunderstanding  Mr. 
Sabine's  printed  translation  of  Baron  Wrangell's  book.  But  the  in- 
stance of  culpable  misconception,  which  has  just  been  given,  is  not  the 
only  one  of  the  kind.  With  reference  to  page  cxxxiv.  of  Wrangell's 
introduction,  the  recent  traveler  states,  in  page  14G,  that:  "  The  result 
of  Wrangell's  labors  proved,  as  far  as  Hedenstrom  was  concerned,  that 
his  map  was  pretty  correct,  but  that  his  latitude  was  less  by  07ie  de- 

PART  II. — 13 


1 


if.    (i 


iii 


if. 


194 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


-^ 


gree  than  that  laid  down  hy  the  Obs  .  'or-' r  and  his  longitude  two 
and  a  half  dej^roos  more  oast  than  wn  ni^'ct."  Now,  with  respect 
to  hititiido,  VVran^ell's  statement  makes  Hcdenstrjni'g  general  error  to 
be  not  *'w/jc  dejrrer'^  but  "  half  a  degree,"  while  his  solitary  instance  of 
the  larger  dis^crtrpancy  has  reference  not  to  his  own  "  labors,"  but  to 
those  of  an  early  navigator  and  of  his  own  co-ordinate  and  independent 
colleague.  Again,  with  respect  to  longitude  taken  in  the  recent 
traveler's  sense  of  the  word,  Wrangell  literally  and  absolutely  says 
nothing  at  all,  merely  stating  that  Iledenstrom,  in  one  particular  case, 
assigned  not  too  great,  or  too  snmll,  a  distance  from  any  fixed  meri- 
dian, l)ut  too  large  a  dimension  in  the  direction  of  east  and  west.  I 
subjoin  die  whole  of  WrangcirH  paragraph:  '*  Iledenstrom's  astro- 
nomical and  geographical  determinations  are  not  often  to  be  depended 
on,  owing  »'hiclly»  no  doubt,  to  the  want  of  good  instruments,  and  skill- 
ful assistants.  Thus,  for  instance,  he  states  the  latitude  of  Swatoi 
Noss  at  one  degree  less  than  I^aptew  and  Anjou.  On  many  other 
points  the  coast  is  given  half  a  (higrce  more  to  the  south  than  it  was 
found  to  be  on  the  occasion  of  the  recent  more  careful  observations. 
To  the  northern  islands  much  too  great  an  extent  of  longitude  was 
assigned  I)y  him.  Thus  from  the  western  point  of  Kotelnoi  Island  to 
the  eastern  cape  of  New  Siberia,  comprises,  on  Iledenstrom's  map,  a 
distance  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-five  miles,  whereas  the  real  dis- 
tance, was  found  by  the  survey  of  Lieutenant  Anjou,  to  be  only  two 
hundred  and  live  miles."  Moreover,  in  regard  to  the  comparative 
merits  of  Wrangell  and  Hedenstrom,  the  recent  traveler  is  as  much  at 
fault  as  on  any  other  point,  proposing  to  prove  that  the  latter  was  less 
liberally  equipped  than  the  former,  and  that,  if  he  had  not  been  so,  he 
could  have  accomplished  far  more  than  his  successor  had  accomplished. 
As  to  the  respective  equipments  of  the  two  explorers,  the  recent  tra- 
veler appears  to  make  a  grand  argument  of  what  Wrangell  candidly 
admits  in  the  paragraph  just  quoted,  namely,  "the  want  of  good  instru- 
ments and  skillful  assistants ;"  and  so  far  Hedenstrom  did  undeniably 
labor  under  a  purely  scientific  disadvantage.  On  the  score,  however, 
of  practical  resources,  the  recent  traveler's  comparison  is  equally  irrele- 
vant and  inaccurate.  He  says,  and  says  truly,  that  the  peasants  got 
more  money  for  furnishing  local  supplies  in  Wrangell's  case  than  in 
Hedenstrom's,  at  the  same  time  adding,  to  the  confusion  of  his  own 
intended  inference,  that  the  rates  of  remuneration  on  the  second  occa- 
sion were  increased  in  order  to  make  up  the  loss  which  the  poor  people 
had  sustained  through  an  insufficiency  of  prices  in  connection  with  the 
lirst  expedition.  But,  independently  of  this  spontaneous  explanation 
of  the  apparent  inequality  in  Wrangell's  favor,  the  actual  facts  speak 
for  themselves.  Even  in  the  second  and  last  spring  of  his  labors,  after 
the  cream  of  die  country  had,  of  course,  been,  in  some  degree,  ex- 
hausted, Hedenstrom  started  with  twenty-nine  sledges,  while  Wran- 
gell's four  expeditions  mustered  respectively  only  nine,  twenty,  twenty- 
four  and  twenty-one.  Lastly,  as  to  Hedenstrom's  alleged  boast,  that, 
with  Wrangell's  means,  he  could  have  eclipsed  Wrangell,  let  the 
reader  judge  for  himself,  whether,  with  any  means,  such  an  exploit 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


195 


m 


wna  prohnblo  enouf^h  to  justify  such  n  vaunt  on  tlic  part  of  its  author, 
or  a  heUcf  in  the  same  on  the  part  of  its  historian.  I  subjoin  two  |i:ihs- 
:urc8  from  my  noble  friend's  book,  which,  besides  th«Mr  innate  interest 
and  sublimity,  show  that  Ilcdcnstrom's  successor  had  dono  all  that 
man  could  do : 

"Wo  climbed  one  of  the  loftiest  ice-hills,  whence  we  obtained  an 
extensive  view  towards  the  north,  and  whence  wo  beheld  the  wide 
immeasurable  ocean  spread  before  our  gixzo.  It  w.'is  a  fearful  aiul 
magnificent,  but  to  us  a  melancholy  spectacle!  Frii^ments  of  ice  of 
enormous  size  floated  on  the  surface  of  the  ajjitated  ocean,  and  were 
thrown  by  the  waves  with  awful  violence  against  the  edge  of  the  ice- 
field on  the  farther  side  of  the  channel  before  us.  The  collisions  were 
so  tremendous,  that  large  masses  were  every  instant  broken  away,  and 
it  was  evident  that  the  portion  of  ice  which  still  divided  the  channel 
from  the  open  ocean,  would  soon  he  completely  destroyed.  Had  we 
attempted  to  have  ferried  ourselves  across,  upon  one  of  the  floating 
pieces  of  ice,  we  should  not  have  found  firm  footing  upon  onr  arrival. 
Kvcn  on  our  own  side  fresh  lanes  of  water  were  continually  forming, 
and  extending  in  every  direction  in  the  field  of  ice  l)ehind  us.  \Vc 
could  go  no  farther. 

"We  had  hardly  proceeded  one  verst,  when  we  found  ourselves  in 
a  fresh  labyrinth  of  lanes  of  water,  which  hemmed  us  in  on  every  side. 
As  all  the  floating  pieces  around  us  were  smaller  than  the  one  on  which 
we  stood,  which  was  seventy-five  fathoms  across,  and  as  we  saw  many 
certain  indications  of  an  approaching  storm,  I  thought  it  better  to  re- 
main on  the  larger  mass,  which  offered  us  somewhat  more  security; 
and  thus  we  waited  quietly  whatever  Providence  should  decree.  Dark 
clouds  now  rose  from  the  west,  and  the  whole  atmosphere  became 
rilled  with  a  damp  vapor.  A  strong  breeze  suddeidy  sprung  up  from  th(; 
west,  and  increased  in  less  than  half  an  hour  to  a  storm.  Every  mo- 
ment huge  masses  of  ice  around  us  were  dashed  against  each  other, 
and  broken  into  a  thousand  fragments.  Our  little  party  remained  fast 
on  our  ice-island,  which  was  tossed  to  and  fro  by  the  waves ;  we  gazed 
in  most  painful  inactivity  on  the  wdd  conflict  of  the  elements,  expect- 
ing every  moment  to  be  swallowed  up.  We  had  been  three  long 
hours  in  this  position,  and  still  the  mass  of  ice  beneath  us  held  toge- 
ther, when  suddenly  it  was  caught  by  the  storm,  and  hurled  against  a 
large  field  of  ice;  the  crash  was  terrific,  and  the  mass  beneath  us  was 
shattered  into  fragments.  At  that  dreadful  moment,  when  escape 
seemed  impossible,  the  impulse  of  self-preservation  implanted  in  every 
living  being  saved  us.  Instinctively  we  all  sprang  at  once  on  the 
sledges,  and  urged  the  dogs  to  their  full  speed ;  they  flew  across  the 
yielding  fragments  to  the  field  on  which  we  had  been  stranded,  and 
safely  reached  a  part  of  it  of  firmer  character,  on  which  were  several 
hammocks,  and  where  the  dogs  immediately  ceased  running,  conscions, 
apparently,  that  the  danger  was  past.  We  were  saved;  we  joyfully 
embraced  each  other,  and  united  in  thanks  to  God  for  our  preservation 
from  such  imminent  peril." 

A  wild  goose  might  have  gone  farther;  and,  in  my  opinion,  a  wild 


;.^|■ 


'n 


196 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


m< 


m\ 


goose  alone  would  try  to  do  so.  To  talk  and  write,  forsooth,  of 
"getting  across  to  Hudson's  Bay!"  But  the  recent  traveler,  never 
tired  of  being  grateful  to  his  universal  informant,  extols  M .  Hedenstrom 
at  the  expense  not  only  of  probabilities,  but  also  of  facts.  In  page  144, 
lie  gives  the  gentleman  in  question  credit  for  having  "among  other 
things  discovered  New  Siberia,"  while,  to  show  how  imperfectly  he 
himself  had  obtained  the  particulars,  he  speaks  in  page  116,  of  New 
Siberia,  as  of  a  cluster  of  islands.  Now  in  page  cxiv.  of  his  introduc- 
tion. Baron  Wrangell  could  have  lold  him,  that  "  in  1806,  young  Siro- 
vatskoi,  the  son  of  the  above-named  merchant,  discovered,  not  far 
from  Fadejew,  another  large  island,  which  subsequently  received  the 
name  of  New  Siberia."  • 

Nor  is  the  recent  traveler  always  to  be  trusted  even  on  less  knotty 
points  than  the  mysteries  of  an  almost  impracticable  ocean. 

In  page  147,  he  incidentally  mentions  "Kolyma,  the  country  of  the 
Tchuktches"  witii  reference  to  the  date  of  the  scientific  conversations 
between  M.  Hed(!nstrom  and  himself.  Now  at  that  time  the  Tchuktchi 
had  not  permanent  possession  of  a  single  foot  of  land  that  poured  water 
into  the  Kolyma ;  and,  to  prove  that  such  was  the  fact  even  fifty  years 
before,  tlie  recent  traveler,  in  page  149,  himself  alludes  to  Captain  Bil- 
lings, as  "going  by  land  from  the  Kolyma  to  the  country  of  the  Tchukt- 
ciies," — an  allusion,  by  the  by,  which,  however  conclusive  for  the 
present  purpose,  is  utterly  erroneous  in  every  other  respect.  Cap- 
tain Billings  never  went  "  by  land  from  the  Kolyma  to  the  country  of 
the  Tchuktches."  If  the  I'ecent  traveler  had  perused  Wrangell's  work 
before  he  assailed  it,  he  would  have  seen  that  Billings  made  a  short 
and  unsuccessful  voyage  by  sea  from  the  Kolyma,  and  that,  having 
subsequently  sailed  from  Kamschatka  with  the  view  of  retracing  the 
steps  of  the  Cossack  DeshnoiF  along  the  eastern  and  northern  shores 
of  the  Asiastic  Tchuktchi,  he  lost  courage  before  even  reaching  Beer- 
ing's  Straits,  and  crossed  by  land  through  the  country  of  the  tribe  in 
question  to  the  Kolyma. 

Speaking  of  the  grand  emporium  between  Russia  and  China,  the  re- 
cent traveler,  in  page  307,  tells  us,  that,  so  far  as  he  "could  gather 
from  the  most  competent  authorities,  the  value  so  exchanged  in  the 
last  year  or  two  may  be  estimated  at  a  hundred  million  of  roubles 
annually."  Now,  as  I  have  already  shown,  this  estimate  is  far 
more  than  double  the  entire  value  both  of  the  imports  and  of  the  ex- 
ports at  Kiachta.  Speaking,  by  the  by,  of  the  situation  of  this  place  as 
being  "  unfavorable,  both  for  the  inhabitants  and  for  trade,"  the  recent 
traveler  imputes  the  badness  of  the  choice  on  the  part  of  Count 
Rayusinski  to  "  the  fact  of  the  treaty  being  entered  into,  under  the 
restraint  of  a  Chinese  army."  Now  the  recent  traveler,  I  suspect,  is 
here  confounding  the  history  of  the  treaty  of  Nertshinsk  with  that  of 
the  treaty  of  Kiachta.  In  1689,  Golovin  did  confessedly  surrender  th*? 
Amoor  to  the  celestial  plenipotentiary's  formidable  retinue ;  but,  in 
1727-8,  Rayusinski,  to  tlie  best  of  my  knowledge  and  beli'^f,  was  not 
driven  into  the  barren  and  thirsty  corner,  where  Kiachta  was  after- 
wards built,  by  any  similar  means. 


§ 


m 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


197 


arsooth,  of 
eler,  never 
[edenstrom 
1  page  144, 
long  other 
lerfectly  he 
6,  of  New 
is  introduc- 
^oiing  Siro- 
ed,  not  far 
joeived  the 

less  knotty 

ntry  of  the 
nversations 
!  Tchuktchi 
aured  water 
I  fifty  years 
Captain  Bli- 
the Tchukt- 
live  for  the 
pect.  Cap- 
country  of 
igell's  work 
ade  a  short 
that,  having 
!tracing  the 
hern  shores 
ching  Beer- 
the  tribe  in 

lina,  the  re- 
ould  gather 
iged  in  the 

of  roubles 
nate    is   far 

of  the  ex- 
his  place  as 

the  recent 
t  of  Count 

under  the 

suspect,  is 
with  that  of 
rreiuler  th*? 
ue ;  but,  in 
'\r(,  was  nut 

was  after- 


On  the  subject  of  the  mines  of  Zmenogorsk,  the  recent  traveler  pre- 
sents some  computations,  which  require  merely  to  be  stated  to  prove 
their  own  fallacy.  In  page  194,  he  says  tliat  they  "  produce  one 
zolotnik  and  a  half  of  silver  in  every  hundred  pood  of  stone,"  and  that 
"  a  zolotnik  is  the  ninety-sixth  part  of  a  pound."  lu  other  words, 
three  thousand  six  hundred  lbs.  avoirdupois,  yield  little  more  than  a 
shilling's  worth  of  the  precious  metal.  For  this  infinitesimal  return, 
according  to  page  19.3,  the  thirty-two  cut  and  upwards  of  granite  and 
porphyry  are  first  blasted  from  the  rock,  secondly,  broken,  thirdly, 
pounded,  fourthly,  fifthly,  and  sixthly,  smelted  in  three  difi'erent  fur- 
naces, to  say  nothing  of  the  wear  and  tear  of  tools,  or  of  the  consump- 
tion of  fuel,  or  of  carrying  the  raw  material  five  times  from  place  to 
place.  Iron  and  wood,  and  men  and  cattle,  must  be  very  cheap  in  that 
neighborhood,  more  particularly  considering  that  the  resulting  shilling 
is  nearly  all  net  gain.  According  to  page  194,  the  recent  traveler 
states  that  "  the  clear  profit  on  the  pood  is  calculated  here  only  at 
three  thousand  roubles."  Now,  at  this  rale,  the  net  gain  on  "  a  pound" 
Russian,  is  seventy-five  roubles,  and  on  "  one  zolotnik  and  a  half"  is 
rather  more  than  a  rouble  and  a  sixth,  a  sum  which,  in  any  state  of  the 
exchanges,  is  fully  equal  to  one  shilling  sterling,  leaving,  perhaps,  a 
penny  or  so  for  the  smashing,  and  cooking,  and  shoveling,  times  and 
ways  without  number,  of  more  than  a  ton  and  a  half  of  very  hard  stones. 

But  it  is  among  the  rivers  that  tlie  recent  traveler's  peculiar  talent 
appears  to  most  advantage,  for  there  is  hardly  a  stream  of  any  magni- 
tude in  the  countrv  that  is  not  made  to  twist  and  tu'-n  itself  like  an 
eel.  In  page  83,  the  Ural,  which  flows  into  tl'.e  Caspian,  is  said  to  be 
"almost  the  only  river  in  Siberia  that  does  not  fall  into  the  Icy  Sea." 
Now,  according  to  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term  Siberia,  the 
Ural  is  not  in  that  region  at  all,  its  nearest  source,  according  to  the 
recent  traveler's  own  page  6.3,  being  about  two  hundred  versts  to  the 
west  of  the  frontier,  while,  to  show  his  confusion  of  ideas  even  where 
he  happens  to  be  right,  the  recent  traveler  elsewhere  seduces  various 
tributaries  of  the  Icy  Sea  from  their  allegiance.  In  page  137,  he  turns 
the  Aniuy,  an  auxiliary  of  the  Kolyma,  right  round  into  "the  Sea  of 
Ochotsk,"  placing  the  Anadyr,  which  falls  into  the  Pacific,  under  the 
same  marching  orders,  as  if  to  make  sure  of  its  not  occupying  the 
Aniuy 's  vacant  room.  In  page  81,  he  diverts  a  still  greater  than  the 
Aniuy,  after  the  Aniuy's  fashion,  assuring  the  reader  that  "  in  the 
western  division  one  of  the  principal  is  the  Irtysch,  which  foils  nito 
the  Sea  of  Ochotsk  after  traversing  the  eastern  parts  of  Siberia." 
With  respect,  however,  to  this  same  Irlysch,  the  recent  traveler  has 
at  least  three  other  modes  of  providing  for  it.  In  page  336,  he  embo- 
dies two  of  these  views  at  once,  stating  that  the  river  in  question,  then 
and  there  uniting  with  the  Tobole,  falls  at  Toi)olsk  "  into  the  Yenissei 
or  Ob'.''  In  page  82,  he  gives  his  third  view,  the  theory,  in  fact,  of 
every  unwhipt  schoolboy,  that  from  Tobolsk  "  to  Samarof,  the  Irtysch, 
making  many  windings,  has  again  a  course  of  a  thousand  versts,  and 
then  falls  into  the  Ob'."  Still,  however,  the  Irtysch  is  at  large  among 
the  recent  traveler's  waifs  and  strays,  for  the  great  Ob'  itself,  besides 


K^hl 


198 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


•a" 


.:  'tj 


it 


having  its  "  name"  brought  into  doubt  in  the  last  sentence  but  one, 
seems  to  be  a  good  deal  at  a  loss  for  a  "  local  habitation."  In  page 
131,  the  Ob',  whose  mouth  is  about  twenty  degrees  to  the  west  of  its 
source,  is  said  to  take  "  a  northeastern  direction"  from  the  Altai  Moun- 
tains, as  if  doomed,  like  the  Irtysch,  to  throw  all  its  cold  water  on  "  the 
Sea  of  Okotsk."  Again,  in  page  82,  the  Ob'  is  said  to  be  formed 
"about  fifteen  versts  from  the  town  of  Biisk,"  by  the  junction  of  the 
Tchulychman  and  the  Katun' ;  and  lastly,  in  page  210,  the  river  in  ques- 
tion is  found  "at  no  great  distance"  from  Tomsk,  by  the  junction  of 
the  same  Katun',  under  the  form  of  Katunga  and  the  Tom.  Now 
these  two  points  of  confluence,  at  each  of  which  the  Ob',  as  such, 
takes  its  rise,  are  at  least  three  hundred  miles  from  each  other,  in  the 
direction  of  the  crow's  flight,  while  the  true  Ob',  that  of  Biisk,  receives 
the  counterfeit  Ob',  neither  more  i.or  less  than  the  Tom,  perhaps  about 
a  hundred  versts  to  the  northwest  of  Tomsk.  In  page  253,  the  recent 
traveler,  speaking  of  the  rivers  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  province  of 
Irkutsk,  says,  that  "  the  prmcipal  of  these  fall  into  the  Lake  Baikal, 
and  are  as  follows  :  The  Upper  and  Lower  Angara,  the  Selenga,  (fee." 
Now,  in  his  very  next  paragraph,  the  fecent  traveler  himself  truly 
asserts,  that  the  Lower  Angara,  instead  of  falling  into  the  Baikal,  issues 
from  it.  The  recent  traveler,  in  fact,  does  not  appear  to  have  any  very 
definite  notion  as  to  the  respective  meanings  o(  upper  and  lower,  when 
applied  to  a  river.  In  the  case,  for  instance,  of  the  Aniuy,  which  page 
137  sends  intvi  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk,  page  142  very  properly  makes  it 
fall  into  the  Kolyma ;  but,  as  the  recent  traveler,  even  when  right  in 
the  essence,  must  show  his  independence  in  the  incidents,  he  treats  of 
"the  upper  and  lower  Aniuy,"  as  if  two  separate  streams.  Now  there 
certainly  are  two  Aniuys,  the  greater  and  the  lesser,  which  unite  with 
each  other  before  joining  the  Kolyma;  but,  unless  custom  should  have 
arbitrarily  sanctioned  the  inaccuracy,  no  person  who  knew  much  of 
geographical  nomenclature,  would  ever  distinguish  two  separate  streams 
as  the  lower  and  the  upper  of  the  same  name. 

If  for  all  these  vagaries  the  chief  responsibility  is  to  fall  on  the  com- 
municative M.  Hedenptrom,  there  is  at  least  one  discovery  for  which 
one  of  the  discoverer'.s  own  countrymen  appears  to  be  answerable.  Ii: 
page  336,  the  recent  traveler,  being  then  on  his  return,  informs  his 
readers,  that,  "aboit  a  hundred  versts  before  reaching  Omsk,"  he 
"passed  through  the  town  of  Tumen,  a  flourishing  place  with  a  large 
carpet  and  paper  manufactory,  and  a  considerable  trade  in  tallow  and 
timber."  Now  Tumen,  as  here  pretty  well  described  in  a  general  way, 
lies  on  the  Tura,  at  a  very  great  distance  to  the  westward  of  Omsk, 
while  its  removal  to  the  eastward  has  been  etfected  by  the  recent  tra- 
veler, witii  the  aid  of  Captain  Cochrane.  That  honest  sailor,  being 
also  oil  his  return,  delivers  himself  thus:  "Having  been  hospitably 
entertained  by  the  commissary,  with  whom  I  had  previously  been 
acquainted  in  Tumen,  I  departed  for  Omsk."  Now,  the  mere  wedge 
of  a  comma  between  acquainted  and  in,  at  once  whisks  away  Tumen 
with  its  timber,  and  its  tallow,  and  its  paj)er,  and  its  carpets,  into  the 
very  site  selected  for  the  "flourishing  place,"  and  all  its  appurtenances 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


199 


by  the  recent  traveler.      In  this  case,  the  recent  traveler  is  refreshing 
his  memory  from  his  predecessor's  pages. 

Has  the  recent  traveler  ever  been  in  Siberia  ? 

To  return  to  Mr.  Cottrell,  I  cannot  close  these  observations  more 
appropriately  than  by  borrowing  from  him  this  admimble  sentiment : 
"  A  volumr  of  travels  are,  in  reality,  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  coun 
try  where  they  are  made  ;  and  however  inadequate  the  traveler  may  be 
to  seize  the  opportunity  of  relating  events  with  talent  or  judgment,  he 
is  inexcusable,  in  our  opinion,  if  lie  sacrifices  truth." 

To  resume  my  journal,  on  leaving  the  city  we  crossed  the  Tom, 
which  was  here  about  half  a  mile  wide,  leaving  our  Russian  behind  us 
in  order  to  have  the  repairs  of  his  carriage  completed;  and,  though  the 
roads  were  good,  yet  we  could  not  make  much  progress  in  the  absence 
of  that  gentleman,  who  acted  in  the  capacity  of  interpreter.  We  passed 
several  settlements  of  the  aborigines,  as  also  one  of  their  burying 
grounds,  in  which  each  tomb  was  enclosed  within  a  small  square  of 
logs.  These  Tartars  were  a  comely  race,  the  men  being  above  the 
ordinary  stature,  and  the  women  chubby  and  mirthful;  and  such  of  the 
females,  as  were  of  mixed  blood,  might  be  said  even  to  be  beautiful. 

Next  day,  having  been  overtaken  by  my  R'issian  fellow  traveler, 
about  ten  in  the  morning,  we  began  to  see  more  symptoms  of  life  on 
the  road,  meeting  the  mail  and  several  travelers  ;  and,  at  the  crossing 
of  the  Oby,  we  found  a  proof  of  the  increasing  intercourse  in  the  exist- 
ence of  rival  ferrymen,  who,  however,  illustrated  the  proverb  of  the 
cooks  and  the  broth,  by  detaining  us  with  their  squabble  ^  The  weather 
had  improved  ;  and  along  the  road  there  was  much  land  under  cultiva- 
tion. 

On  the  ensuing  day  we  entered  the  Baralinsky  Steppe,  a  flat  and 
fertile  prairie  of  vast  extent.  Ainongthe  many  agricultural  settlements, 
that  studded  this  boundless  plavi,  the  one  whicli  wiost  particularly 
attracted  my  attention,  was  a  coiniv  of  Jew.  absolutely  turned  farmers 
— a  phenomenon  the  mor^;  R\ir,  oii  -aarv  h:  a  cc'untry  where  every  one 
else  was  agog  in  pursuit  of  gold  i!;d  silv  ,  But  the  alteration  of  com- 
plexion was,  peihaps,  more  ''cmdrkable  t/in  that  of  disposition.  Though 
these  tillers  of  the  ground  3tilf  retained  tlu'''  hereditary  features,  yet,  in 
spite  of  the  usual  influence  of  I'iral  labor,  ti  oy  had  exchanged  the 
swarthy  countenance  and  ('■'-!•  locks  of  their  rice,  for  fair  skins  and 
light  hair,  which  were  very  I  jcoming  in  the  woinen,  with  their  heads 
swathed  in  a  kind  of  red  tiirlms.  In  the  course  of  the  forenoon,  we 
had  a  curious  remembrancer  o.'  jiome,  in  a  large  band  of  gypsies,  whom 
we  met  at  Elkul ;  in  appearance  and  habits  they  were  the  exact  coun- 
terparts of  their  brethren  and  sisters  in  o"-  ■  own  country. 

On  this  our  fourteenth  day  from  Irki  Liv,  we  reached  Ubinskoi,  said 
to  mark  one-third  part  of  the  distance  to  Petersburg.  We  had  just 
previously  passed  through  the  miserable  Ulilc-  village  of  Kolyvan,  giv- 
ing its  name  to  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  the  mining  districts,  and 
communicating,  by  a  cross  road  to  the  southward,  with  Barnaoul,  the 
local  depot  of  all  the  precious  metals  of  the  surrounding  regions.     As 


]f  i!:j 


200 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


■r- 

l« 

h 

'« 

U\ 


the  weather  had  been  dry  for  some  time,  the  roads  were  tolerable,  not- 
withstanding the  perfectly  level  character  of  the  surface. 

Next  day  at  noon  we  reached  Kainsk,  standing  on  the  Om.  Though 
pretending  to  be  a  town,  yet  it  was  nothing  but  a  straggling  village  of 
miserable  houses  with  a  population,  many  of  them  Jews,  of  less  than 
a  thousand  eouls.  We  were  still  on  the  Baralinsky  Steppe,  which 
would,  in  fact,  carry  us  two  hundred  versts  farther  to  the  western 
boundary  of  the  province  of  Tomsk.  In  this  immense  plain  there  are 
several  extensive  lakes.  One  of  them,  from  which  our  yesterday's 
station  of  Ubinskoi  takes  its  name,  empties  itself  into  the  Om ;  but  of 
the  others,  which  all  lie  off  the  road,  some  are  salt  and,  of  course,  have 
no  outlet. 

As  we  arrived  at  noon  on  Sunday,  the  good  folks  of  the  town  were 
just  coming  out  of  church,  while  their  less  scrupulous  brethren  and 
sisters  of  the  adjacent  villages  were  celebrating  the  day,  us  usual,  by 
getting  drunk — or  rather  by  continuing  drunk,  for  the  Saturday  had 
been  the  festival  of  John  the  Baptist.  As  a  curious  instance  of  the 
influence  of  custom  not  merely  on  private  individuals  but  also  on  pub- 
lic opinion,  the  bottle  is  quite  fashionable  and  orthodox  on  any  and 
every  holiday,  excepting  always  St.  Nicholas's  dry  turn,  while  the 
bath,  on  these  sacred  occasions,  is  shunned  as  one  of  tiie  deadly  sins. 
Knowing  this,  I  was  surprised  to-tlay  on  seeing  an  old  lady — with  one 
foot  in  the  grave  and  another  out  of  it — openly  emerge  from  a  bath- 
house, reeking  all  over  with  the  evidence  of  her  impiety ;  but,  on  in- 
quiry, I  found,  that  the  apparent  sinner,  being  an  invalid,  had  made  all 
right  by  procuring  the  requisite  dispensation.  What  a  blessing  in 
point  of  comfort  and  cleanliness,  if  the  priests  could,  and  would,  pre- 
vail on  the  people  to  accept  the  bath  in  place  of  the  bottle. 

Being  preceded  both  by  the  Cossack,  whom  I  had  obtained  from 
Governor  Tartarenolf,  and  by  an  officer  of  police,  we  did  not  encounter 
any  delays  ?.t  the  post-houses.  But,  after  leaving  Kainsk,  I  began  to 
suspect,  that  some  extraordinary  merit  on  our  own  part  was  one  main 
cause  of  our  getting  forward  so  swimmingly,  for  the  whole  population 
of  every  village,  whether  by  day  or  by  night,  flocked  to  see  us,  the 
males  all  uncovered  and  the  females  incessantly  bowing.  The  secret 
gradually  oozed  out,  that  our  friends  ahead,  as  much  perhaps  for  their 
own  convenience  as  for  ou'"  glory,  had  insinuated  that  I  was  an  am- 
bassador from  the  Emperor  of  China  to  the  Czar,  while  the  simple 
peasants,  according  to  the  natural  growth  of  all  marvelous  stories,  had 
of  their  own  accord,  pronounced  me  to  be  the  brother  of  the  sun  and 
moon  himself,  pushing  on  to  the  capital,  along  with  my  interpreter  and 
one  of  my  mandarins,  in  order  to  implore  the  assistance  of  the  Russians 
against  tiie  English.  Private  accommodations  were  prepared  for  us  at 
every  station;  and  we  were  decidedly  the  greatest  men  that  had  ever 
been  seen  to  the  east  of  the  Uralian  Mountains.  As  the  roads  were 
excellent,  we  enjoyed  the  joke,  whirling  along  at  the  rate  of  twelve  or 
fifteen  versts  an  liour. 

During  the  night,  the  officer  of  police  left  us  at  the  boundary  between 
the  provinces  of  Tomsk  and  Omsk,  so  that  we  had  now  to  depend  on 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


201 


erable,  not- 

I.  Though 
r  village  of 
>f  less  than 
ppe,  which 
he  western 
in  there  are 
yesterday's 
Om;  but  of 
ourse,  have 

town  were 
ethren  and 
IS  usual,  by 
iturday  had 
ince  of  the 
Iso  on  pub- 
3n  any  and 
i,  while  the 
leadly  sins. 
— with  one 
rom  a  bath- 
but,  on  in- 
ad  made  all 
blessing  in 
would,  pre- 

tained  from 
t  encounter 
,  I  began  to 
IS  one  main 
population 
see  us,  the 
The  secret 
ps  for  their 
vds  an  am- 
tlie  simple 
stories,  had 
he  sun  and 
rpreter  and 
le  Russians 
ed  for  us  at 
lat  had  ever 
roads  were 
>f  twelve  or 

ry  betiveen 
depend  on 


our  Cossack  alone.  The  farms  of  the  villagers  are  not  always  near 
the  villages,  being  sometimes  as  much  as  thirty  versts  distant.  The 
peasants  appear  to  be  well  off  and  really  are  a  happy  and  contented 
race.  With  respect  to  the  young  women  a  custom  was  said  to  prevail, 
which  would  be  more  honored  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance. 
Such  of  them  as  remain  single  at  their  mother's  deadi,  are  at  the  dis- 
posal of  their  nearest  male  relative,  whether  father,  or  brother,  or  uncle, 
or  guardian,  who  may  sell  their  first  favors  in  marriage  or  otherwise 
for  his  own  private  emolument;  and,  in  justice  to  all  nearest  male 
relatives,  I  ought  to  add,  that  the  damsels  don't  seem  to  dislike  the 
practice. 

At  a  house  where  we  dined  to-day  on  sour  krout,  an  old  man  could 
not  possibly  conceive,  how  we,  being  English,  could  be  cominir  from 
the  east,  assuring  me  that  all  the  Englishmen,  who  had  ever  visited 
Siberia,  had  not  only  come  from  the  west  but  had  no  other  way  to 
come.  Knowing  someUiing  of  geography,  our  aged  host  explained  to 
us,  that,  besides  the  Polar  Sea  on  the  north,  arid  the  Chinese  frontier 
on  the  south,  there  was  on  the  east  a  great  ocean  which  was  certainly 
far  from  England,  the  western  door  alone,  as  it  were,  being  left  open 
to  admit  our  countrymen. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  we  entered  Omsk,  the  new  metropolis 
pf  Western  Siberia.  It  stands  at  the  confluence  of  the  Om  and  the 
Irtish,  in  the  midst  of  a  sandy  plain,  which  presents  no  tree  of  larger 
size  than  a  dwarf  wdlow.  Over  this  barren  flat,  which  extends  on  all 
sides  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  the  biting  winds  blow  from  every 
quarter  of  the  compass  without  impediment,  driving  before  them  in 
winter  drifts  of  snow,  and  in  summer  clouds  of  dust,  both  of  them 
equally  pernicious  to  the  eyes.  The  town  is  still  in  its  infancy,  having 
but  lately  supplanted  Tobolsk;  but  already  the  public  buildings  are 
handsome,  while  the  fordficaUons,  where  the  two  rivers  do  not  afford 
protection,  are  forinidable.  It  has  been  selected  as  the  seat  of  the 
general  government:  i-hiefiy  vvidi  a  view  to  the  gradual  subjugation  of 
the  Kirghiz,  who  occupy  a  vast  breadth  of  country  all  die  way  from 
this  to  the  Caspian  Sea;  and  the  advance  of  Russia  in  this  direction, 
besides  being  peculiarly  important  boUi  commercially  and  politically, 
is  the  more  an  object  of  ambition  on  this  account,  that,  along  all  the 
rest  of  the  southern  frontier  of  Siberia,  the  jealousy,  if  not  the  power, 
of  China,  forbids  the  acquisition  of  new  territory.  Besides  a  population 
of  five  or  six  thousand,  there  is  a  garrison  of  four  thousand  men;  and, 
in  fact,  die  place  may  be  considered  merely  as  a  military  post,  for 
nearly  all  the  inhabitants  derive  their  subsistence  from  the  presence  of 
the  troops.  As  to  civil  government,  Omsk  still  depends  on  the  ancient 
city  of  Tobolsk,  which  continues  to  be  the  capital  of  the  united  pro- 
vinces of  Tobolsk  and  Omsk. 

We  were  hospitably  received  into  the  house  of  Count  Tobtoy,  a 
clever,  cheerlVi!.  plain  man.  lie  had  recenUy  returned  from  St.  Peters- 
burg, whither  he  had  escorted  the  Khan  of  Tashkand,  lying  in  about 
43°  N.  lat.  an<J  70°  E.  long.,  on  a  visit  to  the  Emperor.  The  chief  in 
question  may  already  be  reckoned  among  the  vassals  of  Russia ;  and, 


..i 


202 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


at  no  distant  day,  his  territories  will  form  an  integral  part  of  this  colos- 
sal empire. 

Next  morning  after  breakfast,  the  governor  genernl  sent  his  carriage 
and  four  to  convey  me  to  his  residence.  Prince  Gutchakoff,  a  mid- 
dle-aged man  of  pleasing  manners  and  address,  received  me  kindly, 
expressing  his  regret  that,  according  to  arrangements  already  made 
along  the  whole  route,  he  was  unavoidably  obliged  to  start  that  after- 
noon in  order  to  inspect  the  southwestern  boundary  of  his  government, 
— the  most  interesting  section,  as  already  mentioned,  of  the  southern 
frontier  of  Siberia.  He  assured  me,  however,  that  he  had  done  all  in 
liis  power  to  facilitate  my  movements,  having  dispatclied  orders  to 
have  horses  in  readiness  for  me  at  every  station ;  and  he  had  very  na- 
turally assumed,  that,  instead  of  taking  the  straight  cut  to  Tinmen,  any 
traveler  would  prefer  making  the  circuit  by  Tobolsk,  with  its  classical 
associations  and  historical  renown. 

I  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  day  in  visiting  the  public  buildings. 
The  establishment  in  which  I  fell  most  interested,  was  the  military 
school  for  the  sons  of  soldiers.  The  number  of  pupils  was  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  the  expense  of  maintenance  being  estimated  at  twelve 
kopecks,  or  about  five  farthings,  a  day  each.  Besides  reading,  writing, 
drawing,  geography,  gunnery,  &,c.,  they  are  instructed  in  many  of  the 
native  languages  of  the  neighborhood,  such  as  Mongol  and  Kirghiz ; 
and  such  of  them  as  evince  any  peculiar  aptitude  in  this  way,  are  taug'... 
Persian,  Arabic,  and  other  oriental  tongues.  They  are  thus  qualified 
to  act  as  interpreters  throughout  central  and  southern  Asia,  receiving, 
in  short,  t^uch  an  education  as  fits  them  at  once  to  promote  the  ambi- 
tion and  to  share  in  the  destiny  of  their  country.  The  boys  acquire 
also  several  useful  trades,  architecture,  gun-making,  working  in  metals, 
&c.  They  are  all  intended  for  the  army,  entering  as  privates,  but 
rising,  in  cases  of  merit,  to  the  rank  of  officers. 

In  the  hospital,  some  of  the  patients  were  sufiering  so  severely  from 
military  punishment  that  they  were  actually  delirious.  These  wretches 
had  probably  been  doomed  to  expire  by  inches  to  please  the  mistaken 
scruples  of  the  law  as  to  pultinj^  criminals  to  death  at  once, — a  very 
extraordinary  mode,  truly,  of  reconciling  justice  and  humanity.  The 
only  important  manufactory  in  Omsk  was  one  recently  established  in 
order  to  prov'tln  the  military  with  clothing. 

The  ct^unt»y  about  Omsk  abounds  in  game  of  various  descriptions; 
and  to  lii3  south  there  ore  wild  horses,  which,  though  of  a  small  breed, 
are  flctt,  compact  and  beauuful. 

About  seven  in  the  evening  of  the  first  of  September,  precisely 
seventeen  days  after  starting  from  Irkutsk,  we  resumed  our  journey 
by  crossing  the  Iitish,  leaving  our  Russian  behind  us  till  his  most  un- 
fortunate carriage  should  be  fitted  with  its  third  pair  of  new  wheels. 
The  banks  of  the  river  presented  many  villages  and  farms.  The  coun- 
try on  the  upper  Irtish  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  finest  districts  for  agri- 
cultUiC  in  all  Siberia;  and  it  was  there  that  the  Emperor  Paul  was 
anxious  to  establish  a  colony  of  Scotch  farmers, — a  project  wliich,  if 
carried  into  effect,  could  not  have  failed  to  set  a  useful  example  of  skill, 


)f  this  colos- 

liis  carriage 
koff,  a  mid- 

me  kindly, 
ready  made 
•t  that  after- 
government, 
lie  southern 

done  all  in 
;d  orders  to 
lad  very  na- 
['iumen,  any 

its  classical 

c  buildings, 
the  military 
as  two  hnn- 
m\  at  twelve 
ing,  writing, 
many  of  the 
nd  Kirghiz  : 
y,  are  tang'.i 
us  qualified 
a,  receiving, 
G  the  ambi- 
oys  acquire 
g  in  metals, 
irivates,  but 

verely  from 
se  wretches 
le  mistaken 
ct;, — a  very 
nity.  The 
ablished  in 

c'scriptions; 
mall  breed, 

r,  precisely 
ur  journey 
s  most  un- 
ew  wheels, 
rhe  coun- 
'ts  for  agri- 
r  Paul  was 
;t  which,  if 
pie  of  skill, 


FROM  IRKUTSK  TO  TOBOLSK. 


203 


industry  and  economy  to  the  settlers  of  this  vast  region,  '  ^nking  of 
agriculture  in  its  widest  sense,  Uarnaoul  is  said  to  be  tliL  m)  place  in 
Siberia,  where  apples  have  hitherto  been  known  to  thrive;  and  melons 
and  cucumbers  grow  abundantly  everywiiere,  the  latter  more  particu- 
larly being  to  be  seen  in  the  gardens,  in  the  windows,  in  the  galleries, 
and  even  in  the  rooms. 

The  distance  from  Omsk  to  Tobolsk  occupied  us  three  nights  and 
two  days.  The  country  was  flat  and  uninteresting  to  the  last  degree, 
though  more  closely  settled  than  any  other  part  of  Siberia  that  we  had 
seen.  There  was  a  constant  succession  of  Tartar,  Kirghiz  and  Rus- 
sian villages,  while  roads  were  branching  oil'  on  either  hand  to  more 
distant  settlements.  This  was  owing  mainly  to  the  fact,  that  the  neigh- 
borhood,— the  nucleus,  as  it  were,  of  Siberia, — had  been  so  long  culti- 
vated; for  the  soil,  clay  in  the  open  country  and  sand  in  the  woods, 
was  generally  poor.  f  . 

Our  Russian  did  not  overtake  us  till  we  had  waited  six  hours  for 
him  at  one  station :  and  he  almost  immediately  detained  us  three  hours 
more,  by  striking  about  ten  versts  off  the  road  to  visit  a  clergyman  and 
his  wife,  who  after  all  did  not  recognize  him.  lie  next  fell  sick  and 
grew  very  fidgetty  about  his  safety.  Lasdy,  in  order  to  make  up  for 
lost  time  at  the  expense  of  his  driver  and  cattle,  he  spurred  on  the  for- 
mer with  a  thick  pipe-stem,  till  one  of  the  i  itter  fell  down  dead.  Such 
coercion  appeared  to  me  to  be  as  unnecessary  as  it  was  cruel,  for  never 
did  I  see  such  driving  out  of  England. 

At  one  of  the  villaget5  we  saw  a  very  remarkable  dwarf.  He  was 
about  forty  years  of  age,  thick-set,  with  a  large  head  and  barely  two 
feet  and  a  half  high.  For  his  inches,  however,  he  was  a  person  of 
great  importance,  being  the  wise  man  of  the  place  and  the  grand  arbi- 
ter in  all  disputes,  whether  of  love  or  oi'  business.  We  also  met  two 
l)arties  of  convicts.  Each  parly  consisted  of  seventy  or  eighty  fellows, 
chained  togetiicr  in  sixes  or  so  by  light  handcuffs,  and  escorted  by  ten 
or  twelve  (Jossacks. 

After  leaving  Omsk,  I  was  mortified  to  learn  that  there  resided  there 
an  English  lady,  whom  I  had  not  seon.  Her  husband,  a  physician, 
called  on  me,  but  n.issed  me;  and  I  di(;  not  hear  of  his  visit  till  after  I 
had  started.  The  weather  was  now  telling  plainly  of  the  approach  of 
winter.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  snow,  and  the  nights  were  frosty. 
These  symptoms  were  anytliing  but  pleasant,  inasmuch  as  wo  had  not 
yet  accomplished  the  half  of  our  journey. 

On  the  fourth  of  September,  just  as  the  sun  was  risuig,  we  entered 
tiie  fine  old  city  of  Tobolsk,  the  most  interesting  point  in  Siberiaii 
siory,  ever  since  the  days  of  the  chivalrous  Yecmac. 


'    ; 


204 


CHAPTER  XX. 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 

The  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  one  of  the  most  glorious 
periods  in  the  Russian  nnnals. 

To  recapitulate  a  little,  Russia,  after  having  been  broken  down,  like 
many  other  states  of  Europe,  into  various  principalities,  practically  inde- 
pendent of  each  other,  fell  an  easy  prey  toasonof  Zinghis  Khan  in  1223. 
This  double  evii  of  internal  disunion  and  foreign  domination,  though 
by  no  means  constant  either  in  form  or  in  intensity,  continued  to  pre- 
vail for  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  But  .Tohn  Basiloritz  the 
Third,  who  occupied  the  throne  from  1462  to  1505,  entirely  changed 
the  aspect  of  affairs  before  the  middle  of  his  long  reign.  He  speedily 
resumed  all  the  detached  fiefs,  so  to  speak,  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Moscow,  subduing,  in  1471,  even  the  republic  of  the  Great  Novgorod, 
which  neither  Russian  nor  Tartar  had  ever  previously  reduced  to  any- 
thing more  than  a  merely  nominal  subjection;  and,  by  1481,  he  not 
only  threw  ofl*  the  yoke  of  die  khans  of  Kipzac,  but  dashed  their  em- 
pire into  fragments,  subsequently  disposing  more  than  once  of  the  do- 
minion of  the  metropolitan  city  of  Kazan,  of  which  he  had  been  born 
a  vassal.  Moreover,  die  very  disasters,  which  elsewhere  befell  Chris- 
tianity, tended  to  elevate  Muscovy,  at  the  same  time,  into  a  still  higher 
position.  The  capture  of  Constantinople,  as  already  mentioned  under 
the  bead  of  Sitka,  invested  the  grand  duke,  in  matters  of  religion, 
■with  the  diadem  of  the  Cesars,  virtually  extending  the  power,  whicii 
the  first  czar,  as  just  stated,  had  established  and  consolidated  at  home, 
into  every  country  that  contained  adherents  of  the  Eastern  Church. 

After  the  lapse  of  more  than  fifty  years,  the  seed,  which  was  thus 
sown,  yielded  its  first  fruits.  In  1552,  .lohn  Basiloritz  the  Fourtli. 
grandson  of  the  first  czar,  captured  Kazan;  and  in  1554,  he  annexe*! 
Astrachan  also  to  his  empire  ;  and,  at  the  very  time  that  the  Volga  and 
the  Caspian  were  thus  made  ready  to  connect  Russ<ia  with  Persia  ami 
Bokhara,  the  Wiiite  Sea  was  opened,  by  the  enterprise  of  a  gallani 
countryman  of  our  own,  so  as  to  bring  her  into  direct  and  immediate 
contact  with  England.  Of  the  fragments  of  Kipzac  there  now  remained 
only  the  two  principalities  of  Crimea  and  Siberia.  To  say  nothing 
more  of  the  ('rimea  than  that  it  was,  for  two  centuries,  saved  by  Turkey 
from  the  clutches  of  ihe  growing  giant  of  the  north,  the  conqueror  ol 
Kazan  and  Astrachan,  almost  immediately  carried  Jiis  avenging  arms 
beyond  the  Uralian  Mountains,  assuming  to  himself,  in  1558,  the  title 
of  Lord  of  the  Siberian  Lands.     His  conquests,  however,  were  not 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


205 


ilF 


of  a  permanent  character.  His  troops,  after  defeating  a  chief  of  the 
name  of  Yediger,  had  imposed  on  him  an  annual  tribute  of  a  thousand 
gables ;  but  soon  afterwards  thia  vassal  of  the  czar  was  subdued  by 
Kutchum  Khan,  who,  as  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  terrible  Zinghis, 
thus  again  placed  Muscovy  in  collision  with  the  line  of  the  original  op- 
pressor. 

In  this  state  of  affairs,  the  grand  question  whether  harbarism  or 
civilization,  Mohammedism  or  Christianity,  was  to  rule  the  destinies 
of  Northern  Asia,  was  decided  by  a  homeless  robber.  The  trade, 
which  the  Russians  had  recently  begun  to  conduct  with  Bokhara  and 
Persia,  was  so  frequently  and  extensively  interrupted  and  plundered 
by  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  that  the  czar,  sending  a  large  force  against 
the  banditti  in  question,  defeated  and  dispersed  them.  Among  the 
fugitives  was  Yerniac  Tiniopeeff,  who  might  almost  be  said,  by  his 
subsequent  invasion  of  Siberia,  to  have  given  a  new  world  to  his 
sovereign. 

With  six  or  seven  thousand  followers,  Yermuc  fled  towards  the 
north,  till  he  reached  the  confluence  of  the  Kama  and  the  Tchiusova. 
He  there  took  refuge  in  the  infant  setdements  of  Maxim  Strogonoff, 
exhibiting  throughout  a  highly  creditable  degree  of  moderation,  while, 
finding  himself  in  the  neighborhood  of  Siberia,  he  was  naturally  led  to 
contemplate  the  conquest  of  that  country.  In  addition  to  a  sense  of 
his  own  danger,  in  remaining  within  the  reach  of  his  incensed  master, 
Yermac  had  a  still  more  definite  motive  in  the  reasonable  hope  of  com- 
plete success. 

Kutchum  Khan,  to  say  nothing  of  the  hostility  of  rival  princes  and 
independent  tribes,  was  unpopular  even  in  his  own  dominions,  for, 
besides  having  acquired  many  of  his  subjects  by  the  odious  title  of 
conquest,  he  had  exasperated  the  great  mass  of  the  aborigines  by 
attempting  to  dragoon  tliem  into  the  Mohammedan  faith.  Again, 
Yermac's  Cossacks  were  as  formidable  as  Kutchum  Khan  was  feeble. 
These  outlawed  desperadoes  would  feel  at  every  step  of  their  advance, 
that  there  was  no  retreat  for  those  who  had  a  worse  enemy  behind 
them  than  before  them  ;  while  their  powers  of  endurance  and  their 
almost  amphibious  habits,  would  enable  them  to  go  as  far  as  either 
their  hopes  or  their  fears  might  urge  them.  Lastly,  Maxim  Strogonoff 
was  ready,  for  more  reasons  than  one,  to  forward  the  expedition  by  all 
the  means  at  his  command.  He  had  obviously  a  strong  interest  in 
getting  rid  of  his  dangerous  and  expensive  guests;  he  had,  farther,  his 
own  wrongs  to  avenge,  for  Kutchum  Khan  had  not  only  himself 
attacked  his  newly  formed  establishmeiUs,  but  had  also  encouraged 
others  to  do  so  ;  and,  over  and  above  those  two  grounds  of  interference, 
he  was  desirous  of  extending  the  trade  with  Siberia — the  trade,  by  the 
by,  for  the  opening  of  which  his  graiulfather  had  received  a  g»'dnt  of 
the  very  lands  which  lie  iiiinsolf  now  occupied. 

Under  the  influence  of  all  these  auspicious  circumstances,  Yermac 
set  out,  in  the  summer  of  1.578,  along  the  banks  of  the  Tchiusova. 
But,  througli  his  ignorance  of  the  country,  and  the  neglect  of  such  pre- 
cautions as  experience  alone  could  suggest,  he  was  overtaken  by  the 


;?  in:  1 


lii^ 


M 


H 


206 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


4;      ■  %|? 


'I 


winter  before  he  could  achieve  anything  of  importance;  and,  at  the 
commencement  of  spring,  he  was  oblifrrd,  by  the  want  of  provisions, 
to  return  to  his  old  quarters.  But  this  disappointment,  which  merely 
rendered  Yermac  more  prudent  Avithout  sliakinj^  his  resolution,  had  a 
very  difforent  ellect  on  Strojronotr,  vho  began  to  think  that  the  enter- 
j)rise  might  cost  more  than  it  was  wf)r.h,ihe  two  Ajclings  being  equally 
natural  respectively  in  the  thrifty  merchant  and  the  proscribed  free- 
booter. Yermac  accordingly  needed  threats  to  ol>tain  from  Strogonoff 
his  second  slock  of  supplies,  more  particularly  as,  from  the  very  neces- 
sity of  the  case,  it  was  to  be  considerably  laiger  and  more  costly  than 
the  first.  Hesides  an  increased  quantity  of  food,  the  Cossacks,  on  this 
occasion,  were  provided  for  the  first  time  with  muskets  and  ammuni- 
tion, while,  to  complete  the  appearance  of  regular  troops,  these  lawless 
marauders  received  colors  that  were  decorated  with  the  images  of 
saints. 

In  June,  1579,  Yermac  started  anew  with  an  army  now  reduced  to 
live  thousand  men.  By  reason,  however,  of  the  ruggedness  of  the  roads 
and  the  difliculties  of  the  navigation,  he  reached  Tchingii  on  the  Tura, 
only  towards  the  close  of  1580.  By  this  time,  through  fatigue  and 
sickness,  and  repeated  skirmishes  with  the  Tartars,  his  five  tliousand 
had  dwindled  away  to  fifteen  hundred ;  and  yet  neither  did  leader  nor 
follower  hesitate  a  moment  in  advancing  against  Kutchum  Khan.  The 
march  of  this  little  band  of  heroes  was  one  series  of  battles  and  vic- 
tories, so  that  only  one-third  of  them  lived  to  see  their  great  enemy 
encamped,  near  the  centre  of  his  dominions,  at  the  junction  of  the 
Irtish  and  the  Tobol,  with  vasUy  superior  numbers.  Undismayed, 
either  by  the  loss  of  their  comrades,  or  by  the  array  of  the  thousands 
ihat  waited  to  receive  them,  the  Cossacks  began  and  ended  this  one 
contest  more  between  Europe  and  Asia,  with  a  spirit  wortliy  of  Mara- 
thon, After  an  obstinate  struggle,  die  Tartars  were  routed  with  fearful 
carnage,  while  Kutchum  Khan  himself  was  almost  taken  prisoner. 

But  the  sequel  showed  more  clearly  than  the  past,  that  this  illustrious 
robber  was  equal  to  his  fortune.  From  the  very  field  of  victory,  he 
dispatched  part  of  his  still  more  seriously  diminished  forces  to  storm, 
if  necessary,  the  fortress  of  Sibir,  the  residence  of  the  vanquished  po- 
tentate. Biit  this  detachment  found  the  place  deserted ;  and  soon  after- 
wards Yermac,  entering  in  triumph,  seated  himself  on  the  throne  of  the 
valleys  of  the  Tobol  and  the  Irtish.  Through  the  influence  of  moral 
causes,  his  very  weakness  proved  to  be  his  strength.  Struck  with  the 
matchless  intrepidity  and  marvelous  exploits  of  the  handful  of  strangers, 
the  neighboring  Tartars  flocked  from  all  quarters  to  welcome  their  new 
sovereign,  submitting  to  his  authority  without  hesitation  and  acquiesc- 
ing in  the  payment  of  the  usual  tribute ;  and  even  distant  princes,  as 
they  heard  in  succession  of  his  renown,  came,  as  vassals,  to  claim  his 
protection. 

But  as  many  oi  the  Tartars  still  retained  an  aflfection  for  their  exiled 
monarch,  which  they  were  too  ready  to  display  in  turbulence  and  in- 
surrection, Yermac  felt  the  precariousness  of  his  present  grandeur ;  and 
h*?  resolved  to  offer  his  new  acquisitions  to  his  former  master,  on  con- 


r;;i 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


207 


i  and,  at  the 
I  provisions, 
liich  merely 
lution,  had  a 
[it  the  enter- 
icing  equally 
scribed  frec- 
m  Strogonoff 
c  very  neces- 
e  costly  than 
uicks,  on  this 
ind  ammiini- 
ihese  lawless 
16  images  ol 

w  reduced  to 
3  of  the  roads 
on  the  Tura, 
hi  fatigue  and 
five  tliousand 
lid  leader  nor 
Khan.    The 
ittles  and  vic- 
•  great  enemy 
iction  of  the 
Undismayed, 
he  thousands 
ded  this  one 
thy  of  Mara- 
d  with  fearful 
)risoner. 
lis  illustrious 
f  victory,  he 
ces  to  storm, 
nquished  po- 
id  soon  after- 
throne  of  the 
nee  of  moral 
uck  with  the 
of  strangers, 
me  their  new 
ind  acquiesc- 
it  princes,  as 
to  claim  his 

their  exiled 
lence  and  in- 
randeur;  and 
ister,  on  con- 


dition of  receiving  forgiveness  and  support.  One  of  his  most  faithful 
followers  was  accordingly  sent  to  Moscow,  taking  witfi  him,  as  an 
«>8cort,  fifty  Cossacks  wliom  Yrrniac  could  hut  ill  spare.  In  addition 
to  t\\v  most  plausible  history  of  the  past,  and  the  purest  promises  for  the 
future,  the  envoy  carried  to  the  czar  a  prcsout  of  the  choicest  and  most 
valuable  furs.  This  ambassador,  after  being  treated  at  Moscow  with 
the  highest  distinction,  was  sent  back  to  Sibir,  with  a  sum  of  money, 
and  an  assurance  of  speedy  and  elfectual  assistance,  carrying  at  the 
same  time  ample  presents  for  all  concerned,  and  for  Yerma(;  in  par- 
ticular a  fur  robe,  which  the  czar  himself  had  worn. 

Meanwhile  Yennac  not  only  maintained  his  conquests,  but  even 
extended  them  ;  he  not  only  batllcd  all  Kutchum  Khan's  attempts  m 
recover  his  crown,  but  even  penetrated  into  the  valley  of  the  OL;  al)ove 
its  junction  with  the  Ii'ish.  Heinforced  at  length  by  five  iiundred 
Kussians,  he  continued  excursions  on  all  sides  with  more  activity 

than  ei'er,  crushing  evi  .  ,  cliief  that  might  be  imprudent  enough  to  as- 
sert his  independence.  In  returning  from  one  of  these  expeditions,  he 
had  encamped  in  the  evening  on  a  small  island,  formed  by  two  branches 
of  the  Irtish.  The  night  was  dark  and  rainy,  and  the  troops,  who 
were  fatigued  with  a  long  march,  relied  too  implicitly  for  safety  on  the 
Mtate  of  the  weather  and  the  strength  of  their  position.  Apprised  by 
his  scouts  of  the  circumstances,  Kutchum  Khan  silently  forded  the 
river  with  a  chosen  band,  coming  so  unexpectedly  on  his  sleeping  vic- 
tims as  to  preclude  the  use  of  their  arms.  The  Russians,  to  the  num- 
ber of  three  hundred,  were  cut  to  pieces  almost  without  resistance  ;  and 
only  one  man  escaped  to  carry  the  news  of  the  catastrophe  to  the  gar- 
rison of  Sibir.  Even  in  this  awful  hour  of  confusion  and  slaughter, 
Yermac's  intrepidity  never  forsook  him.  .After  many  acts  of  heroism, 
he  cut  his  way  through  the  enemy  to  the  water's  edge ;  and  he  would 
most  probably  have  escaped  from  Kutchum  Khan  and  all  his  Tartars, 
if  he  had  not,  while  attempting  to  get  into  a  boat,  fallen  into  tiie  river 
and  sunk  instantly  to  the  bottom. 

By  ordei:  of  Kutchum  Khan,  the  hero's  corpse  was  exposed  to  all 
the  insults  which  revenge  could  suggest  to  that  sullen  barbarian.  But, 
after  the  first  transports  of  rage  had  sulisidcd,  the  khan's  followers  tes- 
tified the  most  pointed  indignation  at  the  ungenerous  ferocity  of  their 
leader :  and,  suddenly  passing  from  one  extreme  to  another,  they  re- 
proached both  him  and  themselves  for  having  offered  any  indignity  to 
such  venerable  remains.  They  proceeded  even  to  consecrate  Yermac's 
memory,  interring  his  body  with  all  the  rites  of  their  superstitions, 
and  presenting  sacrifices  to  his  manes.  In  a  word,  they  regarded  their 
conqueror  as  a  god,  investing  his  body,  his  clothes,  his  arms,  and  his 
tomb  with  miraculous  powers  and  properties.  With  Yermac  expired 
for  a  time  the  Russian  empire  in  Siberia,  for,  on  the  news  of  his  death, 
the  garrison  of  Sibir  evacuated  the  country,  feeling,  however,  tliot,  at 
no  distant  day,  the  reputation  of  the  dead  warrior  would  be  a  more 
powerful  instrument  of  conquest  than  ever  his  living  energy  had  been. 

Though  Kutchum  Khan  regained  a  small  portion  of  his  original 
dominions,  yet  his  triumph,  such  as  it  was,  was  but  brief.      The 


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208 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


Jliissiiins  soon  returnod  to  tlieir  prey.  Their  first  pormanent  »\slah- 
lislunent  was  'J'iiinien  ;  and,  before  the  year  1587  had  i)ass((l  away, 
they  had  founded  'J'oholsk  as  nearly  as  possible  on  the  field  of  the  first 
and  ^'reatest  battle;  l)etween  Kut(;hinn  and  Yermae. 

On  entering  the  ancient  metropolis  of  Siberia,  we  found  that  we  had 
traveled  so  fast  as  to  outstrip  the  courier,  who  had  left  Omsk  the  day 
before  ourselves  to  warn  the  authorities  of  our  a|)proach;  and  we  were, 
therefore,  obliged  to  take  shelter  in  a  miserable  sort  of  a  hotel  kept  l)y 
a  Jew.  Soon  afterwards,  however,  the  magistrate  of  police  and  the 
master  of  the  gymnasium  called  to  ofler  us  the  use  of  tlu;  hous(;  of  the 
latter;  and,  by  way  of  apology  for  having  had  no  quarters  ready  for 
our  reception,  they  explained,  that,  though  they  bad  heard  three 
months  previously  of  the  expected  visit  of  a  General  Simpson,  yet 
they  had  not  recently  received  any  definite  information  as  to  my 
movements. 

The  situation  of  the  city  is  admirable.  On  two  sides  is  the  Irtish, 
while  on  the  third  side  is  some  high  tai)le  land,  on  which  are  several 
public  buildings.  These  heights  arc  fortified  ;  and  a  monument  to 
Yermac,  bearing  on  its  opposite  faces  ir)81  and  1584,  the  resjx'ctive 
dates  of  his  victory  and  his  death,  occupies  a  commanding  position, 
a  memorial  which,  unless  meant  merely  to  mark  the  locality  of  his 
noblest  triumph,  rather  detracts  from  the  fame  of  one,  whose  real 
monument  is  Siberia  in  all  its  length  and  l)readth,  whose  true  epitaph 
is  the  history  of  the  onward  career  of  himself  and  his  tribe  for  upwards 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty  years.  Though  the  streets  were  well  laid 
out  with  boarded  foot  paths,  yet  the  buildings  presented  a  melancholy 
spectacle  of  dilapidation  and  decay ;  and  the  population  and  trade  of 
the  place  were  said  to  be. both  rapidly  diminishing.  All  this  was 
chiefly  the  consequence  of  the  removal  of  the  general  government  of 
Western  Siberia  from  Tobolsk  to  Omsk  ;  but,  as  the  change  had  been 
the  work  of  Prince  Gortschakofl',  the  present  incumbent,  the  good  folks 
of  the  forsaken  capital  flattered  diemselves  with  the  hope,  that,  accord- 
ing to  immemorial  custom,  the  next  governor  general  would  be  eager  to 
undergo  all  the  acts  of  his  predecessor.  Hut  Tobolsk  had  been  set 
aside  as  well  commercially  as  politically.  Till  lately  it  was  the  grand 
halting  place  between  Russia  and  China;  but  now  nearly  all  the  cara- 
vans were  passing  straight  between  Tara  on  the  Irtish,  and  Tinmen 
on  the  Tura. 

The  governor  of  the  united  provinces  of  Omsk  and  Tobolsk  was  at 
present  absent,  having,  in  fact,  been  lying  sick  at  the  newcapitol  when 
we  left  it.  A  considerable  part  of  the  civil  business  appeared  to  be 
connected  with  the  exiles,  for  whom  the  city  was  said  to  be  a  sort  of 
entrepot.  Here  these  people,  of  whom  about  three  hundred  on  an 
average  arrive  every  week,  are  distributed  into  diflercni  bands,  the 
more  atrocious  criminals  being  dispatched  in  irons  to  the  mines,  the 
convicts  for  lesser  delinquencies  being  drafted  into  the  agricultural  dis- 
tricts, and  the  political  oflenders  being  sent  to  the  settlements  which 
are  specially  set  apart  for  their  use.  About  a  sixth  part  of  those,  who 
come  as  far  as  Tobolsk,  arc  pardoned  and,  in  course  of  time,  find  their 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


209 


way  back  to  thrir  homes.  Criminals  of  rank  or  wealth,  when  con- 
demned to  the  mines  for  other  than  political  ollenccs,  generally  con- 
trive, for  a  consideration,  to  get  themselves  constantly  reported  "  sick 
and  ofT  duty." 

Hearing  that  there  was  an  Englishman  in  Tobolsk  of  the  name  of 
Halliday,  I  sent  for  him  soon  after  my  arrival ;  and  he  appeared  to  bo 
well  pleased  to  see  one  of  his  countrymen,  having  previously  met,  in 
the  course  of  four  years,  only  two  persons  who  could  speak  our  lan- 
gujige.  Though  English  on  both  sides,  yet  he  was  a  Kussian  subject, 
for  his  parents,  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  resided  in  Petersburg.  lie  had 
been  principal  clerk  to  an  English  merchant  in  his  native  city;  but, 
having  been  detected  in  extensive  forgeries,  he  was,  about  six  years 
ago,  quietly  dispatched  to  Siberia  in  irons.  He  was  now  keeping  a 
shop  ;  but,  as  this  did  not  answer  his  expectations,  he  was  intending 
to  try  his  fortune  at  Tomsk  as  a  gold  hunter.  According  to  Halliday, 
trade,  for  various  reasons,  was  on  a  very  precarious  footing  in  Tobolsk. 
There  was  the  trickery  of  the  Jews,  who  formed  a  considerable  ma- 
jority of  the  dealers,  though  fortunately  the  government,  hnding  com- 
plaints on  the  subject  to  be  perpetual  and  universal,  had  recendy  adopted 
the  custom  of  sending  all  new  importations  of  Hebrews  beyond  the 
Baikal.  Then  there  w.is  the  diminution  of  demand  in  consequence  of 
Prince  Gortschakofl's  preference  of  Omsk.  Lastly,  there  were  the 
bad  memories  of  people  in  olHce,  who  could  hardly  ever  be  induced 
by  fair  means  to  pay  their  accounts ;  and,  if  the  creditor  should  enforci^ 
the  law  for  attaching  one-third  of  a  debtor's  official  income  till  hi?!  claim 
was  satisfied,  he  generally  lost  more  than  the  <imount  at  issue  by  get- 
ling  into  bad  odor  with  all  sorts  of  people  in  a  country  where  the 
meanest  servant  of  the  government  was  a  great  man. 

As  there  are  no  mandfactories  in  Tobolsk,  everything  but  provisions 
is  very  expensive ;  and  even  provisions  are  not  so  cheap  as  in  many 
other  places,  wheat  flour  being  four  roubles  a  pood,  beef  six,  and  rye 
Hour  one  rouble, — keeping  in  view  Uiat  three  roubles  and  a  half  for 
forty  Russian  pounds  are  as  nearly  as  possible  a  penny  for  one  Ent^- 
lish  pound. 

Again  crossing  the  Irtish  above  its  junction  with  the  Tobol,  we  next 
day  reached  Tinmen  on  the  Tura,  the  first  hundred  and  eighty  versts 
of  the  intermediate  distance  having  been  accomplished  in  fifteen  hours, 
including  stoppages  at  every  twenty  or  thirty  versts.  Though  our 
podoroshnoya  allowed  only  three  horses  for  our  own  carriage,  yet, 
according  to  the  state  of  the  roads,  we  had  four  or  live,  or  even  six, 
without  any  additional  charge, — a  facility  for  which  we  were,  I  believe, 
mainly  indebted  to  the  mere  presence  of  our  Cossack.  Nor  was  the 
cost  of  living  heavier  than  that  of  fasting,  a  breakfast  or  a  dinner  for 
our  three  selves  and  our  two  servants  being  only  about  two  roubles 
and  a  half. 

Before  reaching  Tiumen,  we  met  a  large  body  of  exiles  with  an 
escort  of  twenty  or  thirty  soldiers,  and  soon  afterwards  a  party  of 
female  convicts.  These  bands  usually  travel  by  night,  and  are  con- 
fined in  the  ostrogs  during  the  day.     This  custom,  which  seems  so 

PART  II. — 14 


Ml 


]l 


I 

.  l 

4 


210 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


r:ivoral)lo  to  any  attempt  at  escape  or  rescue,  may  have  arisen  from  a 
desire  of  sparinjr  the  feelinpfs  of  thcMe  unfortunates,  or,  wliat  is  ujorc 
probable,  from  a  wish  to  avoid  the  luat  of  the  sun. 

Tinmen,  whit^h,  as  ahoady  mi^nlioned,  is  the  most  ancient  settle- 
ment in  »Siberia,  is  curiously  built  on  both  banks  of  the  Tura,  the  one 
being  low  and  the  other  lofty  ;  so  that  one-half  of  the  town  towers 
over  the  other,  the  place,  in  this  respect,  beariufr  a  considerable  resem- 
blance to  Tobolsk.  The  two  divisions  are  united  by  a  lloating  bridge. 
After  crossing  by  it  from  the  lower  town  to  tjie  upper,  we  were  met  by 
a  party  of  Cossacks,  who  assisted  our  carriage  up  the  sleep  bank; 
and  at  the  top  the  serjeant  ordered  the  driver  to  proceed  at  once  to  the 
palace,  as  the  mayor's  house  was  styled,  from  the  circumstance  that  the 
Cirand  Duke  Michael  had  twice  slept  in  it,  commanding,  at  the  same 
time,  the  people  in  the  market-place  to  make  way  for  a  great  man.  At 
the  palace  we  were  received  by  the  head  of  the  police,  who  introduced 
us  to  our  iutended  host,  a  plain,  long-bearded,  swaddle-coated  mer- 
chant of  high  standing.  Hut  our  civic  friend  had  something  better  in 
store  for  us  than  all  this  show  and  ceremony,  for  within  an  hour  and  a 
half  after  our  arrival,  we  sat  down  to  one  of  the  most  splendid  enter- 
tainments that  I  saw  in  Liberia.  If  the  Mayor  of  li'vutsk  gave  us  our 
best  dinner,  certainly  our  second  best  was  that  of  his  brother  of  Tin- 
men. To  do  us  the  greater  honor,  our  host  himself,  instead  of  sitting 
at  table,  acted  as  head  waiter.  He  was  very  agreeable  and  communi- 
cative, and  asked  many  questions  about  England,  knowing  just  as  much 
with  regard  to  our  country  as  most  of  our  countrymen  know  with 
regard  to  Tinmen.  His  mixture  of  curiosity  and  simplicity,  though 
the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world,  was  yet  very  amusing.  Tiumen, 
however,  did  not  appear  to  be  so  much  out  of  the  way  after  all,  for  one 
of  its  live  natives,  a  merchant's  clerk  in  Petersburg,  was  then  in  Lon- 
don. Our  host  himself  had  just  returned  from  Perm,  whither  he  had 
gone  in  order  that  his  wife,  an  invalid,  might  benefit  by  the  warm 
spring. 

It  was,  most  probably,  to  the  Chinese  trade  that  we  were  indebted 
for  the  municipal  hospitalities,  as  well  of  Tiumen  as  of  Irkutsk.  In- 
dependenUy  of  sending  its  own  manufactures  to  the  value  of  about  two 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  roubles  to  Kiachta,  Tiumen  is  the  grand 
depot  of  all  the  goods  that  pass  in  either  direction  between  Russia  and 
China,  being  the  point  at  which  all  the  eastern  routes,  whether  by  land 
or  by  water,  may  be  said,  according  to  circumstances,  to  separate  or  to 
meet.  This  thriving  town  carries  on,  also,  a  large  trade  with  Bokhara 
and  the  Kirghiz,  chiefly  in  what  is  known  with  us  as  Russia  leather ; 
and,  in,  addition  to  considerable  quantities  of  this  same  staple  manufac- 
ture, it  sends  a  good  deal  of  bristles  and  tallow  across  the  Uralian 
Mountains  into  Russia,  ultimately,  perhaps,  to  find  their  way  to  Eng- 
land. It  is,  moreover,  famous  for  its  rugs  and  carpets,  having  sent 
such  articles  to  Kiachta  in  1837,  to  the  value  of  five  thousand  roubles. 
They  are  often  made  at  home  by  the  peasant  girls,  who  hawk  them 
through  the  town  at  so  many  roubles  a  length,  meaning  the  length  of 
the  fair  manufacturer  liersclf ;  and,  as  the  women  of  the  place  and 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


211 


neighborhood  arc  justly  rrlrhratpd  for  thrir  hcaiily,  tho  inoih'  of  takiiijj 
each  younj;  lady's  incasuro  must,  ol"  course,  rt'comnirnd  her  wares  to 
every  man  of  gallantry  and  taste.  In  short,  Tiumtn  is  the  only  plact- 
in  8il)«!ria,  excepting,  perhaps,  what  Toholsk  may  have  been  in  the 
days  of  its  glory,  that  at  all  co.ncs  up  to  our  Euglisli  idea  of  a  snug, 
pleasant,  and  j)rosperous  town. 

The  population  amounts  to  ten  or  twelve  thousand  souls.  'J'he 
streets  are  regularly  laid  out  with  many  churches,  and  other  huildinirs 
of  handsome  appearance;  hut,  a  fire  which  lately  occurred,  consumed 
two  hundred  and  eighty-five  houses,  burning  out  among  the  rest,  the 
Russian  American  Company's  agent,  who  had  filhxl  his  ollice,  and, 
perhaps,  occupied  his  residence  for  fully  half  a  century. 

We  left  Tinmen  in  the  evening,  highly  pl(!aseil  with  everything  and 
everybody  that  we  had  seen.  In  the  night,  however,  wt;  lo.st  live 
hours  in  consequence  of  a  second  atlenij)t  at  arson,  on  tlu;  part  of  inv 
Russian  fellow  traveler's  most  perverse  axle,  though  not  more  perverse 
after  all  than  the  rest  of  his  equipage. 

By  morning  we  found  ourselves  in  the  province  of  Perm,  reckoned 
part  of  Russia  as  distinguished  from  Siberia  ;  but,  though  we  had  thus 
passed  the  political  frontier,  yet  wo  still  had  the  natural  boundary 
between  Europe  and  Asia,  the  Uralian  Mountains,  before  us.  \Vc  had 
no  immediate  reason,  however,  to  congratulate  ourselves  on  the  change, 
for  at  the  little  town  of  Kamishlolf,  the  very  first  station  in  Itussia,  the 
post-house  was  so  filthy  and  wretched  as  to  drive  us  into  a  peasant's 
hut  for  refuge.  As  a  curious  instance  of  the  extent  to  which  a  travel- 
er's feelings  influence  his  opinions,  I  set  down  this  village  as  "  misera- 
ble" in  the  first  d.att  of  my  journal,  while  (Captain  Cochrane  who  had 
here  "  received  the  kindest  attentions,"  lauded  it  as  "  pretty."  in 
these  cases,  the  truth  probably  lies  between  the  two  extremes  ;  and  the 
reader  may,  dierefore,  believe,  on  the  united  authorities  of  my  gallant 
predecessor  and  myself,  that  Kamishlofl  is  a  "  pretty  miserable"  place. 
About  sixty  or  seventy  versts,  by  the  by,  to  the  north  of  this  station, 
stands  Irbit,  so  famous  for  its  fair,  on  a  river  of  the  same  name  flowing 
into  the  Tura  above  Tiumen.  The  fair  in  question  is  one  of  the  great 
marts  for  the  manufactures  of  this  last  mentioned  town ;  and  it  is  also 
the  source  w  hence  Tobolsk  draws  most  of  its  extraneous  supplies. 

The  weather  grew  colder  and  more  disagreeable.  The  peasants  wero 
gathering  in  their  harvests,  as  if  it  was  the  depth  of  winter,  dressed  in 
their  sheepskins.  They  were  a  well-grown  race — a  fact  the  more  ex- 
traordinary, inasmuch  as,  according  to  our  information,  they  had  not 
been  reared  in  the  most  orthodox  style.  Instead  of  being  suckled  by 
their  mothers,  the  children  of  this  neighborhood  were  said  to  be  fcil 
with  cow's  milk  from  a  small  horn,  having  its  tip  covered  with  a  cow's 
teat ;  and  very  young  infants  would  learn  to  hold  the  horn  themselves, 
and  guzzle  away  in  their  cradles. 

At  six  in  the  morning,  being  the  seventh  of  September,  we  reached 
Ekaterineburg,  the  centre  of  the  mining  district  of  the  Uralian  Moun- 
tains. This  town  stands  on  the  small  river  Isett;  and,  with  the  usual 
proportion  of  churches  and  other  public  edifices,  it  has  a  population  of 


V 


'♦  ' , 


212 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


almiil  fourtron  thousand,  who  aro  nearly  all  conneclotl  with  ihn  mines. 
It  lias  an  inni  foundery,  a  mint  for  coining  copper  and  silver,  and 
various  cstabiishmj'nts  tor  cuttinjif  and  polisiiinfr  marble,  porphyry  and 
precious  storu's.  'I'he  neitrhborinjj  mountains  appear  to  be  nature's 
richest  repository  of  minerals,  yieldin*;,  in  great  al)undance,  diamonds, 
amethysts,  t()j)azes,  emeralils,  rul)ies,  sapphires,  jasper,  porphyry, 
malachite,  gold,  silver,  iron,  copper,  platinum,  <fec.  Tliese  inexhaustible 
treasures  chiedy  belong  to  Count  DcmidoU"  and  M.  YakovlelF.  The 
lormer  in  particular,  who  is  married  to  a  daughter  of  Jerome  Donaparte. 
is  supposed  to  deriv«^  about  half  a  million  sterling  a  year  from  his  share 
of  the  spoil. 

(itMieral  (ilinka,  the  superintendent  of  the  mining  district,  kindly 
olFered  to  accompany  us  to  one  of  the  gold  mines — a  courtesy  which 
1  was  ol)liged  to  decline,  for,  besides  being  anxious  to  proceed  onward, 
I  was  laid  up,  during  my  stay  of  two  days  in  Ekaterineburg,  with  a 
very  severe  cold.  1  was  still  more  sorry  to  be  prevented  by  the  indis- 
j)osition  from  calling  on  an  English  lady,  the  wife  of  an  architect  in 
the  place.  I  had,  however,  the  satisfaction  of  taking  charge  of  her 
letters  for  home. 

I  purchased  some  vases  of  cut  crystal,  for  which  the  workmen  of 
Ekaterineburg  are  unrivaled.  In  fact,  I  afterwards  learned  from  an 
English  jeweler,  that  nothing  of  the  kind  could  be  finished  in  the  same 
beautiful  manner  in  London.  Here  also  I  met  the  only  shopkeeper  on 
the  principle  of  "one  price  asked,"  that  I  had  seen  in  Siberia.  In 
jreneral  a  dealer  asks  about  a  third,  or  perhaps  a  half,  more  than  what 
he  is  willing  to  take;  but  this  unique  merchant  had  fixed  and  moderate 
prices  for  everything.  He  was  a  seceder  from  the  Lutheran  church, 
and  sold  nothing  but  goods,  chiefly  cottons,  manufactured  at  the 
flourishing  settlement  of  Laratoo  on  the  Volga,  by  Germans  of  his  own 
sect. 

Before  crossing  the  height  of  land,  from  which  Yermac  first  beheld 
the  vast  heritage  which  he  was  to  win  for  his  tribe  and  his  sovereign, 
let  me  indulge  in  a  brief  consideration  of  the  advantages  that  Russia 
has  derived  from  Siberia. 

Of  all  these  advantages  the  most  obvious,  as  well  as  the  most  ancient, 
is  the  fur  trade,  the  «pervading  thread,  as  already  mentioned  under  the 
head  of  Sitka,  both  of  national  policy  and  of  national  commerce  from 
the  days  of  Ruric.  It  was,  in  fact,  this  branch  of  traflick,  that  pri- 
marily gave  the  Muscovites  any  footing  in  Northern  Asia.  Anika  Stro- 
gonotr,  grandfather  of  Yermac's  ally,  had  established  himself  at  Solvyt- 
shegodskaya,  a  town  in  the  government  of  Vologda,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  salt.  He  soon,  however,  found  metal  more  attractive  in  his 
intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  northwestern  parts  of  Siberia, 
receiving  from  them  large  quantities  of  the  choicest  furs  in  exchange  for 
toys  and  other  commodities  of  trifling  value.  It  was  in  consequence 
of  his  success — a  success  rewarded,  as  elsewhere  stated,  by  the  gift  of 
an  immense  tract  of  land  on  the  Kama  and  the  Tchiusova — that  John 
Hasiloritz  the  Fourth,  being  the  second  czar  of  the  name,  sent  across 
the  Uralian  Mountains,  the  expedition  aforesaid,  which  resulted  in  im- 


FROM  TOBOLSK  To  LONDON. 


213 


posing  an  anntial  Iributp  ol'  a  thousand  sahlrs  on  one  of  the  ncisjliborinsr 
chiefs.  In  their  nc^w  setilenienis,  which  were  far  niorf  favorably  situ- 
ated, in  that  respect,  than  Solvylsheirodskaya,  the  StrogonotTs  prose- 
cuted the  fur  trade  more  vigorously  than  ever;  and  it  was,  in  a  great 
measure,  through  the  profits  of  this  same  business,  that  Yerniac  was 
provided  with  the  means  of  etrectinii  a  more  extensive  and  permanent 
conquest  of  Siberia  than  what  liis  master  had  ever  attempted.  In  all 
subsequent  times,  a  similar  cause,  combined,  of  course,  with  a  love  of 
jjlory  and  a  thirst  of  dominion,  urged  the  Cossacks  onward,  step  by 
step,  far  beyond  the  remotest  bounds  of  Asia,  skins  of  some  kind  or 
other  being  almost  exclusively  at  once  the  badge  of  subjection  and  the 
reward  of  victory.  Thoiigh  latterly  the  fur  trade,  through  the  gradual 
growth  of  other  interests,  has  lost  something  of  its  relative  importance, 
yet  it  is  still  the  most  valuable  braiu'h  of  Siberian,  if  not  of  Russian, 
commerce.  Native  furs  to  the  value  of  seven  millions  and  a  half  of 
roubles  have  already  been  seen  to  be  annually  bartered  at  Kiachta. 
over  and  above  all  the  skins  that  find  their  way  to  the  westward  as 
far  as  Nishney  Novgorod  and  Moscow.  Though,  with  respect  to  this 
grand  department  of  the  traflick,  I  have  not  access  to  any  definite  state- 
ment, yet  I  have  sufiicient  reason  in  a  general  way  for  knowing,  that 
it  must  be  considerable,  for  to  this  extent  the  ofiicial  returns  even  of 
the  Chinese  trade  all'ord,  in  an  aiithentic  form,  an  indirect  proof  of 
tolerably  conclusive  character.  Of  sables  there  were  sold  at  Kiachta 
only  four  hundred  and  sixty-seven,  while  at  the  same  time  there  were 
42,895  paws  of  the  animal,  the  produce  of  at  least  10,723;  so  that, 
even  if  not  one  whole  sable  went  to  the  westward,  there  would  still 
remain  about  twenty-two  times  as  many  skins  for  Russia  as  for  China. 
But  the  Chinese  share  of  the  sables  was  nearly  as  inferior  to  the  Rus- 
sian in  value  as  in  number.  The  four  hundred  and  sixty-seven,  which 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Celestials,  were  estimated,  with  all  the  expenses  of 
transport  on  their  backs,  at  only  7,480  roubles,  thus  averaging  sonu- 
t!>ing  less  than  sixteen  roubles  a  piece,  while,  even  at  Olekminsk,  the 
average  price,  as  already  mentioned,  of  the  sables  of  the  Olekma,  taking 
two  successive  years  together,  was  2,000  roubles  for  forty  or  precisely 
fifty  roubles  a  skin.  Again,  not  a  single  marten  was  oll'ered  at  Kiachta. 
while  14,794  paws  proved,  that  at  least  3,098  skins  of  the  animal  must 
luive  been  procured.  Farther  there  were  only  9,010  stoats,  but  42,515 
tails  of  the  creature,  leaving  at  least  33,505  skins  for  other  destinations. 
Lastly,  of  foxes  there  were  barely  20t),000  with  about  600,0t)0  paws; 
so  that,  on  the  really  natural  and  probable  supposition  that  the  skins, 
properly  so  called,  had  not  been  mutilated  for  the  purpose,  there  would 
result  at  least  150,000  foxes  more  that  must  have  been  reserved  for  the 
more  westerly  markets.  Of  the  enormous  quantities  of  furs,  which 
thus  go  to  Russia  and  to  China,  a  considerable  portion  doul)lless  comes 
from  the  New  World — a  portion  which,  however,  is  by  no  means 
irrelevant  to  my  argument,  considering  that,  in  the  actual  progress  of 
discovery,  Russian  America  is  virtually  a  continuation  of  Siberia. 
Siberia  itself  is  certainly  less  productive  than  it  once  was,  partly  be- . 
cause  the  fur  trade  necessarily  disappears  before  an  agricultural  popu-  ^ 


'- J 

'  .iti 


214 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


latioii,  and  partly  hrr:iusr  it  Dnfnrjilly  tends,  ;it  least  under  the  inflnrnee 
of  eoinpcfitioii,  to  exhaust  itself.  JiVeii  now,  however,  furs  are  still  an 
ohjeet  of  pursuit  throuirhout  tin;  whoh*  country  in  general,  for  in  my 
oflieial  returns  of  the  (.'hinescf  trade  there  appear  the  squirrels  of  the 
Yenissei,  and  the  Obv  with  th(^  ermines  of  tin;  River  Ishim,  and  the 
IJaraliinsky  Steppe.  These  ermines,  hy  the  by,  eontradiet  the  jjcneral 
rule  that  the  furs  to  tlu^  east  of  ihe  licna  are  superior  in  quality  to  such 
as  arc  found  to  the  west  of  that  river,  for  they  arc  valued  at  rather 
more  than  three  limes  the  rate  of  tlu;  ermines  of  the  province  of  Ya- 
kutsk, liut,  farther,  the  actual  advantajre,  which  is  derived  by  Russia 
from  the  fur  trade  of  {Siberia,  may  be  fairly  estimated  at  a  hijrher 
•standard  than  that  of  mere  roubles,  on  the  one  s|)ecial  jrround,  that  the 
branch  of  commerce  in  question  must  h:\\v  formed  the  main  induce- 
ment for  th(!  Chinese  to  open  an  inland  Iratllck  with  their  neighbors. 
I'jvcn  in  lS',i7,  the  native  furs  alone  were  nearly  equal  in  value  to  five- 
sixths  of  all  the  other  native  productions  that  were  bartered  at  Kiachta. 
The  farther  back  we  mi/^ht  ijo,  this  proportion  would  indubitably  be 
Ibund  to  increase  on  account  of  the  comparative  paucity  and  imperfec- 
tion of  native  manufactures,  till  at  last,  by  the  time  that  we  should 
reach  the  date  of  the  treaty  of  Nertshinsk,  skins  would  come  to  be 
almost  the  only  equivalent  that  the  Russians  could  ofler  or  the  Chinese 
covet.  So  far  back,  too,  as  the  year  1G80,  the  iiilluencc  of  the  fur 
trade  of  Siberia,  as  an  inslnumcnt  of  negotiation,  must  have  been  en- 
hanced by  the  fact,  that,  down  to  that  time,  there  still  contiimcd  to  be 
no  other  ct)nsiderable  fur  trade  in  the  world. 

The  second  most  obvious  advantage,  and  perhaps  also  the  second  in 
point  of  antiquity,  is  the  international  traftlck  which  has  been  so  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  The  Chinese  trade, 
independently  of  its  direct  benelils  to  individual  merchants  and  indi- 
vidual manufacturers,  gives  to  Russia  a  position  and  an  influence  in 
the  commercial  world,  which,  without  her  appendage  of  Siberia,  she 
i'ould  never  have  acquired.  Hut  it  isby  its  aid  in  peopling  and  civil- 
izing Sib(!ria,  that  the  Chinese  trade  has  been  maiidy  serviceable  to 
Russia.  Of  the  3,320,000  roubles,  expended,  as  already  mentioned, 
on  the  transport  to  and  from  Kiachta,  Siberians  must  have  earned  the 
larger  share,  perhaps  as  much  as  two  millions  of  roubles, — an  enor- 
mous sum  in  a  country  where  living  is  so  cheap.  But  this  is  not  all, 
for  every  considerable  place  on  the  route  sends  its  contribution  of 
manufactures  to  Maimatschin.  I  subjoin  the  tabic  in  full,  as  an 
equally  authentic  and  interesting  evidence  of  the  fact:  .,  ,^; 


Rl'SSIA    LEATHEK. 

Places. 

Pieces. 

Roubli^s. 

3,019 

23,409 

Irkutsk 

0,376 

52,620 

Krasnoyarsk 

1,107 

8,856 

Kainsk 

3,128 

34,210 

Ncrtshinsk 

200 

1,700 

Tara 

2,015 

18,950 

FROM  TODOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


215 


Tomsk 
Tiiirnni 
'J'obolsk 
Kiaciitu 


y2.iJ»r> 

23».381 

n).:n:t 

•^IM.tif)? 

(i7(> 

H,OI« 

Ji.WO 

»:<,(•  10 

Touil 


('» 1  M)',i 


tV.UMVZ 


The  third  advnntatro,  whicli  IJiiss-ia  dcrivos  from  Sihorin,  is  (lie 
trade  in  ivory.  'J'houirh,  in  nu'ri;  anionnt,  this  hranch  of  coniincrcc  is 
of  comparatively  litlh'  vahie,  yel  it  is  well  worthy  of  lionorahh*  men- 
tion, as  havinj;,  in  a  high  degree,  jiromoted  the  i)rogress  of  geographieal 
discovery.  It  was  in  the  eairer  pursuit  of  the  hones  of  the  mammoth, 
that  most  of  the  northern  ishuids  were  visited  and  ex[)h)r('(l, — ishmds 
which,  when  taken  in  connection  with  thi'ir  mysterious  tniasures,  in- 
vest the  Asiatic  Coast  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  with  an  interest  uidvuowa 
to  the  corresponding  sliores  of  America.  Moniover,  as  more  skill  and 
judgment,  and  perhaps  also  ampler  means,  are  reciuired  for  disinter- 
ring or  selecting  tusks  than  for  hunting  or  purchasing  skins,  a  supc^rior 
class  of  men  have  generally  devoted  themselves  to  the  former  occu- 
pation ;  and  perhaps  the  tnost  interesting  feature  in  Haron  Wrangell's 
interesting  hook,  consists  of  the  occasional  glinipses  of  the  proceed- 
ings and  disposition  of  a  collector  of  ivory  of  the  name  of  Heresli- 
noi, — the  same,  by  the  hy,  who  read  the  Easter  service  for  the  parly 
on  the  solid  ocean,  with  a  block  of  ice  as  an  altar. 

In  this  enumeration  of  the  advantages  which  Siberia  confers  on 
Russia,  its  mines  and  washerics  may  perhaps  be  considered  as  throw- 
ing all  other  merely  economical  advantages  into  the  shade.  Setting 
aside  the  temporary  distraction  and  embarrassment,  which  a  new  and 
brilliant  speculation  must  occasion  to  more  steady  pursuits,  these 
establishments,  as  a  whole,  must  be  allowed  to  produce  a  vast  demand 
for  labor  and  to  yield  a  profitable  return  for  capita'  IJut  they  are,  in 
my  opinion,  destined  to  be  of  political  importance  r  well  as  of  com- 
mercial value.  The  great  instruments  of  national  aggrandizement  in 
modern  times, — I  mean,  of  course,  only  the  material  instruments, — 
are  coal  and  iron  and  the  precious  metals.  Coal  is  limited  almost 
exclusively  to  the  broad  territories  of  the  English  race ;  iron  is  found 
chiefly  in  Sweden,  and  England,  and  Russia,  respectively  the  stem 
and  the  branches  of  the  Norman  tree  that  already  overshadows  the 
whole  of  cither  continent  at  its  greatest  width  ;  and  the  precious  metals 
are'  more  abundant  in  Siberia  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the  Old  World, 
the  most  precious  of  them  being  perhaps  more  plentiful  than  in  all  the 
rest  of  both  hemispheres  taken  together.  Thus  have  England  and 
Russia,  for  Sweden  is  merely  a  dependency  of  the  latter,  been  pre- 
pared by  nature  for  the  grand  task,  which  Providencj  has  assigned 
them,  of  being  the  principal  agents  in  controlling  and  regulating  the 
destinies  of  the  human  family.  It  is  in  her  own  proper  department, 
too,  that  each  of  those  two  powers  has  been  prepared.  With  the 
iron  in  common  between  them,  Russia,  to  whom  coal  would  have 
been  comparatively  useless,  has  gold  as  the  sinews  of  military  enter- 


"i.-i 


216 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


prlxc,  while  Enj^lnnd,  to  wliosp  ronunrn'ial  spirit  pvrry  rountry  is  a 
mine  of  ^ol(i,  liaH  coal  as  the  most  powerful  element,  l)oth  directly  and 
indirectly,  of  naval  superiority. 

l)ut  Siberia,  hesides  supplying  Russia  with  the  means  of  prc8fling  on 
towardH  the  south,  has  put  her  in  position  for  doing  so,  bringing  her 
into  contact  with  all  that  portion  of  the  Old  Continent,  which  lies  to  the 
eastward  of  her  own  j)roper  inlluence.  Thus  ihies  Russia  by  land 
hang,  like  an  avalanche,  over  the  whole  of  Asia  from  the  (irccian 
Archipelago  to  the  sea  of  Ochotsk,  while  I'^ngland  not  only  has  every 
coast  at  her  mercy,  hut  permanently  |»osse8ses  every  point  which  cafi 
command  cither  the  highways  or  the  byways  of  the  ocean,  and  all  its 
inlets. 

Lastly,  Russia  has  been  indebted  to  Siberia  for  the  amelioration, 
both  moral  and  political,  of  her  own  condition.  'I'hrough  her  system 
of  deportation  she  has  made  good  citizens  of  myriads,  who,  in  other 
countries,  would  have  been  indirectly  condtMuned,  on  their  lir^t  con- 
viction, to  a  life  of  ignominy  and  shame;  ami  thus  has  she  virtually 
achieved  the  miracle  of  reconciling  the  safety  of  the  innocent,  not  merely 
with  impunity,  but  even  with  the  prosperity,  of  the  guilty.  Again, 
through  the  absence  of  an  hereditary  aristocracy,  the  cause  of  predial 
servitude  may  be  said  to  l)e  unknown  in  Siberia;  and  thus  has  grown 
up  a  numerous  population  of  craven  peasants,  whose  vassalage,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  ordinary  condition  of  a  subject,  is  merely  nominal. 
This  entire  exclusion  of  oligarchical  inlluence  must,  of  course,  strengthen 
the  crown  throughout  the  rest  of  the  empire  against  those,  whose  pro- 
perty in  the  minds  and  bodies  of  half  the  population  cannot  fail,  even 
under  the  most  humane  treatment,  both  to  weaken  the  sovereign  and  to 
degrade  the  serf.  Finally,  as  a  mere  incitement  to  a  spirit  of  adven- 
ture, Siberia,  ever  since  its  discovery,  must  have  had  an  important  bear- 
ing on  the  formation  and  development  of  the  Russian  character. 

On  the  ninth  of  September,  we  left  Ekaterineburg  before  daylight, 
and,  at  the  distance  of  about  fifty  vcrsts  from  the  town,  crossed  the 
lieight  of  land.  We  soon  afterwards  forded  a  small  tributary  of  the 
Kama,  being  the  first  European  stream  that  we  had  seen  for  nineteen 
months.  In  the  neighborhood  of  this  brook  were  some  iron  works  of 
the  Countess  StrogonofT,  a  descendant  of  the  StrogonoflTs  of  Yermac's 
days  ;  and  as  this  was  a  portion  of  the  princely  fief,  that  had  nourished 
and  equipped  the  conquerors  of  Siberia,  we  felt  that  we  were  treading 
classic  ground.  The  ascent  and  descent  of  the  mountains  were  so 
gentle,  that  we  were  hardly  conscious  of  climbing  a  ridge  that  divided 
two  continents. 

The  country,  though  tolerably  populous,  was  yet  poor  and  sterile. 
At  the  station  at  which  we  supped,  the  postmaster  churlishly  refused 
to  render  us  any  assistance.  On  looking,  however,  at  our  podorosh- 
noya,  and  seeing  our  titles  and  so  forth,  he  suddenly  lowered  his  tone, 
while,  on  the  contrary,  we  raised  ours  ;  and,  after  frightening  the  fellow 
thoroughly,  we  accepted  the  somewhat  incongruous  apologies  of  him- 
self and  his  wife,  the  lady  ascribing  her  husband's  sulks  to  his  being 
disturbed  at  supper,  and  the  gentleman  throwing  all  the  blame  on  his 


FROM  TOIIOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


217 


«Ml(l(>,  that  had  put  him  uut  of  ttMiipcr  by  n^ottiii^  the  murrain  among 
them. 

Next  day  wo  met  many  travclrrs  of  various  irrach's  ami  statioiiH. 
We  p:isMeil  several  hands  of  eonvicfs;  then  thi-n-  ui-re  hirsje  parties  ol 
hd)()rers  vohintarily  trud^inir  ah>n^  to  seek  emph>ynient  in  the  mines; 
and  hist,  though  not  U;ast,  eame  a  rehitive  ot' the  tfreat  Deamond  Dt^mi- 
doll',  drivintj  away  in  state  with  live  wheelers  and  two  leadi-rs. 

In  the  forenoon  wo  reached  KiuJijar,  a  thrivintr  plaeo  dependent  on 
the  mines,  with  a  population  of  six  or  ejirht  thousand  sotds.  Here  I 
saw  two  novelties,  wliieh  were  ealculat«'d  to  |)rodu«'e,  on  the  instant, 
very  dillerent  impressions.  Some  apples  in  the  mark(!t  place  reminil- 
cd  mo  that  1  was  drawing  near  home,  while  the  first  church,  that  I  had 
seen  with  the  domes  and  pinnarciis  ol' tlu'  national  style  of  architecture, 
appeared  to  carry  me  hack  from  l"!urop(!  into  Asia.  In  many  respeiMs, 
in  fact,  the  greater  part  of  Kiissia  is  rather  Asiatic  than  Kiiropcan.  On 
this  ground  iNapoleon  said,  that  if  you  scratch  a  Russian,  you  will  catch 
a  Tartar  beneath;  an  a})horisin  which,  when  he  himself  bciran  to  med- 
dle with  the  customer  in  ({uestion,  he  found  to  be  as  true  as  it  was 
pithy.  Uut  the  Asiatic  character  is  to  be  referred  to  causes  wholly  in- 
dependent of  an  Asiatic  origin.  It  was  mainly  produced  by  the  politi- 
cal superiority  of  the  eastern  khans;  it  was  i)artly  the  result  of  the 
religious  inlluence  of  the  (ireek  empin*;  and  it  doubtless,  in  some 
measure,  was  created,  as  it  has  continued  to  be  cherished,  by  the  Asia- 
tie  destination  of  the  Volga,  which  drains  the  whole  centre  of  the  coun- 
try nearly  as  far  to  the  westward  as  Petersburg,  and  fully  as  far  to  the 
northward  as  the  very  head  of  Lake  Ladoga,  forcing,  as  it  were,  into  the 
heart  of  Europe  a  foreign  wedge  of  sixteen  degrees  of  latitude  in 
breadth  and  twenty-eight  degrees  of  longitude  in  de|)th.  In  addition, 
of  course,  to  all  these  causes,  is  the  fact,  almost  too  obvious  to  be 
noticed,  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  population  is  confessedly 
Asiatic, — a  fact  which,  however,  is  tolerably  conclusive  in  favor  of  the 
foregoing  views,  inasmuch  as  all  the  really  oriental  races  are  easily 
and  constantly  distinguished  from  the  Russians  themselves. 

About  eleven  at  night  we  reached  Perm,  remaining  only  an  hour  to 
change  horses.  Up  to  this  city,  the  Kama  is  navigable  for  the  ordinary 
barges  of  the  Volga,  while  ilat-bottomed  boats  may  ascend  much  far- 
ther both  on  the  river  itself  and  on  its  tributary  streams ;  the  Tchinsova, 
in  particular,  ennobled  as  Yermae's  route,  being  practicable  till  within 
sixty  versts  of  Ekaterineburg.  In  so  advantageous  a  position  Perm 
carries  on  an  extensive  trade  of  its  own,  besides  being  a  place  for  the 
trans-shipment  of  all  the  transport  between  the  opposite  sides  of  the 
Uralian  Mountains.  The  country  is  thickly  settled,  villages  lining  the 
road  at  every  four  or  five  versts ;  and  the  scenery  presents  a  beautiful 
alternation  of  hills  and  valleys,  the  former  apparently  as  closely  culti- 
vated as  the  latter.  Soon  after  our  visit,  the  iine  old  city  of  Perm  w^as 
almost  entirely  burned  down. 

During  our  next  day's  journey  the  country  on  either  side,  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  reach,  was  studded  with  villages,  and  farms,  and  churches ; 
these  lands,  formerly  one  extensive  forest  of  pine,  were  now  all  brought 


H 


til 


^i\ 


218 


nU)M  TOIMlLSK  TO  LONDON. 


midor  rnliivalion.  \Vr  wore  still  on  llio  l»rc»:iil  inliorilanrr  of  ilic 
CoimlrHs  Siidjronoir,  one  oC  llir  riclicst  N»il»it'cls  of  tlir  niipiri' ;  ami, 
us  (Ik*  ciii/.'-t)  of  :i  siiitc  itiilclitcil  lor  its  sii|M'i'iiiai'y  lo  roinincrrc,  I  roiilil 
not  hilt  Ircl  |iroii(l.  oil  r«'l1('(*tiiiLr.  fliat  tliJH  iiolilc  lady  owed  alikr  licr 
stalioii  and  lirr  wralili  to  llir  rntrrprisini;  Hpiril  of  the  idd  sall>inakcr 
of  SolvylslH'jjodsixaya.  On  rillitr  side  (d"  llir  niail  then'  ran  a  doiilil(! 
row  «)l' hirclics,  intruded  in  snninicr  to  slicllnr  trav(d<'rH  I'rom  tlio  kiiii  ; 
but  already,  on  tin-  Iwciity-iliird  of  our  I'lnijlisli  Scptoiiihrr,  rvcry 
hranidi  had  Ikmmi  siripjuMl  oj"  its  IcavVs  hy  the*  winils  and  I'rosis  of  an- 
tnnin.  The  lurr  of  the  landscape  was  hilly,  and  the  soil,  like  that  ol 
Devonshire,  red  ;  and  vast  (|natitities  of  llax,  tallow,  ami  hristlos,  were 
said  to  he  «'Xported  to  I'eli'rshiirti. 

At  Sosnovieh,  where  we  Innehed,  one  of  the  party  left  hehind  him  a 
parcel  containinir  s(nne  papers  and  medicines.  Meeting  two  irentlemen 
at  the  next  station,  we  entreated  their  ijood  oflices  in  the  matter  with 
very  faint  Iiopt-s  of  the  recovery  of  the  property  ;  and,  as  a  proof  of  the 
«'oiirtesy  of  the  two  {rentleiucn  in  (jiiestion,  and  of  the  honesty  of  the 
pood  folks  of  Sosnovirh,  the  niissinj;  :irlicles  reached  liondoii  only  a 
lew  days  later  than  ourselves. 

Soon  aft<*r  leavinj;  Sosnovicli  we  entered  the  province  of  Viatka, 
takini;  its  name  from  a  trihntary  of  the  Kama.  This  district  was  said  to 
he  celeiirated,  and,  in  oiir  ex|)erience,  dest'rvedly  so,  for  had  roads,  had 
liorses,  and  hail  drivers  ;  and,  as  one  of  the  few  instances  of  dishonesty 
that  wo  encountered  in  the  whole  ein|)ire,  Viatka  had  also  the  credit 
of  stealiiijj  a  sheepskin  coat  from  our  carriajjo. 

We  soon  found,  however,  that  we  had  still  more  to  learn  aliont  this 
province,  for,  early  next  mornintr,  we  met  two  nterchants  on  their  way 
lo  Perm,  that  had  just  been  attacked  hy  armed  footpads,  who  were  said 
to  he  infestiiifj  the  road  in  consi(l(!ral)le  numhers.  The  ruHinns  had 
attempted  to  break  or  stop  the  wheels  of  the  «-arriage,  by  throwing  a 
piece  of  wood  between  the  spokes ;  but,  fortunately,  the  log  itself  got 
smashed  without  damagiiiir  the  vehicle  in  any  way.  Heing  in  constant 
dread  of  a  similar  visit,  we  traveled  very  ra|)idly  ;  and  at  Mookikikea, 
where  we  sup|)ed,  we  had  the  good  luck  to  find  a  civil  old  fellow  of  a 
postmaster,  who  had,  many  years  before,  picked  up  a  little  English  at 
Portsmouth  on  boanl  of  a  Russian  ship  of  war.  He  told  ns  that  the 
country  through  which  we  were  passing,  was  principally  occupied  by 
crown  peasants,  most  of  them  being  of  the  aboriginal  tribe  of  the 
Chiramises. 

Next  morning  we  overtook  an  aid-de-camp  of  Prince  Gortschakoll", 
(iovernor  General  of  Western  Siberia,  who  joined  us  for  the  benelit  of 
mutual  protection.  We  met  a  great  number  of  merchants  returning 
from  the  fair  of  Nishney  Novgorod,  and  also  some  parties  of  the  13or- 
backi  nation  migrating  from  their  native  IJolgar,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Volga,  to  Siberia.  Tartar  villages  lined  the  road,  in  which,  Sunday 
as  it  was,  the  more  petty  dealers,  who  were  on  their  way  from  the 
grand  emporium  of  the  country,  had  erected  stalls  ;  and,  in  fact,  at  the 
town  of  Arsk   a  regular  market  had  been  got  up  in  this  way.     After 


FUOM  TOBOLSK  To  LONDON. 


219 


(TOHHiMu  ilio  Vialka  nrnl  pMHHJiiir  iliroiii;!!  Malmisli,  wr  riitorrd  the  |)ro- 
\  liK'r  (iC  K;i/.:ili,  nilil  alioiit  .siiiiMct  arrivnl  :tt  tli*-  city  of  the  h.-imk*  liatnr. 

I  micr  iiiiy  )'iriMiiiist:iiicrs,  (uic  roiild  iiol  approacli  tins  aiii'iciit  iiw 
tropolis  willioiit  (l<T|ily  Irt'liiiir  tin'  instaMlily  ol'  all  rarllily  fraiidiiir. 
In  llii;  |)aliiiy  (layn  nl'  the  iroldcti  liordt*.  a  l)raii('li  ol'  lliat  IrarlcMH  two 
U'liirli,  under  Atlila,  and  /inLdii^,  and  'ranit'tliinr,  had  tlirit'r  atdiicvrd 
llu'  ('on(|ni'st  ol'  the  WMild, — liic  nivoys  ol"  Ka/an  nscd  to  he  rmivrd 
Ity  till'  vassal  diikcs  of  .Moscinv  willi  die  lioinaur  due  Ironi  sul)|cct.s  to 
tlicir  Hovcr('ii;n  ;  and  now  this  lornicr  8cat  of  an  illnstrioiis  dynasty  wan 
MKMTJy  lh»'  capital  ol' one  ol' tlic  lil'ty-two  provinrcs  of  a  Musfov  He  nn- 
pirc,  U'liiidi,  inrhidiiiir  its  (lt'p(  iidrnt'iis  in  iIk;  Svw  World,  sircirlu-d 
npwardH  ol' a  hiiiidrrd  dcirrccs  to  the  eastward  of  the  titinost  hounds  of 
Tartar  Htiprcniary.  Hut,  at  the  present  nionient,  Hindi  a  train  of 
tli(Miirht  was  more  likely  than  ever  to  oreupy  the  mind  of  a  visitor,  lor 
there,  wheri;  Ka/an  had  stood,  w<>  saw  luitliinLr  hut  the  densi;  smoke  of 
sinonlderint;  ruins.  'IMiis  Ix-aiiiil'id  city,  at  <mce  an  ohject  of  pride  to 
the  victorH  and  of  veneration  to  the  \an(|uished,  had  lallen  a  prey  to 
tire,  two  ihousiuid  huil(lini;s  having  hoen  destroyed,  with  the  loss  of  at 
least  two  hundred  lives. 

This  lam(Milal>l(;  conllau^ration  had  heen  imputed  to  a  INde,  the  head 
of  lh(!  police,  who,  as  soon  as  hi'  I'otiiul  himself  suspected  of  httinif  lln^ 
incendiary,  had  added  |)rohal)ilily  to  the  surmise  hy  committin!;  sui- 
cide. It  had  heiruii  in  .lidy  and  had  continued  ever  since,  leapin<:.  day 
after  day,  and  niyht  after  nii,dit,  from  street  to  stre(>t,  and  from  scpiare 
to  sipiarc.  Peoples  oil  retirinj;  to  rest,  were  never  sure  that  they 
would  not  ho  dislodirod  hefori;  the  nKU'iiinir  ;  and  the  unfortunate  siii'- 
fcrcrs,  as  they  were  successively  driven  from  their  perishini,'  homes, 
had  hoen  idiased  hy  the  Hames  from  one  refuirc;  alUir  another,  till  at  last 
they  planlrd  themscdvcs,  either  in  the  open  air  or  under  the  sludter  of 
trmporary  li()V(;ls,  hisyond  the  rea(di  of  the  devoiiriiMj  (dement.  The 
loss  of  property  had  heen  enormous  ;  hut  that  had  hci  'i  entirely  thrown 
into  the  shade  hy  the  loss  of  life.  The  man  who  had  sacrificed  half 
of  his  suhstanco,  considered  himscdf  fortunate,  inasmuch  as  his  neiifh- 
hor  had  seen  his  all  disap|)ear  hefore  his  eyes  ;  and  he  as^ain  tIiout,dit 
himself  happy,  hecause  a  third  had  to  hewail  the  untinudy  fate  of  those 
who  were  nearest  and  dearest  to  his  heart. 

'JMie  projfrcss  of  the  fire  had  heen  reinarkahly  caj)ricious.  One  house 
would  be  destroyed,  while  the  adjacent  huildiuiis  would  escape  ;  and, 
in  one  street  in  particular,  the  eliureh  alone  had  survived  the  general 
wreck.  'J'he  evil  was  aj,'ijravated  hy  the  prevalcnec  of  winds,  which 
the  heat  alone  was  sullicient  to  raise  ;  and,  as  if  to  render  any  attempts 
at  prevention  utterly  desperate,  the  wooden  pavement  was  eonsumed 
at  the  same  pace  as  the  edifices  that  lined  it. 

We  got  into  one  of  the  few  decent  houses  that  were  still  standing  in 
Ka7.an,  where,  however,  no  heds  were  to  be  had  ;  but  we  were  grati- 
tied  instead  by  the  receipt  of  letters  from  England  and  Petersburg. 

Next  morning  I  was  visited  by  the  agent  of  the  llussian  American 
('ompany,  who,  like  his  brother  of  Tinmen,  had  been  burned  out.  Ho 
was  accompanied  by  Captain  Zarimbo,  a  very  agreeable  and  straight- 


'    ■ 
i   f 


220 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


lorwartl  man,  who  was  now  on  his  way  to  Sitka  to  fill  tlio  oflico  of 
lioutcnant  jrovcriior.  Wo  spent  the  forenoon  in  drivinir  ahont  the  rnins, 
which  forcil)ly  reminded  one  of  (he  vivid  descriptions  in  the  "  Iiast 
Days  of  J'onipeii,"  rows  of  faulted  houses,  as  cold  and  dead  as  if  they 
had  heen  nnehanj^ed  for  centuries,  heinjr  interwoven  with  streets,  in 
which  the  oozinjj  vapor  still  spoke  of  the  freshness  of  the  calamity. 
Even  in  this  desolation,  the  elasticity  and  versatility  of  the  spirit  of 
conimenre  showed  themselves,  for  the  j^oods  that  had  heen  expelled  from 
the  shops,  had  taken  possession  of  the  vaults  of  the  churches,  in  which 
were  tiisplayed  shawls,  jewelry,  watches,  &c., — everything,  in  short, 
that  emhodied  consideral)le  value  in  little  compass. 

In  mere  rank  Kazan  stood  next  to  Mosfow  ;  and  it  was  particidarly 
famous  as  a  seat  of  learniu};,  poss.'ssinjr  the  finest  oriental  library  in 
th^  empire.  IJut  now  nothinjj^  remained  to  it  but  the  blackened  ruins 
of  its  former  glory.  The  population  was  said  to  be,  or  to  have;  been, 
about  sixty  thousand.  Tlu-  site  of  the  town  oecripies  some  hills  over- 
looking a  plain,  which  separates  llicm  from  the  Volga.  This  plain  is 
celebrated  as  the  scene  of  one  of  the  victories  gained  l)y  the  Muscovites 
over  the  Tartars;  and  it  contains  a  large  building  erected  i)y  the  con- 
querors at  once  as  a  monument  of  their  triumph  and  as  a  tomb  for  their 
slain  comrades. 

At  ten  in  the  evening  we  crossed  the  Volga,  hero  about  a  verst  in 
breadth,  glad  to  escape  from  the  heated  atmosphere  of  Kazan,  more 
particularly  as  a  heavy  gale,  which  blew  during  the  whole  day,  had 
almost  blinded  and  sull'ocated  us  with  dust  and  ashes.  This  storm, 
by  the  by,  would  have  detained  us  all  our  time  in  Kazan,  even  if  that 
city  had  had  nothing  to  interest  us,  by  rendering  the  passage  of  the 
river  impracticable.  For  a  little  distance  the  road  was  so  sandy,  that 
we  were  obliged  to  walk  in  order  to  relieve  the  horses.  Our  route  lay 
along  the  course  of  the  Volga,  afl'ording  us  occasional  glimpses  of  the 
river  with  the  cumbrous  craft  floating  on  its  smooth  waters.  The 
barges  that  navigate  the  Volga  have  but  one  mast,  some  of  them  carry- 
ing as  much  as  twelve  hundred  tons.  Coming  down  the  stream,  they 
are  laden  with  an  infinite  variety  of  supplies  for  Siberia,  China,  and 
the  northwest  coast,  while  their  upward  cargoes  consist  partly  of  goods 
from  Kiachta,  but  chiefly  of  native  productions,  such  as  hides,  tallow, 
wool,  flax,  furs,  brisUes,  and  iron,  and  other  metals.  The  landscape 
presented  to  the  eye  a  sea  of  cornfields,  for  never  had  I  seen  such  an 
expanse  of  cultivated  ground  as  on  this  bank  of  the  Volga.  The  har- 
vest, which  was  scarcely  finished,  appeared  to  have  been  abundant; 
the  barn  yards  were  filled  with  stacks,  while  the  stubble  was  everywhere 
covered  with  busy  gleaners  in  the  shape  of  poultry,  sheep,  cattle,  and 
pigs. 

The  road  occasionally  passed  through  magnificent  forests  of  oak, 
closely  preserved  for  the  use  of  the  nation.  In  these  lorests  were  some 
beautiful  specimens,  one  tree  in  particular,  of  eighty  or  a  hundred  feet 
in  height,  being  as  straight  as  an  arrow,  and  as  clear  of  branches  as  a 
pine.  No  traveler  could  fixil  to  admire  this  proud  oak,  even  if  it  had 
not  been  lately  fenced,  as  a  proof  of  the  emperor's  admiration,  by  his 


FUOM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


221 


majesty's  ooinmaiul.  His  majesty,  by  the  by,  was  soon  expected 
apain  to  visit  the  neijrliborbood  for  the  purpose  of  personally  putting  an 
end  to  some  disorders  that  reiirned  amoiifr  the  peasants.  Most  of  these 
poor  people  were  said  to  be  crown  serfs  ;  and,  as  some  change,  whether 
for  the  better  or  for  the  worse  they  (hd  not  know,  was  contemplated  in 
their  condition,  lliey  had  got  up  something  like  an  insurrection,  in 
which  two  hundred  of  them  were  said  to  have  lost  their  lives. 

The  travelintjf  was  here  worse  by  many  degrees  than  in  Siberia. 
The  horses  were  bad,  the  roa<ls  heavy,  and  the  delays  apparently  just 
what  the  postmasters  chose  to  make  them.  We  reckoned  eight  versts 
an  hour  as  more  than  average  work,  while  a  loss  of  three  or  four  hours 
at  a  station  was  an  ordinary  occurrence.  At  one  place,  horses  were 
not  at  hand  ;  at  another,  they  had  only  come  off  a  journey;  at  a  third, 
they  were  reserved  for  some  special  purpose.  But  such  excuses,  and 
many  others  of  the  same  tendency,  we  soon  discovered  to  be  part  of  the 
ways  and  means  of  the  dilatory  functionaries,  for  a  few  roubles,  when- 
ever I  yielded  to  the  imposition,  never  failed  to  accelerate  movements. 
At  one  of  our  stations  of  to-day,  an  oflicer  of  police  entered  saying, 
that  horses  were  to  be  reserved  for  a  senator,  who  was  coming  this 
way  from  the  westward — an  embargo  which  caused  ns  considerable 
annoyance,  till,  on  the  second  day  thereafter,  we  met  this  ofllcial  mo- 
nopolist of  catUc.  In  this  case,  however,  we  had  not  much  reason  to 
complain,  for  in  Siberia,  where  we  were  generally  the  great  men 'bf  our 
time,  we  had  very  possibly  put  humbler  individuals  to  similar  incon- 
venience. At  another  station  we  had  to  give  way,  of  course,  to  the 
preferable  claims  of  the  mail ;  and,  at  a  third  we  were  obliged  to  yield, 
notwithstanding  our  authoritative  podoroshnoya,  to  a  podoroshnoya 
professing  to  travel  on  urgent  public  business.  I  began  to  wonder  how 
the  ordinary  podoroshnoyas  got  on  at  all — to  them  time  would  be 
•considered  of  no  value  at  the  stations. 

At  one  in  the  morning  of  the  seventeenth  of  September,  correspond- 
ing with  our  Michaelmas  Day,  we  reached  Nishney  Novgorod,  famous 
for  the  most  extensive  and  important  fair  in  the  world.  Here  two  or 
three  hundred  thousand  people  from  all  parts  of  the  Old  Continent  are 
said  to  congregate,  bringing  with  them  the  peculiar  wares  of  their 
respective  countries.  Here  maybe  seen  Bokharians,  Greeks,  Chinese, 
Spaniards,  Persians,  Italians,  Tartars,  Jews,  Germans,  English,  French, 
&e.  The  trade  is  as  various  as  the  crowd  is  modey,  consisting  of  the 
teas  and  silks  of  China,  the  furs  of  America  and  Siberia,  the  hardware 
of  England,  the  shawls  of  Persia,  the  metallic  treasures  of  the  Uralian 
Mountains,  leather,  hides,  tallow,  bristles,  cottons,  tobacco,  horses,  cat- 
tle, an  endless  catalogue,  in  short,  of  all  that  is  requisite  to  supply  the 
natural  and  artilicial  wants  of  mankind.  But  business  does  not  alto- 
gether engross  the  attention  of  the  assembled  nations,  amusements  of 
all  kinds  being  provided  to  fill  up  the  odds  and  ends  of  time.  Players, 
dancers,  jugglers,  and  the  whole  race  of  show-men  and  show-women 
reap  a  golden  harvest,  while  thousands,  or,  according  to  some  esti- 
mates, tens  of  thousands  of  young  ladies,  whose  faces  are  their  for- 
tunes, come,  in  due  proportion  of  numbers,  from  most  of  the  same 


ll 


ti 


.ii 


•y 


222 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


V 


t^ 


regions  .is  tlir  donlers  tlieinselvos,  in  the  cljarital)lc  hope  of  providing 
every  man  with  a  j)arlner  of  conjrenial  taste  and  langiiajro. 

Tliis  great  meeting  of  the  east  and  the  west  used  to  be  held  at 
Makarieff,  a  phiee  a  little  farther  down  the  Volga, — a  river  which, 
however  often  the  immediate  locality  of  the  fair  may  he  changed, 
clearly  enjoys  a  perpetual  monopoly  of  nature's  granting  of  the  inland 
trade  between  Asia  and  Europe.  Nor  will  Nishney  Novgorod,  in  fact, 
be  lightly  abandoned  in  favor  of  any  other  site,  considering  that  the 
requisite  buildings, — the  bazaar,  as  it  were,  of  two  continents, — have 
been  erected  at  a  cost  of  many  millions  of  roubles.  'J'he  business 
lasts  from  the  beginning  of  August  to  the  middle  of  Scpteml)er;  and 
the  amount  of  the  transactions  is  estimated  at  nine  or  ten  millions 
sterling. 

At  tlie  first  station  beyond  Nishney  Novgorod,  in  consequence  of 
the  senator's  monopoly,  we  employed  a  soldier  to  obtain  horses  from 
the  peasants  for  us.  When  paid  for  his  trouble,  he  begged  for  a  little 
more  in  consideration  of  his  having  beaten  the  people ;  and,  on  receiv- 
ing such  an  addition  as  we  thouglit  the  alleged  service  worth,  he  still 
stuck  to  us  for  a  few  supplementary  kopecks,  which,  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  we  gave  him,  on  the  plea,  to  borrow  his  own  broken  English, 
that  he  "  beaten  them  well."  At  this  station  we  discovered  that  even 
the  poorest  podoroshnoya  was  better  than  no  podoroshnoya  at  all.  A 
dark-eyed,  high-nosed,  long-haired  little  man  was  here  detained  with 
his  wife,  a  swarthy,  but  comely,  woman,  and  two  servants,  because, 
forsooth,  the  postmaster  at  the  last  station  had  given  their  indispensa- 
ble podoroshnoya  to  a  person  going  in  the  opposite  direction,  handing 
them  at  the  same  time  the  equally  indispensable  podoroshnoya  of  the 
person  in  question.  As  the  other  counterfeit  would  be  stopped  as 
well  as  himself,  our  excitable  friend  had  sent  back  in  order  to  effect 
a  second  exchange  of  documents,  hoping  that  his  fellow-sufferer  would 
evince  as  prompt  a  regard  for  the  liberty  of  the  subject.  This  prisoner 
at  large  and  his  rib  we  quickly  discovered  to  be  philanthropists,  who 
had  condescended  to  kill  other  people's  time  at  the  fair ;  and  their 
virtue  had  been  its  own  reward,  for  they  had  realized  seventy-five 
thousand  roubles  by  having  danced  for  six  or  seven  weeks. 

From  Nishney  Novgorod  to  Vladimir,  even  after  we  had  got  rid  of 
our  patrician  forestaller,  we  encountered  very  tiresome  delays  at  the 
post-houses.  The  country  was  closely  settled  and  cultivated  with  an 
almost  unbroken  chain  of  settlements  extending  from  the  one  place  to 
the  other,  some  of  the  settlements  rising  even  to  the  dignity  of  small 
towns.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Nishney  Novgorod,  the  soil  is  almost 
entirely  owned  by  General  Sheremetieff,  a  relative  of  the  emperor ; 
and,  for  nearly  two  whole  days,  we  continued  to  travel  through  his 
estates.  He  is  said  to  possess  a  hundred  thousand  serfs,  half  of  them 
being  settled  in  this  same  province  of  Nishney  Novgorod.  These 
serfs  appear  to  be  as  comfortable  as  any  peasantry  can  be,  to  be  better 
off,  in  fact,  in  many  points,  than  the  free  laborers  of  other  countries, 
inasmuch  as  they  have  a  claim  on  the  assistance,  care  and  protection 
of  their  owners  in  times  of  sickness  or  scarcity.     Each  head  of  a 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


223 


family  holds  a  small  farm,  payiiifr  if>  rent  partly  in  produce  and  partly 
in  work.  Under  a  very  jiulicious  and  laudable  re/rulation,  onc-tenlli 
part  of  all  the  crops  is  deposited  in  a  public  granary,  as  a  store  laid  up 
against  days  of  famine.  'I'he  serfs  arc  simple,  frugal  and  industrious. 
Though  they  arc  a  strong  and  muscular  race,  yet  neither  males  nor 
females  can,  in  my  opinion,  boast  much  of  their  beauty.  The  women 
are  generally  red-faced,  red-handed,  red-heeled,  sttong-featured  wenches 
of  substantial  build,  while  the  men,  as  is  their  prerogative,  surpass 
them  in  all  these  masculine  accomplishments, — neither  sex  attempting 
to  improve  nature  by  any  very  scrupulous  regard  to  cleanliness  or 
neatness.  In  all  their  houses  the  principal  apartment  is  a  large  kitchen, 
in  which  are  one  or  two  stoves  of  brick  or  of  earth;  on  these  the 
people  either  bake  or  stew  their  food,  the  former  process  being  per- 
formed in  a  sort  of  frying  pan,  and  the  latter  in  earthen  jars.  Near 
the  stoves  the  floor  is  boarded,  so  as  to  form  a  sleeping  place  for  the 
family.  On  this  warm  snuggery,  and  even  on  the  very  tops  of  the 
stoves,  the  inmates  stow  themselves  away  almost  in  a  state  of  nudity, 
with  nothing  under  them  but  a  piece  of  felt;  so  that,  on  entering  one 
of  the  cottages  by  night,  I  found  two  young  women  baking  themselves 
above  the  lire  in  their  very  scanty  shifts.  The  young  men,  however, 
are  occasionally  shelved  against  the  wall  for  the  sake  of  etiquette ;  but, 
in  spite  of  this  very  proper  arrangement,  the  heat  of  the  room  some- 
times constrains  the  damsels  to  edge  themselves,  unconsciously,  to- 
wards the  sides  of  the  apartment,  while  the  bumpkins  instinctively 
seek  a  cooler  atmosphere  by  rolling  from  their  benches  on  the  floor. 
In  such  cases,  all  the  consequences,  whatever  they  may  be,  are,  of 
course,  considered  as  accidental. 

The  fen)ales  at  least,  whatever  might  be  the  taste  of  the  males  in  the 
matter,  appeared  to  be  extremely  sober.  Some  women  spat  out  a  little 
nalifky  that  we  gave  them,  quafllng,  however,  the  dregs  of  our  tea-pot 
with  great  relish,  and  putting  the  leaves  on  tlie  ever  ready  stove  to  dry 
for  another  occasion.  Evcmi  when  not  stinted  by  the  rule  and  measure 
of  the  church,  the  ordinary  diet  of  these  peasants  is  coarse  enough, 
while,  on  the  frequent  fasts,  the  staple  lare  is  black  bread  with  salt, 
and  perhaps  a  cucumber,  the  whole  washed  down,  as  I  have  already 
mentioned  under  the  head  of  the  Lena,  with  water  at  discretion,  taken 
like  soup,  with  a  spoon. 

We  constantly  met  parties  of  women  on  their  return  from  harvest,  sing- 
ing their  national  airs,  one  of  them  giving  out  the  stave  and  the  others 
joining  in  chorus.  On  one  occasion  we  saw  about  a  dozen  of  the  same 
sex  cutting  up  cabbages  for  sourkrout,  and  lilting  away  to  keep  time 
with  their  choppers.     Their  melodies  were  almost  all  pleasing. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  nineteenth  of  September,  we  entered 
Vladimir,  once  the  capital  of  a  detached  principality,  and  perhaps  also 
at  one  time  the  metropolis  of  the  whole  country.  It  was  still  said  to 
be  the  residence  of  many  wealthy  owners  of  the  neighboring  soil,  pos- 
sessing on  that  account  tolerably  good  society.  We  were  ol)liged  to 
wait  here  for  our  Russian  fellow-traveler,  who  was  detained  at  the  last 
station  for  want  of  horses ;  for,  when  we  were  all  ready  to  start,  tliat 


224 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


gentleman's  driver,  having  caught  a  blow  from  the  same  pipe-stem 
which  had  done  Cossack's  duly  before,  untackled  his  cattle  and  left  our 
disciplinarian  in  the  lurch.  Thus  the  stimulus,  which,  a»  already 
stated,  had  raced  horses  to  death  in  Siberia,  procured  them  a  holiday  in 
Russia ;  and,  inconvenient  as  any  detention  was,  we  were  not  sorry 
lor  the  change. 

While  we  remained  at  "Vladimir,  a  courier  arrived  with  an  official 
order  that  we  should  everywhere  be  supplied  with  horses,  as  if  travel- 
ing on  public  business.  This  document,  which  was  dated  as  far  back 
as  the  eighth  of  May,  came  too  late  to  be  of  any  service  whatever,  for 
I  had  already  agreed  with  some  peasants  to  convey  us  to  Moscow  at 
twice  the  regular  rates. 

The  route  to  Moscow  was  an  almost  unbroken  chain  of  populous 
villages,  in  which  scenes  of  debauchery  presented  themselves  on  all 
hands,  resting  on  the  double  pretext  of  the  conclusion  of  harvest  and 
of  a  holiday  of  the  church.  The  exorbitant  demands  on  the  road  were 
a  pretty  sure  indication  of  the  vicinity  of  the  capital;  and  at  one  place 
we  were  charged  fifteen  roubles  for  milk  and  mutton  chops,  cooking 
for  ourselves  and  finding  our  own  tea. 

On  the  morning  of  our  second  day  from  Vladimir,  we  reached  Mos- 
cow, in  which,  Sunday  as  it  was,  the  shops  were  open  and  the  markets 
full.  We  drove  first,  as  in  duty  bound,  to  the  London  Hotel;  but, 
finding  it  a  bumper,  we  proceeded  to  the  Dresden,  situated  in  the  most 
fashionable  part  of  the  city,  in  the  same  square,  in  fact,  as  the  residence 
of  the  governor.  The  weather  was  cold  and  boisterous ;  the  women 
in  the  streets  looked  chilly,  with  red  noses,  and  the  men  looked  rather 
worse. 

Of  a  place  so  well  known  as  this  ancient  metropolis,  so  hurried  a 
traveler  as  myself  could  not  presume  to  ofler  any  account.  In  fact, 
what  pen,  with  the  amplest  leisure  and  the  highest  talent,  could  ade- 
quately describe  the  novelties  and  beauties  of  The  Holy  City,  with  its 
gorgeous  palaces  and  the  thousand  and  one  spires,  domes,  pinnarets 
and  cupolas  of  its  churches  ?  Who  can  give  an  idea  of  the  ever-vary- 
ing diorama,  both  of  Europe  and  of  Asia,  that  exhibits  itself  in  the 
streets  and  squares  of  this  unique  capital  ?  Here  the  natives  of  all 
countries  jostle  one  another,  each  in  his  national  costume,  the  flowing 
robes  of  the  east  and  the  prim  garments  of  the  west,  the  graceful  attire 
of  the  Tartars  and  the  clumsy  coats  and  formal  hats  of  the  substantial 
burghers,  the  sombre  garments  of  the  jolly  priests  and  the  bright 
shawls  and  elegant  turbans  of  the  ladies  fair,  Turks  and  Arabs,  Jews 
and  Gipsies.  But,  however  incompetent  to  say  all  that  might  be  said, 
every  traveler,  as  a  duty  sacred  to  the  cause  of  humanity,  should  at 
least  mention  the  Sheremetieflf  Hospital,  supported  entirely  at  the  cost 
of  the  munificent  nobleman  of  the  name,  not  for  the  benefit  of  his 
own  serfs,  but  for  the  general  good. 

Moscow  stands  on  hilly  ground,  covering  a  vast  area,  inasmuch  as 
all  the  public  buildings  and  many  private  mansions  have  enclosures 
round  them.  I  would  that  I  could  leave  the  reader  to  picture  to  him- 
self elegant  shrubberies  and  ornamented  gardens;  but  how  different 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


225 


ame  pipe-stem 
ttle  and  left  our 
eh,  a»  already 
m  a  holiday  in 
vera  not  sorry 

krith  an  official 
es,  as  if  travel- 
ted  as  far  back 
B  whatever,  for 
J  to  Moscow  at 

in  of  populous 
mselves  on  all 
of  harvest  and 
I  the  road  were 
id  at  one  place 
chops,  cooking 

;  reached  Mos- 
nd  the  markets 
3n  Hotel;  but, 
ted  in  the  most 
IS  the  residence 
is;  the  women 
I  looked  rather 

• 

so  hurried  a 

mnt.     In  fact, 

3nt,  could  ade- 

City,  with  its 

tnes,  pinnarets 

the  ever-vary- 

i  itself  in  the 

natives  of  all 

e,  the  flowing 

graceful  attire 

le  substantial 

id  the  bright 

Arabs,  Jews 
night  be  said, 
ty,  should  at 

y  at  the  cost 
)enefit  of  his 

inasmuch  as 
e  enclosures 
cture  to  him- 
low  different 


would  such  an  imagination  be  from  the  vulgar  reality,  amounting  to  a 
perfect  eye-sore,  of  rectangular  beds  of  cabbage  in  all  its  tribes,  carrots, 
turnips,  onions,  apd  such  like.  In  the  palaces  of  Moscow  the  kitchens 
monopolize  the  grounds.  Next  to  the  Kremlin,  among  the  divisions 
of  the  city,  ranks  the  Kitai-Gorod,  commonly  rendered,  according  to 
the  literal  signification,  into  China  Town.  But,  as  the  quarter  in 
question  of  Moscow  had  its  present  name  long  before  Russia  had  any 
intercourse  with  the  celestial  empire,  one  might  perhaps  suggest  a  dif- 
ferent version  of  the  first  half  of  the  compound.  In  primitive  times 
the  Kitai-Gorod  was  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the  city  in  this 
respect,  that  it  was  bounded  by  a  wall — a  feature  which  was  peculiarly 
likely,  particularly  in  the  mouths  of  roving  shepherds  and  hunters,  to 
be  embodied  in  the  ordinary  appellation  of  the  enclosed  space.  Nor 
is  independent  proof  altogether  wanting  of  this  interpretation  of  Kitai. 
Kitaia,  the  Russian  term  for  China,  as  Cathay  is  our  corresponding 
English  one,  was  imported  into  Europe  in  the  days  of  Zinghis  Khan's 
immediate  successors,  the  conquerors  alike  of  Eastern  Russia  and  of 
Northern  China;  and,  as  the  great  wall,  which  had  been  built  to  check 
the  southern  incursions  of  the  Tartars,  had  long  been  in  existence,  it 
was  more  likely  than  anything  else  to  give  name  to  the  country,  which 
it  protected,  among  the  savages,  whom  it  fettered.  In  a  word,  Kitaia 
was  the  walled  country  and  Kitai-Gorod  the  walled  town,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  those  who  simultaneously  gave  law  both  to  the  one  and  to  the 
other.  Though  the  point  is  purely  speculative,  yet  it  is  nevertheless 
interesting ;  and  these  suggestions  may  at  least  have  the  effect  of  draw- 
ing the  attention  of  persons  versed  in  the  oriental  tongues. 

However  interesting  the  present  may  be  in  this  singular  city,  the 
past  is  perhaps  still  more  so.  In  its  derivative  Muscovy,  Moscow 
was,  for  several  centuries,  identified  with  the  whole  of  the  territories 
of  its  dukes  and  its  Czars,  the  derivative  in  question  having  been 
applied,  in  a  spirit  of  jenlousy  or  of  scorn,  by  the  Poles,  who,  having 
torn  away  the  original  settlements  of  the  Normans  on  the  Borysthenes, 
arrogantly  pretended,  that  to  themselves  belonged  everything  worthy 
of  the  name  of  Russia.  Even  after  the  erection  of  Petersburg  had,  in 
one  sense,  degraded  Moscow  to  the  rank  of  a  provincial  city,  and  after 
the  progress  of  conquest  had  rendered  Muscovy  merely  the  nucleus:;  of 
a  far  more  extensive  dominion,  this  ancient  seat  of  the  Czars  and  dukes 
still  continued  to  be  the  true  centre  of  Russian  nationality.  In  this 
view  Napoleon  doubUess  felt,  that  the  capture  of  Moscow  would  deal 
a  heavier  blow  than  that  of  Petersburg.  He  did  not,  however,  suffi- 
ciently consider,  how  often  history  had  taught  the  people  to  sustain 
with  fortitude,  or  even  to  contemplate  with  pride,  the  direst  reverses  of 
the  Holy  City.  If  Moscow  had  been  four  times  burned,  she  had  been 
four  times  avenged.  If  she  suffered  from  the  Lithuanians  towards  the 
close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  she  saw  Lithuania  at  her  feet  before 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth;  if  she  soon  afterwards  suffered  from  the 
companions  of  Tamerlane,  she  saw  Yermac,  in  less  than  two  hundred 
years,  inflict  ample  retribution  on  a  descendant  of  Zinghis  Khan;  if,  in 

PART  II. 15 


226 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


1571,  she  suflered  from  the  Tartars  of  the  Crimea,  she  saw  the  arms 
of  Catherine  the  Second  carried  in  triumph  alon^  the  northern  shore 
of  the  Black  Sea;  if,  in  1611,  she  suffered  from  the  Poles,  she  saw  in 
Poland,  at  the  time  of  Napoleon's  invasion,  an  integral  part  of  Russia, 
excepting  only  that  comparatively  petty  duchy  which  Napoleon  him- 
self was  mocking  with  the  name  of  independence.  If  any  long-bearded 
seer,  when  the  French  standards  were  mingling,  in  the  distance,  with 
the  flames  of  Moscow,  had  predicted  the  consequent  prostration  of 
?Vance,  he  might  have  based  his  prophecy  on  the  ground  of  uniform 
experience;  but  he  could  hardly  have  dared  to  hope,  that,  within  nine- 
teen short  months.  Napoleon  would  be  dethroned,  and  Paris  saved 
from  retaliation,  by  his  own  august  sovereign.  In  this  last  case,  the 
calamity  of  the  Holy  ('ity  was  not  only  the  beginning,  but  also  the 
cause,  of  that  great  revolution  which  so  suddenly  emancipated  Europe ; 
and  the  inhabitants,  by  their  heroic  sacrifice  of  homes  and  hearths, 
invested  their  ancient  metropolis  with  a  claim  to  the  veneration  and 
gnUitude  of  every  nation  in  the  west.  In  a  wonl,  Moscow  was  thence- 
forward entitled  to  be  considered  as  the  Holy  City  not  merely  of  Rus- 
sia, but  of  (.'hristendom. 

Moscow  has  extensive  manufactories  of  cloth,  of  various  descriptions, 
monopolizing  in  this  respect  nearly  the  whole  of  the  trade  of  Kiachta. 
In  1837,  the  house  of  Alexandrofl"  alone,  according  to  the  official  state- 
ment so  often  quoted,  sent  to  the  celestials  its  own  fabrics  to  the  enor- 
mous value  of  one  million  and  six  hundred  thousand  roubles.  In 
imports  too,  as  well  as  exports,  this  city  is  one  grand  emporium  of 
eastern  traflick.  So  far  at  least  as  furs  are  concerned,  it  must  drive 
a  lucrative  business  in  this  way.  Taking  a  fancy  to  a  cloak  of  black 
fur,  I  was  anxious  to  purchase  it  for  my  wife;  but  the  demand  of 
seven  thousand  roubles,  fully  three  hundred  pounds  sterling  for  a  use- 
less piece  of  finery,  instantaneously  put  to  flight  all  thoughts  of  my  bet- 
ter halPs  wardrobe.  Sables  were  offered  at  two  hundred  and  fifty  or 
three  hundred  roubles,  by  no  means  equal  to  what  I  had  purchased  at 
Yakutsk  for  the  fifth  part  of  the  money;  and  as  the  freight  from  the 
Lena  would  not  amount  to  a  rouble  a  skin,  this  exorbitant  rate  would 
alone  be  sufficient  to  show  the  comparatively  trifling  influence  of  even 
the  heaviest  cost  of  transport  on  the  prices  of  expensive  commodities. 

On  Monday  evening  we  left  Moscow,  having  now  between  us  and 
Petersburg,  the  goal  of  our  overland  journey,  only  about  seven  hundred 
versts  of  a  macadamized  road.  At  nearly  equal  distances  from  the  two 
capitals  stands  Vishney  Volotchok,  the  place  at  which  the  upward  car- 
goes on  the  Volga,  which,  however,  is  still  far  from  its  sources,  are 
transferred  to  the  canal  that  unites  that  noble  stream  with  the  tributa- 
ries of  the  Gulf  of  Finland.  Considering  the  ultimate  destination  of 
most  of  this  bulky  transport  throughout  the  whole  length  and  breadth 
of  European  Russia,  an  English  traveler  can  hardly  avoid  reflecting, 
that  every  river  and  every  canal  is  chiefly  a  highway  to  his  country, 
that  nearly  everything  which  he  sees  around  him,  is  homeward  bound 
is  well  as  himself;  and,  if  he  rises  from  personal  feelings  to  political 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


227 


saw  the  arms 
northern  shore 
es,  she  saw  in 
lart  of  Russia, 
<^apoleun  him- 
r  long-bearded 
disUince,  with 
prostration  ol' 
id  of  uniform 
t,  within  nine- 
I  Paris  saved 
last  case,  the 
,  hut  also  the 
»ated  Europe ; 

and  hearths, 
eneration  and 
V  was  thenee- 
erely  of  Rus- 

i  descriptions, 
le  of  Kiachta. 
otHcial  state- 
s  to  the  enor- 
roubles.  In 
emporium  of 
it  must  drive 
oak  of  black 

demand  of 
ing  for  a  use- 
ts  of  my  bet- 

and  fifty  or 
)urchased  at 
ght  from  the 
t  rate  would 
nee  of  even 
tmmodities. 
v^een  us  and 
ven  hundred 
"rom  the  two 
upward  car- 
sources,  are 

the  tributa- 
estination  of 
and  breadth 
d  reflecting, 
lis  country, 
ward  bound 

to  political 


contemplations,  he  cannot  fail  to   infer,  that  Russia  and  England  are 
peculiarly  interested  in  each  other's  welfare  and  tranquillity. 

A  little  to  the  east  of  the  middle  point  between  Vishney  Volotchok 
and  Novgorod  is  situated  Valdai,  taking  its  name  from  the  hills  which 
divide  the  waters  of  the  Volga  from  those  of  the  Neva.  In  the  neigh- 
borhood of  this  town  is  a  small  lake  containing  an  island,  on  whicli 
stands  a  monastery  thus  shut  out  by  the  waters  from  the  pollutions  ol 
the  world.  Whether  the  inmaUis  of  this  secluded  establishment  are 
wiser,  or  happier,  or  better,  merely  because  th(!y  live  in  the  centre  of 
a  pool,  one  may  be  permitted  to  doubt. 

On  the  third  morning  after  leaving  Moscow,  we  breakfasted  in  Nov- 
gorod, one  of  the  earliest  seats  of  the  Norman  invaders  of  the  jrountry. 
This  town  presents  numberless  proofs  of  former  greatness,  ruined 
churches,  deserted  mansions  in  the  most  magniticent  style  of  ancient 
architecture,  and  also  a  bazaar  whicli,  like  the  hose  «»f  the  slippered 
Pantaloon,  is  a  world  too  big  for  its  diminished  contents.  This  great 
mart  between  the  east  and  the  west  had  become  so  powerful  as  not 
only  to  deter  the  Tartars  from  attacking  it,  but  also  virtually  to  renounce 
the  supremacy  of  the  Russians.  It  received  its  first  blow  when  sub- 
dued by  the  first  czar  in  1471,  and  its  second,  when  almost  destroyed 
by  the  desolating  cruelties  of  his  grandson  in  1570.  Still,  so  intluen- 
tial  was  its  position  against  mere  force,  that  Novgorod  would  soon 
have  regained,  if  not  its  power,  at  least  its  wealth,  had  not  its  own  wea- 
pons been  turned  against  itself.  In  1584,  the  erection  of  Archangel 
inflicted  the  third  blow, — a  blow  which,  ever  since  the  opening  of  the 
White  Sea,  had  been  impending  for  more  than  thirty  years ;  and,  about 
a  quarter  of  a  century  afterwards,  the  erection  of  Petersburg,  by  inter- 
cepting the  trade  which  the  more  northerly  post  attempted  only  to 
divert,  gave  the  finishing  stroke  to  Novgorod  the  Great  and  all  its  glory. 

Novgorod  is  now  little  more  than  a  mere  place  of  passage  between 
the  Volga  and  the  Neva,  standing,  as  it  does,  on  the  Volkhov,  which 
empties  Lake  Ilmen  into  Lake  Ladoga,  and  also  on  the  canal  of  the 
same  name,  which  has  been  constructed  to  avoid  certain  difliculties  in 
the  navigation  of  one  of  the  Volkhov's  tributaries.  How  different  the 
destinies  of  Moscow  and  Novgorod  under  the  ungenial  influences  of 
a  city,  which  was  intended  to  absorb  all  that  was  valuable  in  both. 
Against  the  emporium  of  commerce,  Petersburg  was  completely  suc- 
cessful, because  she  had  nature's  facilities  and  man's  interests  in  her 
favor ;  against  a  metropolis  consecrated  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  alike 
by  triumphs  and  by  disasters,  Petersburg  was  almost  powerless,  because 
she  had  to  contend  with  the  hereditary  prejudices,  both  of  patriotism 
and  of  religion. 

Beyond  Novgorod  we  passed  a  great  number  of  very  neat  cottages, 
with  gardens,  belonging  to  "  military  settlers,"  a  gentle  name  for  a  body 
of  eighty  or  a  hundred  thousand  men,  ready  to  be  called  into  active 
service  at  a  week's  notice. 

About  eight  in  the  morning  on  the  eighth  of  our  English  October,  we 
drove  into  St.  Petersburg,  thus  terminating  our   travels  through  the 


228 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


Russian  Empire,  about  five>and-twenty  weeks  after  our  arrival  at  Sitlia 
from  the  Sandwich  Islands.  The  distance  from  Ochotsk  to  Petersburg, 
including  stoppages,  had  occupied  ninety-one  days,  during  which  time 
we  had  traversed  about  seven  thousand  miles.  From  Irkutsk  the 
journey  had  occupied  forty-one  days,  the  nights  being  passed  as  fol- 
lows: 


In  the  carriage, 

At  Tomsk,  on  a  sofa. 

At  Ekaterineburg,  on  the  floor. 

At  Kazan,  on  a  sofa. 

At  Moscow,  in  a  bed. 


36  nights, 

1  " 

2  " 
1  " 
1       " 


41 

Mrs.  Wilson^s  excellent  house  being  full,  we  fixed  our  abode  at  Miss 
Dee's,  where  I  at  once  took  to  my  bed  in  consequence  of  a  most  severe 
and  obstinate  cold ;  so  that,  to  my  great  regret,  I  was  unable  to  partake 
of  the  proffered  hospitalities  of  any  of  my  friends.  Of  St.  Petersburg, 
of  course,  I  saw  nothing ;  nor  did  I  particularly  regret  this,  inasmuch 
as  I  had  seen  the  city  before. 

The  uppermost  thought,  I  believe,  in  the  mind  of  every  person  who 
visits  this  magnificent  creation,  is  admiration  of  the  genius,  energy  and 
perseverance  of  its  founder.  This  admiration,  moreover,  is  vastly  en- 
hanced by  recollecting  that  the  site  for  the  new  capital  of  the  monarchy 
was  selected  within  the  recently  conquered  dominions  of  a  rival,  who 
had  hitherto  defeated  every  enemy,  Russian,  or  Saxon,  or  Dane,  or 
Pole,  in  every  field.  If  the  Romans  have  commanded  the  applause  of 
posterity  by  selling  and  buying  at  full  value  the  very  ground,  on  which 
Hannibal,  within  sight  of  their  walls,  had  pitched  his  camp  after  the 
battle  of  Cannse,  how  much  more  is  Peter  the  Great  worthy  of  renown 
for  having  confidently  committed  both  the  honor  and  the  wealth  of  his 
empire  to  the  territories  of  the  irresistible  hero  of  Narva.  But,  in  the 
estimation  of  this  the  greatest  of  the  czars,  the  case  was  the  same  with 
Russia,  as  with  Moscow.  She  was  to  draw  victory  from  defeat,  and 
triumph  from  humiliation.  She  was  to  be  taught  by  the  Swedes  to 
beat  Sweden.  The  Normans  of  Russia  were  to  shake  off  the  rust, 
which  they  had  gathered  through  the  admixture  of  inferior  races,  under 
the  discipline  of  the  unadulterated  Normans  of  Scandinavia.  In  illus- 
tration of  the  often  repeated  view,  to  which  I  have  just  alluded,  may  be 
stated  the  admitted  fact,  that  the  three  branches  of  the  northern  line  of 
modern  times,  the  English,  the  Swedes,  and  the  Russians,  excel  all 
other  nations  in  the  grand  element  of  military  efficiency,  a  patient  and 
stable  infantry. 

After  having  so  frequently  referred  to  the  providential  mission  of  the 
Norman  race,  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  mention  that  I  altogether  disclaim 
any  and  every  idea  of  wanton  aggression.  The  genius  and  bene- 
volence of  the  present  emperor  will  find  congenial  and  profitable 
occupation  in  prosecuting  his  enlightened  views  for  ameliorating  the 


FROM  TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 


229 


ival  at  Sitka 
>  Petersburg, 
;  which  time 
Irkutsk  the 
tassed  as  (o\- 

is, 


)ocle  at  Miss 
most  severe 

e  to  partake 
Petersburg, 

s,  inasmuch 

person  who 

energy  and 

is  vastly  en- 

e  monarchy 

a  rival,  who 

or  Dane,  or 

applause  of 

j,  on  which 

np  after  the 

of  renown 

ealth  of  his 

But,  in  the 

same  with 

defeat,  and 

Swedes  to 

the  rust, 

aces,  under 

In  illus- 

ed,  may  be 

lern  line  of 

excel  all 

>atient  and 

ision  of  the 

;r  disclaim 

and  bene- 

profi  table 

>rating  the 


institutions  of  his  country,  and  the  cin.'umstances  of  his  people,  in 
consolidating  what  he  already  possesses,  or  may  hereafter  be  con- 
strained to  acquire,  rather  than  in  coveting  an  extension  of  dominion, 
merely  for  its  own  sake.  Such,  in  fact,  was  the  task  delegated  to  the 
house  of  Romanoff,  when  elevated  to  the  throne  of  Russia,  in  1613,  as 
the  task  delegated,  after  the  lapse  of  a  century,  to  the  house  of  Bruns- 
wick in  England,  was  the  protecting  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  For 
fifteen  years  after  the  extinction  of  the  line  of  Ruric,  in  1598,  Muscovy 
was  torn  to  pieces  by  the  intestine  dissensions  of  numberless  pretend- 
ers, till  at  last,  by  the  free  choice  of  the  nobles,  Michael  Fedrovitz 
Romanoff  received  the  sceptre  of  the  czars,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
monarchy  from  falling  to  pieces.  As  such  a  duty  was  incompatible 
with  a  state  of  foreign  war,  this  illustrious  man  preferred  the  unity  of 
his  dominions  to  their  extent,  sacrificing,  for  tlie  sake  of  peace,  Ingria 
and  Carelia  to  the  Swedes,  and  Smolensk,  Tschernigore  and  Novgorod 
to  the  Poles,  while,  by  devoting  his  undisturbed  attention  to  internal 
ameliorations,  he  laid  deep  and  broad  the  foundations  of  that  strength, 
which  ultimately  led  to  the  recovery  of  far  more  than  what  he  had 
surrendered.  It  was  in  this  same  peaceful  path,  though  happily  with- 
out similar  sacrifices,  that  Peter  the  Great — and,  in  fact,  almost  every 
Russian  sovereign  from  Michael  to  Nicholas,  has  really  won  his  bright- 
est laurels. 

The  absence  of  the  emperor,  who  had  gone,  as  was  supposed,  to  put 
an  end  to  the  disturbances  already  mentioned  as  existing  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Kazan,  prevented  my  friend  Baron  Wrangell  from  introducing 
me,  as  he  was  most  desirous  of  doing,  to  his  majesty.  In  my  peculiar 
circumstances  I  deeply  regretted  this  disappointment.  Even  if  I  had 
never  set  foot  on  the  partrimony  of  Nicholas,  I  could  not  fail  to  regard, 
in  common  with  every  man  of  knowledge  or  reflection,  the  autocrat  of 
three  continents,  the  master  of  the  most  extensive  dominion  of  ancient 
or  modern  times,  as  an  object  not  merely  of  philanthropic  interest,  but 
of  mysterious  awe.  But,  after  seeing  more  of  this  colossal  empire  than 
any  other  foreigner,  living  or  dead,  I  was  naturally  anxious,  as  an  appro- 
priate termination  of  my  wanderings,  to  enter,  as  it  were,  into  com- 
munion with  the  spirit  that  animated  it.  Independently  of  these  general 
considerations,  the  present  czar's  personal  qualities,  physical,  and  in- 
tellectual, and  moral,  must  induce  every  man's  judgment  to  acquiesce 
in  the  homage  which  his  feelings  are  constrained  to  pay.  Nicholas  is 
universally  allowed  to  present  the  noblest  mould  of  form  and  feature, 
to  be  the  ablest  and  most  laborious  sovereign  of  the  age,  and,  what  is 
higher  praise  than  all  in  an  individual  of  his  exalted  station,  to  set 
before  his  people  the  brightest  example  of  all  the  domestic  virtues. 

Of  the  conclusion  of  my  wanderings,  little  remains  to  be  said.  After 
being  confined,  for  eight  days,  to  my  room  in  St.  Petersburg,  I  embarked 
on  the  steamer  Nicolai  for  Lahie,  halting  for  coal  at  Stitichaun  on  the 
Island  of  Gothland,  where  we  were  received  into  the  house  of  a  mer- 
chant of  the  name  of  Enequest,  whose  daughter  was  decidedly  the 
prettiest  girl  that  I  saw  in  the  whole  course  of  my  travels.     On  the 


;M- 


*r' 

4 

.      g30                               FROM 

TOBOLSK  TO  LONDON. 

•ighth  day  from  Peternliury  I  reached  Hamburg,  lying 
Kazan,  from  the  eflects  ol'  the  recent  conflagration. 

In  five  days  more  I  reached  London,  having  accomplia 
of  my  contemplated  journey,  excepting  the  trip  to  Kiac 
worla,  as  it  came  in  tiie  northern   hemisphere,  witiiin 

in  ruins,  like 

lied  the  whole 

lita,  round  the 

the  space  of 

nineteen  months  and  twenty-six  days. 

- 

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T  HE     K  N  D . 

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in  ruins,  like 


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led  the  whole 
ta,  round  the 
the  space  of 


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